Japanese South Pacific (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

The Japanese South Pacific (Japanese: 大和太東洋島嶼 Daiwa Daitōyō Tōsho and later, 明湄太東洋島嶼 Myōmi Daitōyō Tōsho) was a dependency of the Empire of Japan from 1899 to 1919 and later the Republic of Japan from 1919 to 1932. The expansion into the East Indies was a part of Imperial Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century. After the Spanish-Japanese War in 1898, the Spanish East Indies was divided and sold by Spain to Japan and Germany. Japan gained the Luzon Islands, the Visayan Islands, and the Mindanao Islands which then administered as the Japanese South Pacific.