Our take: In this post, Brian Wong brings overlooked local archives into conversation through AI-assisted transcription, historical geocoding, and interactive mapping. By tracing the spatial relationships between banks and factories in Kyoto, Wong identifies patterns of wartime financial mobilisation, including newly established Shiga Bank branches located near munitions manufacturers. The post demonstrates how digital methods can uncover new connections within historical records and open up further questions about the financing of war.
Editors’ Choice: Mapping Prefectural-Level Financial Mobilisation in Wartime Japan
