Book excerpt: In Japanese Pan-Asianism and the Philippines from the Late 19th Century to the End of World War II – Going to the Philippines Is Like Coming Home? Sven Matthiessen examines the development of Japanese Pan-Asianism and the perception of the Philippines within this ideology. Due to the archipelago’s previous colonisation by Spain and the US the Philippines was a special case among the Japanese occupied territories during the war. Matthiessen convincingly proves that the widespread pro-Americanism among the Philippine population made it impossible for Japanese administrators to implement a pan-Asianist ideology that centred on a 'return to Asian values'. The expectation among some Japanese Pan-Asianists that ‘going to the Philippines was like coming home’ was never fulfilled.