Two Faces of AK Hasheem in Colombo: Intelligent Tourist Agents Navigating the Waves of Anglo-Japanese Relations

In the early 20th century, during the golden age of the ocean liner, present- day Colombo in Sri Lanka was synonymous with India. It was at this port, while on their trip to Europe or immigrating to Brazil, that most Japanese passengers met and interacted with Indians for the first time. Based on surviving records of many Japanese passengers and novelists who wrote about Colombo, they were particularly intrigued by A.K. Hasheem, a popular jeweller and travel agent who spoke fluent Japanese. In Japan in the 1930s, as Pan-Asianism and expansionism emerged, the Indian jeweller and his staff were considered pro-Japanese (and therefore anti-British). Legend has it that Brazilian tea originated from tea seeds that Hasheem's staff stole from the Lipton plantation, in a show of solidarity with the Japanese-Brazilian challenge to the British-dominant tea market. A careful examination of related materials reveals that the A.K. Hasheem Company was not only pro-Japanese but also an intelligent, enthusiastic business.