The Trans-Siberian Railway as a Corridor of Trade between Finland and Japan in the Midst of World Crises

Abstract

The Trans-Siberian railway long played the role of a second alternative transportation route between Finland and Japan. Not until the early 1970s did the Trans-Siberian railway begin to be used on a larger scale for the purposes of Finnish-Japanese trade. This took place in the aftermath of containerization in trade traffic. Goods were, however, transported between the two countries via Siberia long before this, during the World Wars. Using mostly Finnish business and state archive records and publications, the article examines the significance of the Siberian traffic in Finnish-Japanese trade as well as collaboration by private and state interests and the place of a transit state in enabling this traffic.