The spatial development of commodity distribution has traditionally been thought of as a matter of the market system and organization including the networks of transportation, information, and finance. It has been discussed as a category of formal organizational structures. In this paper, Japan’s trade with East and South Africa in the 1930s is discussed by examining Japanese Consular Reports. Special attention is paid to the activities of large, medium, and small trading firms involved in the import and export trade. Export from Japan entailed serious trade friction, and economic diplomacy was utilized to edge into these regions. However, it is also of importance to recognize, in fact, various relations that linked individual to individual, group to group and individuals to groups facilitated trade as well as caused subtle conflicts. This paper considers the delicacy of Japan’s position in the international political and economic relations and its relations with India in Colonial Africa in the mid-1930s by viewing Japan’s trade with East and South Africa.