Japan buying merchant ship all over the world partly for reuse of or to be scrapped for materials according to the Dutch magazine Marineblad dated 1935 no. 6

An item referred to the magazine R.M. dated September 1935 reporting that Japan bought in the past 3 years 86 merchant ships abroad with a total tonnage of 600.000 tons.(1) Most of the ships were broken up, just the fastest were preserved to service in wartime as auxiliary cruisers.

Note
1. For instance in the Netherlands.