Furthermore, there is criticism of using the word colony for both, based on the recognition that 'the Japanese governing policy was different from the rule of different ethnic groups by Western countries in the same era, and was good politics,' and 'colony is the word to express the misrule conducted by foreign countries to rule different ethnic groups.'
のみならず「日本の統治政策は同時代に欧米諸国の行った異民族統治とは異質で、善政である」「植民地という言葉は諸外国が異民族統治に対して行った悪政に使われる言葉である」という認識から、双方を一緒に植民地という言葉で形容することへの批判がある。