Despite the future it predicted, undermining an often-publicized greatness of the United States, this kind of map was quite common. They were intended to shock public opinion, awaken patriotic sentiment and raise awareness of the international issues of the day. For example, in February 1916 the cover of Life Magazine featured a map of the United States called New Prussia, with Germanized city names. New York City became New Potsdam, Florida became Turconia, and the Pacific Coast became Japonica. This was to make the public more active in the war that was going on.
Howard Burke also produced other maps on the same subject. At the same time, in November 1937, he depicted a scenario where the Japanese would attack the United States, starting with Hawaii in How Japan Could Attack U.S. Although he would a year later defend the defensive qualities of the archipelago in is illustration Hawaii – Our Greatest Defense Outpost. This showed the potential threat from Japan and reflected the anti-Japanese tendency during this rather neutral pre-war period.