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Exposing Imperial Japan

Exposing Imperial Japan

Viewing the suffering of colonized people through the lens of the colonizer's propaganda

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Buyeo, former capital of Baekje, was used...
“The New Age Has Arrived”: Imperial Japanese...
A Korean father spent 8 years looking...
Korean comfort women in a “performing arts...
Korean farming family weaving straw bags known...
Korean schoolgirls attend a five-day swimming camp...
Optimistic news coverage of Syngman Rhee meeting...
British and Australian prisoners of war arrive...
In 1942 Busan, Korean pastors and foreign...
Governor Koiso likened Korea to a disabled...
Propaganda ‘feel good story’ praises Korean grandfather...
‘Jeon’ became ‘Takamatsu’ and ‘Park’ became ‘Masaki’:...
As food shortages deepened in Korea by...
In March 1944 in Seoul, an angry...
Dehumanization in Colonial Korea, 1943: Branding Koreans...

Month: May 2022

Imperial Way

Converted Korean ‘ideological criminals’ (a.k.a. independence activists) at ‘Yamato Cram School’ tearfully apologize for fighting against Imperial Japan and are spellbound as Governor Koiso explains in propaganda speech that the greatest significance of life is hidden in Japanese mythology (1943)

2022-05-31

528

1038

This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

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Imperial Way

Imperial Japanese penal officials brag about brainwashing Korean ‘ideological criminals’ (a.k.a. independence activists) in ‘Yamato cram schools’ and converting them into enthusiastic collaborators willing to die shouting ‘Banzai to the Emperor!’ (Seoul 1943)

2022-05-23

522

3163

These are very interesting articles describing Korean ‘ideological criminals’, many of whom had upper class Yangban backgrounds, and how they

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Food Shortages

Amid severe wartime food shortages in 1943, propaganda article notes that Korean laborers are not coming to work in the cities due to hunger, but suggests hunger can be a productivity booster if workers get used to it, and full stomachs are not necessary for proper nutrition

2022-05-19

615

1183

  (Translation) Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) July 26, 1943 Discussing Wartime Nutritional Foods Roundtable discussion hosted by the head office

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Comfort Women

Another part of a propaganda interview of Korean comfort women who returned from a whirlwind 1943 Japan tour visiting wounded Imperial Japanese soldiers, and one of the comfort women retired to “live life without shame as a sister and mother of splendid soldiers of the Korean peninsula”

2022-05-15

528

2183

(Translation) Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) August 14, 1943 A chorus of sincerity in response to gratitude Receiving encouragement from the heroes

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Model Korean Family

This Korean father made sure his family and employees exclusively spoke Japanese, he ran a store supplying residences of Imperial Japanese Army officers in Yongsan, said he got triggered seeing ‘bold gentleman types speaking to each other enthusiastically in Korean’ inside the trains (Seoul 1942)

2022-05-10

597

569

  Photo: Ikeyoshi family: Tokuji (41) and his wife Sachiko (31). L-to-R: daughter Masako (10), sons Fumio (8), Masao (6), Toshio

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Uncategorized

As food shortages deepened in Korea by 1943, Imperial propagandists encouraged Koreans to eat wild grasses as meat substitutes, which they insisted were nutritionally comparable to meat, and follow food quack Horace Fletcher’s advice to chew food 30 times to make up for the lack of food quantity

2022-05-06

487

1151

  (Translation) Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) July 18, 1943 The way to solve the food problem Wild grasses are also

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Model Korean Family

Propaganda story of Japanese couple adopting poor Korean girl, raising her to become a “respectable” Japanese woman, and marrying her off to a model Japanese-speaking Korean man (Seoul, 1942)

2022-05-01

472

867

  This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of

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Recent Posts

  • In 1945, Imperial Japan trained almost every able-bodied Korean man, woman, and child to stab Americans to death with bamboo spears in suicide combat militias under direct Imperial Army command
  • Imperial Japan banned passengers wearing chima skirts from boarding trains, escalating its campaign against traditional Korean garments in May 1945
  • “If Japan loses, Koreans will fight each other, divided by foreign powers”: June 1945 warning by Korean collaborator (박춘금, 朴春琴) who urged authorities to redirect Korean nationalism into support for Imperial Japan
  • Imperial Japan called Korean women in chima dresses ‘the most filthy and ugly sight’ and shamed them with posters captioned ‘there are still women like these’ (April 1945)
  • Imperial Japan shamed Koreans for going to theaters instead of preparing for invasion (March 1945)

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    • Imperial Japanese penal official said Korean 'ideological criminals' (independence activists) were 'not well made as human beings', but 'if only their thoughts could be corrected, then they will get better' so they can be 'used' for wartime labor, but 'this is not the case with ordinary criminals'
    • Nostalgia for Imperial Japan and its undercurrents in Kishi Nobusuke's legacy in postwar Japan, in Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan's legacy in South Korea, and why access to wartime newspapers of Japan-occupied Korea is important to combat historical misinformation by the far-right in both countries
    • Simon Young Kim (김영근), a South Korean violin virtuoso and disciple of famous violinist Jascha Heifetz, Simon was once my teacher and mentor, and his son was my best friend in elementary school
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