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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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Colonial authorities abruptly abolished Korean translations of...
Niece of Korean collaborator nobleman Yoon Deok-yeong...
April 1945 Seoul dining: the public endured...
Korean modern dancer Choi Seung-hee featured in...
1943 Imperial Japanese editorial declares liberalism collapsed...
‘Jeon’ became ‘Takamatsu’ and ‘Park’ became ‘Masaki’:...
Dehumanization in Colonial Korea, 1943: Branding Koreans...
Propaganda story about a Japanese couple in...
A Japanese author took a Busan-Seoul train...
A mere 3 days after surrender, liberated...
In 1944, the Japanese govt built internment...
British and Australian prisoners of war arrive...
Nostalgia for Imperial Japan and its undercurrents...
Imperial Japan called Korean women in chima...
Imperial Japan’s manhunt for the “Communist Bandit...

Month: May 2022

Internment Camp

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

747

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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Uncategorized

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

737

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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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

798

1183

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

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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

783

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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Japanese Language

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

836

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

697

1151

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

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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

732

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

  • Nazi German community in Seoul December 1941 celebrating Imperial Japan’s declaration of war
  • Wartime rations often vanished amid corrupt neighborhood leadership, leading to so much public anger that Imperial officials pleaded, ‘let us avoid becoming emotional with one another’ (Feb. 1945)
  • Inside the 1943 Seoul Crackdown on ‘Demonic Music’: Imperial Japan’s Campaign to Purge American and British Records, From Hawaiian Jazz to Dvořák, but German music (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach) and Italian music (Verdi) were allowed
  • How Imperial Japan spun a dead Korean industrial accident victim into a wartime hero: ‘Follow in the spirit of Mr. Lim!’, ‘The flower of the workplace!’ at Tōyō Metal in Sinuiju (October 1, 1943)
  • Rule by Fear: How Imperial Japan Expanded the Death Penalty and Toughened Sentences in Wartime Korea – Crackdowns on Protesters After Just One Warning (February 1944)

Recent Comments

  • vong quay on Imperial officials fanned out across rural Korea visiting townships one by one to indoctrinate villagers in Imperialist ideology in ‘Grassroots Penetration’ Campaign (March 1944)
  • act-two on Koiso’s 1943 ‘Great Leader’ Strongman Tours: Surprise village inspections to intimidate local leaders and impose Japanese language and culture all over the Korean countryside
  • laser marking machine on Koiso’s 1943 ‘Great Leader’ Strongman Tours: Surprise village inspections to intimidate local leaders and impose Japanese language and culture all over the Korean countryside
  • zorse on April 1945 Seoul dining: the public endured price-gouging and scraps, while privileged Japanese and Korean collaborator elites drank and feasted behind closed doors

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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
Exposing Imperial Japan
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