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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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This 1942 stuttering correction seminar for Korean...
The Sulemans were a Russian Tatar refugee...
By December 1943, poultry was unavailable anywhere...
British and Australian prisoners of war arrive...
Korean high school student uses anonymous tip...
In 1945, Imperial Japan trained almost every...
Korean candidate defiantly ran for office in...
How Imperial Japan used the Shinto holy...
Minakai Department Store in Seoul featured a...
1943 Imperial Japanese editorial declares liberalism collapsed...
In March 1944 in Seoul, an angry...
Propaganda editorials about Shinto shrines built in...
“The New Age Has Arrived”: Imperial Japanese...
Koiso’s 1943 ‘Great Leader’ Strongman Tours: Surprise...
Colonial authorities abruptly abolished Korean translations of...

Month: June 2022

Korean Workers

Propaganda article contrasting the ‘Bad Korean Retailer’ who is greedy, mean, dishonest, and lawless with the ‘Good Korean Retailer’ who is selfless, kind, honest, law-abiding, and committed to Japanese-Korean unification (Seoul, 1942)

2022-06-29

816

933

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

Five Korean singers, including future pop stars of postwar South Korea, performed at a 1943 Imperial Japanese Army music party and sang a newly released song with lyrics ‘the spirit of the Empire, which is a burning fire, we’re at the Emperor’s command, we’re in awe, we of Japan harden our resolve’

2022-06-25

817

792

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

Propaganda editorials about Shinto shrines built in every township in Korea so Koreans don’t feel so ‘lonely and empty in their hearts’ and Korea can become a ‘paradise truly in accordance with the Imperial Way’ where every Korean is required to perform the Jingu Taima exorcism ceremony at home

2022-06-20

758

2632

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

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Small community of ~100 Russian Tatars in Seoul featured in 1942-1944 propaganda articles: a young 19-year-old Tatar girl is praised for filling out immigration forms for her neighbors, a Tatar woman is commended for scolding her friends with red fingernails for wearing ‘British-American’ cosmetics
School

Small community of ~100 Russian Tatars in Seoul featured in 1942-1944 propaganda articles: a young 19-year-old Tatar girl is praised for filling out immigration forms for her neighbors, a Tatar woman is commended for scolding her friends with red fingernails for wearing ‘British-American’ cosmetics

2022-06-15

690

1389

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

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School

Propaganda articles say Koreans men are cowards because of ‘literary effeminacy’ and too much filial piety toward Korean parents who ‘just play around and live off their children’s income’ after age 50, and resolves to ‘reshape’ Korean Confucianism by ‘beating it’ into a Japanese form (1943)

2022-06-09

737

3565

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

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Uncategorized

‘We’re going to Washington!’ – a 1944 statue of an Imperial Japanese Army soldier ‘glaring with glistening eyes at the U.S. burning with an attacking, fighting spirit’ saying, ‘I will stand firm with my heroes and march on the U.S. mainland!’

2022-06-06

691

280

(Translation) Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) March 17, 1944 Wartime Art Exhibition “We’re Going to Washington!” Information Section Chief Prize By

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Korean Workers

Angry Koreans filed numerous complaints against local Imperial Japanese party officials for abuse of power, only to be told publicly by General Secretary Hada to stop complaining and obey their patriotic group leaders with harmony and gratitude for their leaders’ hard work (Chungcheongnam-do, 1943)

2022-06-05

649

1094

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

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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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