Entertainment
“The New Age Has Arrived”: Imperial Japanese Propaganda Manga from Occupied China, 1942
Just sharing a fascinating piece of historical artifact – a comic strip, or more accurately, a manga, published in the
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Korean Workers
Imperial Japan had postwar plans to quadruple Japanese settlers in Korea to dominate the most technologically intensive industries, and suppress Korean access to higher education to quell ‘dissatisfaction’ (June 1943)
I recently came across two intriguing news articles from the Japanese colonial period of Korean history that shed light on
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Imperial Way
Dehumanization in Colonial Korea, 1943: Branding Koreans as ‘just objects’ for ‘not understanding the blessings of Imperial Japan’ and labeling them as ‘hypocrites who are outwardly obedient, but inwardly rebellious in their hearts’
I’m posting here today to share a rather unsettling article from colonial Korea in 1943. It is timely, as this
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Foreign Residents
Spotlight on 1943 Seoul: A Glimpse into the Russian Tatar Refugee Community, Marja Ibrahim’s Poetry Tribute to Tatar National Poet Ğabdulla Tuqay on the 30-year anniversary of his death
Following on from a previous post about the small community of Russian Tatars residing in Seoul in 1943, I’m glad
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Daily Life
Severe 1940s wartime housing crisis in urban areas of Japan-colonized Korea: housing shortfalls worsening each year, exacerbated by rent control, 2-3 families sharing one house, young people unable to marry or start families due to housing shortage
This article from 1943 covers the severe wartime housing crisis in Korea which was particularly acute in urban areas and
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Entertainment
A look into the foreign films showing in Korean movie theaters in April/May 1943: L’antenato (1936), Capriccio (1938), Ein Lied für dich (1933), Fahrendes Volk (1938), Le Bal (1931), Heimat (1938), Un soir de rafle (1931)
This post will be a continuation of my exploration into the kinds of foreign movies that Seoul residents might have
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Military
A collection of 27 farewell letters to an Imperial Naval captain in the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia, April 1945
During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies from 1942 to 1945, there was a contingent of the Imperial
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Philosophy
The Korean people were allegedly liars, slackers, quitters, and thieves, but Governor-General Koiso offered them a chance to redeem themselves and become honorable by submitting to Amaterasu and the Emperor, and awaken as true Japanese people to fulfill divine destiny in final part of 1944 speech
This is the third and final part of Governor-General Koiso’s February 1944 intensely religious address to the entire Korean nation,
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Military
Korean director of Straits of Chosun (1943) muted the war propaganda of this Imperial Japanese film to make it a humanistic story about young Korean man from wealthy family who enlists with a heavy heart to win his father’s acceptance of his lower-class wife, rather than from blind patriotism
The following is my thorough transcription, translation, and in-depth analysis/review of an intriguing piece of classic Korean cinematography, which is
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Food Shortages
Rationing sugar and sweets in 1943 Seoul: lucky families got coveted ration books issued by snack retailers, while others received nothing, one mother collapsed in line waiting to buy one cookie for her infant, so Patriotic Groups intervened to prioritize rationing to children and the military
This article from 1943 Seoul discusses the rationing of sugar and sweet snacks that was instituted due to the shortage
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