tpjv86b, Author at Exposing Imperial Japan

Author: tpjv86b

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

2023-06-17

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Following on from a previous post about the small community of Russian Tatars residing in Seoul in 1943, I’m glad

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

2023-05-25

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This article from 1943 covers the severe wartime housing crisis in Korea which was particularly acute in urban areas and

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)

2023-05-19

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This post will be a continuation of my exploration into the kinds of foreign movies that Seoul residents might have

Military

A collection of 27 farewell letters to an Imperial Naval captain in the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia, April 1945

2023-05-14

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During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies from 1942 to 1945, there was a contingent of the Imperial

Imperial Way

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

2023-05-04

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This is the third and final part of Governor-General Koiso’s February 1944 intensely religious address to the entire Korean nation,

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

2023-04-24

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The following is my thorough transcription, translation, and in-depth analysis/review of an intriguing piece of classic Korean cinematography, which is

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

2023-04-15

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This article from 1943 Seoul discusses the rationing of sugar and sweet snacks that was instituted due to the shortage

Education

Tourist groups visiting the historical sites of Buyeo (부여, 夫餘) had to perform 3 hours community service (road repair, water pipes, tree planting) under Imperial Army command and indoctrinated in ‘Japanese-Korean Unification’ propaganda with mandatory Shinto worship, no individual tourists allowed (1943)

2023-04-09

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This article is the last one in a series of three educational articles published by the colonial regime to promote

Philosophy

Buyeo, former capital of Baekje, was used by the colonial regime to showcase a Korean nation which ‘remained completely faithful to Japan’ and sent its sons to Japan for training in the ‘Japanese spirit’, and taught that the 2nd king of Silla was the reincarnation of the Shinto god Susanoo (1943)

2023-04-02

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These articles are the first two in a series of three educational articles published by the colonial regime to promote

Japanese Language

Colonial officials claimed ‘Korean must naturally stop being spoken as a result of the spread of Japanese’ ‘no words in Korean can express the essence of the Japanese spirit in a straightforward way’ ‘Korean will one day be regarded as just another local dialect like the Kyushu dialect’ (June 1943)

2023-03-22

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In June 1943, Keijo Nippo ran a long series of roundtable discussion articles, where colonial interior ministry officials gathered to

Exposing Imperial Japan