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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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Master Imaizumi Teisuke, the spiritual leader of...
1943 editorial calls for Korean language to...
Forgotten Korean Suicide Attacker ‘Hero’ celebrated by...
Governor-General Koiso blamed excessive chili peppers for...
In October 1922, a hit squad of...
In March 1944 in Seoul, an angry...
Imperial Japan lavished praise on 박춘금 (朴春琴),...
This is the only known bilingual Japanese-Korean...
Korean writers in the ‘Korean Literary Association’...
U.S. soldiers guard the Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo...
Wartime news coverage of Prince Yi Un...
In 1942, one pro-Imperial Japan Korean family...
Educational supervisor declares that ‘old ways of...
Hollywood movies and Western cosmetic brands were...
In June 1945, Imperial Japan announced a...

Category: Japanese Language

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
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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

2022-06-15

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

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Imperial Way

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

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

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Japanese Language

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

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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

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

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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

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  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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Japanese Language

Japanese teacher in Japan-colonized Korea punished her Korean students for speaking Korean and imposed Imperial Way ideology on them during WWII; in 1976 at a school reunion in Daegu, she apologized and they forgave her; former teacher (now 100 years old) and students still keep in touch as of 2021

2022-04-09

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Blogger Note: Although the English version of this article is available here at the Asahi website, it is a very

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Japanese Language

Korean family of radio broadcasting official lived under the Samurai code, spoke only Japanese, and taught their children kenshibu (interpretive dance with katana sword performed to poetry) (Gye-dong Seoul 1942)

2022-03-28

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  (Notes) Back row, left-to-right: mother Keiko (38), son Kenkichi, daughters Eiko (18), Akiko (15), father Shōsei/Changseong (창성) (45) Front

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Japanese Language

A Korean father spent 8 years looking for the right prospective husband who only spoke Japanese and was a “true Imperial subject” to marry his eldest daughter, who was the only child who could speak Korean, while her 3 younger sisters spoke only Japanese (Yeongdeungpo, 1942)

2022-03-11

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  Notes: Back row left-to-right: father Manjirō (~42), mother Taeko (~35), daughter Hatsuko (~14). Front row left-to-right: daughters Sadako (~5),

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Korean comfort women interviewed after whirlwind 1943 Japan tour visiting wounded Imperial Japanese soldiers who ‘showed us again and again with their bodies, not with their words, that Japan and Korea were to be unified as one’ and ‘we were often moved to tears because we did not feel worthy’

2022-02-21

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  Notes: This article contains an interview with the Korean comfort women who were part of a ‘comfort team’ which

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Model Korean Family

Korean father and sushi chef boasts that his two children ages 3 and 7 not only don’t know a single word of Korean, they don’t even know yet that they’re Korean, he doesn’t let his 20 employees speak Korean, he hopes ‘all Koreans will become true Japanese people as soon as possible’ (Seoul 1942)

2022-02-17

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  Left-to-right: father Umeyoshi (42), daughter Hideko (7), mother Tokuko (40), son Yōzō (3).  (Translation) Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) May

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Recent Posts

  • Imperial Japanese and Korean collaborator elite partied in brothels and luxury restaurants while ordinary Koreans starved in wartime Seoul, early 1945
  • The film that tried to make Koreans see Imperial Japan as their “Omoni” (Mother): Inside the 1945 propaganda movie “Love and Vows” (愛と誓ひ, 사랑과맹세)
  • 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

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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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