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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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Korean Woman in Hanbok Detained by Imperial...
Korean family of radio broadcasting official lived...
Propaganda story about a Japanese couple in...
In October 1922, a hit squad of...
Koreans needed Imperial police-issued ‘travel purpose certificates’...
Buyeo, former capital of Baekje, was used...
Imperial Japan called Seoul residents the laziest...
1943 Imperial Japanese editorial declares liberalism collapsed...
1943 Imperial Japanese editorial decries liberalism, individualistic...
Why did many Koreans “voluntarily” enlist in...
In June 1945, Imperial Japan announced a...
Forgotten Korean Suicide Attacker ‘Hero’ celebrated by...
In January 1943, the CEO of a...
Korean forced laborers worked the Gyeongsan cobalt...
Korean farming family weaving straw bags known...

Category: Travel

Daily Life

March 1945: Taxis in Seoul nearly vanish, rickshaws exploit passengers, yet Japanese and Korean collaborator elite still get chauffeured drunk to bars and brothels

2025-09-15

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In the last months of World War II before Imperial Japan’s surrender, the public transportation infrastructure in Seoul was in

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Travel

February 1945 news report painted Korean passengers as ‘loud’ and ‘unruly’ while praising Japanese as orderly and ‘appreciative’, detailing the broken and lawless overcrowded state of train travel in wartime Korea

2025-03-16

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By early 1945, the Pacific War had dragged on for over three years, and Imperial Japan’s war machine was straining

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Travel

Koreans needed Imperial police-issued ‘travel purpose certificates’ to travel on buses and trains by April 1944, police cracked down on female passengers for illegal food vending and ‘unnecessary and non-urgent travel’

2024-10-18

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1379

In the midst of World War II, life in Korea under Imperial Japanese rule was marked by increasing restrictions and

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Travel

Imperial Japan’s railway system in Korea was falling apart by early August 1945 with severe overcrowding, parts and labor shortages, exhausted staff causing more accidents, train conductors gone rogue …

2024-09-07

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This article offers a fascinating glimpse into the decrepit state of the streetcar system in Seoul at the beginning 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
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