Exposing Imperial Japan – Page 11 – Viewing the suffering of colonized people through the lens of the colonizer's propaganda

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Korean Workers

Young female employees lining up to receive mandatory ‘payroll savings booklets’ to automatically deduct their wages to contribute to the Imperial Japanese war effort (Seoul, 1943)

2022-11-27

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The following is a photo of some young female employees at a company in Seoul lining up to receive some

Daily Life

Not content with merely banning U.S. and British jazz music, colonial authorities forced cafes, bars, and restaurants to throw out all phonograph records, and replaced the in-store background music with Imperial Japanese military songs and news propaganda blaring on the radio (Jongno, Seoul, 1943)

2022-11-23

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This is a story about a restaurant association in Jongno-gu, Seoul which not only banned American and British jazz music

School

This Japanese teacher devoted a decade of his life going door to door preaching “You Koreans and we Japanese are brothers, so dedicating yourselves to the Imperial nation is the only way!” the Koreans initially hated him, but eventually came to welcome him with respect, allegedly (Shimonoseki, 1943)

2022-11-21

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The following propaganda article profiles one Japanese teacher in Shimonoseki who took it upon himself to organize Korean residents into

Korean Workers

80 years ago today, Korean women were making gloves for the Imperial Japanese Army at a factory run by Wakōkyōen, a nonprofit of the Japanese Jōdo Buddhist sect operating in Korea since 1893 and contracting with the colonial regime to rehouse, educate, and employ evicted Seoul slum residents

2022-11-17

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This is a photo of Korean girls and women manufacturing gloves at a factory in Gwansu-dong, Seoul exactly 80 years

School

Korean schoolgirls standing in front of Seoul Whashin Department Store in 1943 as Korean women make some stitches in Shinto cloth amulets to be gifted to Imperial Japanese soldiers

2022-11-14

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In Imperial Japan, schoolgirls would stand around public places like department stores and hold white strips of cloth, and then

Imperial Way

Onerous regulations prescribing long lists of permissible and forbidden types of clothing were imposed on Koreans in 1943 to promote a ‘minimalist lifestyle’ of ‘Japanese beauty and simplicity’ in the name of wartime resource conservation

2022-11-11

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In September 1943, almost two years into waging war against the United States and Britain, facing extreme shortages in everything

Daily Life

Imperial Japanese PSA ordering residents to avoid movie theaters in the daytime, using a fictional skit contrasting Yōko, the ‘good Korean girl’ in simple work pants practicing air raid drills, against Hoshiko, the ‘bad Korean girl’ dressed up ‘flamboyantly’ going to the movies (Seoul, 1944)

2022-11-06

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This article is just one of many from the ‘Yōko versus Hoshiko’ column, a Keijo Nippo newspaper serial featuring fictional

Police

The modern Seoul police force has cultural continuity with the Imperial Japanese police force of the colonial period because the US occupation decided to staff the police leadership with Japanese-trained officers – here are two propaganda articles describing Seoul police culture in 1943 and 1944

2022-11-03

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The modern Seoul police as an organization descends directly from the Imperial Japanese colonial police forces which policed the Korean

Imperial Way

Everyone in Korea was required to immediately stop exactly at 7 am for the Kyūjō Yōhai prayer vowing loyalty to the Emperor and at noon for the moment of silence honoring Imperial soldiers, even cars and trains had to immediately stop in the middle of traffic at the same time for prayers (Aug. 1943)

2022-10-29

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In Japan-colonized Korea, everyone was required to perform the daily 7 am and 12 noon prayers. These 7 am and

Imperial Way

A back-to-school article telling Korean parents what their children would expect on their first day at Imperial Japanese elementary school: Shinto prayers to the Emperor, a free piece of bread for lunch, students were encouraged to earn their own money to buy some school supplies (April 1944, Seoul)

2022-10-25

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Imagine you are parent in 1944 Seoul and it is April, the beginning of the new school year. You are