Exposing Imperial Japan

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In 1943, Japanese company bosses discussed how to ‘train’ Korean workers to work even harder – one punished workers who suffered heat exhaustion by making them run, pushed them to work until they collapsed, strictly reprimanded them for consuming a 10-day food supply in only 3 days

2022-04-21

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Notes: It is July 1943. Imperial Japan, including Japan-colonized Korea, has been mobilized in total war against the United

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

Uncategorized

Tracing the origins of the myth that the Korean people invited Imperial Japan to colonize Korea, comparing anti-Korean comments on online Japanese forum, 2channel, and 1943 propaganda article defending the colonization of Korea

2022-04-02

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(Notes) This propaganda editorial from 1943 spreads the myth that the Korean people invited Imperial Japan to colonize Korea,

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

School

Korean schoolgirls attend a five-day swimming camp at Songdo, Incheon in the summer of 1943, learning to become “healthy mothers of Japan the Oceanic Nation”

2022-03-20

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(Notes) Duksung Women’s Vocational School was also featured in two other articles previously featured in this blog: this one from August 22,

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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),

Military

In April 1919, two Imperial Japanese soldiers were disarmed and knocked unconscious in a village in Pyeongsan-gun by 100 protestors, who tied them up for families of deceased protestors to kill, then freed by the ward leader who feared retaliation, only for reinforcements to arrest 20 protestors

2022-03-03

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Notes: The events in this article take place in Pyeongsan-gun in what is now North Korea. The incident happened on April 8,

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Imperial Japan called Seoul residents the laziest people in the world when it came to paying their taxes, and unleashed patriotic ‘Tax Collection Assault Units’ to more aggressively collect taxes from ‘delinquent tax collection districts’ (February 1942)

2022-02-28

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Notes: This propaganda article from 1942 claims that 25 out of every 100 taxpayers in Seoul were delinquent in

School

Korean schoolgirls in 1943 mending military uniforms almost nonstop with minimal breaks from 8:30a to 4p as Imperial Japanese soldiers loom over watching

2022-02-25

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(Translation) Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) July 19, 1943 A heart of sincerity in every stitch Repairing military uniforms at

Japanese Language

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