Exposing Imperial Japan

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School

This 1942 stuttering correction seminar for Korean children involves Japanese vowel practice, abdominal training, and “infusing the Japanese spirit deep into the children’s hearts”

2021-12-17

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) August 5, 1942 Go out to the Co-Prosperity Sphere as a Human Resource Resurrecting Correct

Japanese Language

In Japan-occupied Korea, Koreans often spoke Japanese using phrases and grammar from regional Japanese dialects that they picked up from colonial settlers – mandatory language classes made them unlearn these “vulgar colloquialisms” and speak standard Japanese

2021-12-17

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), June 27, 1942 Shunning the adding of “shi” at the ends of sentences The Eighth

Uncategorized

February 1943, Seoul high school girls perform group calisthenics to prepare to become mothers of strong Imperial Japanese soldiers

2021-12-15

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) February 6, 1943 Behold our training! Gallantly doing group calisthenics Seoul No. 1 High School

Japanese Language

In Japan-occupied Korea, Koreans often mixed their spoken Japanese with Korean words like 아이고 (‘gosh’) and 나쁜 (‘bad’) and English words like ‘slogan’ and ‘service’ – in 1942, one Seoul police station cracked down on this by fining employees every time they uttered a Korean or English word

2021-12-14

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), July 8, 1942 Saying “Aigo” also results in punishment Seodaemun Police Officer Suggests a New

Philosophy

1943 Imperial Japanese editorial decries liberalism, individualistic humanism, rationalism, international universalism, and Marxist materialism of the West for corrupting Japan, and calls for a “high-minded Japanese worldview” and reliance on “irrational and mysterious powers” of the Japanese spirit

2021-12-13

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), February 24, 1943 The True Meaning of National Identity and the Righteous Peninsula (3) By

Prisoners of War

In 1942 Busan, Korean pastors and foreign residents (Russian Tatar family, English woman, Chinese consul) praise Imperial Japan as British POWs captured in Malaysia start arriving in the city

2021-12-11

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) September 24, 1942 People on the ground asked about the captured prisoners of war landing

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In 1943, ethnic Korean school principal says Koreans lack work ethic and can’t handle the slightest hardship, uneducated Korean mothers are reluctant to send their children to the workplace

2021-12-06

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), January 10, 1943 Reaction to “Hiring Koreans in the Workplace” As already reported, Governor Koiso’s

Uncategorized

1943 Editorial: nature is an object of love in Japan, while nature is an object of conquest in the West, which is why the early Scientific revolution started in the West

2021-12-04

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The True Meaning of National Identity and the Righteous Peninsula (4) The “Way” Penetrating the Reality of HistoryThe Japanese

Philosophy

1943 Editorial: the Imperial Way embraces the “freedom” of democracy, the “unity and authority” of Mussolini’s Fascism, and the “ethnic totalitarian world view” of Hitler’s Nazism, achieving a “complete and active freedom” by obeying the authority of the Japanese God-Man

2021-12-02

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) February 27, 1943 The True Meaning of National Identity and the Righteous Peninsula (6) Sawaichiro

School

In October 1943, Seoul high school girls make “comfort books” filled with pictures, poetry, songs, and cute dolls for Imperial Japanese soldiers fighting in the Pacific front

2021-11-30

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Gyeongseong Ilbo, October 29, 1943 Comfort books to the front lineNew Opportunity for Seoul No. 2 High School Girls