Exposing Imperial Japan – Page 3 – Viewing the suffering of colonized people through the lens of the colonizer's propaganda

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Niece of Korean collaborator nobleman Yoon Deok-yeong (윤덕영, 尹徳栄) was featured in 1939 article declaring ‘I really want to marry a Japanese man’ and adopting the Japanese surname ‘Izu’ to improve her marriage prospects

2024-04-14

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The following article from 1939 features a young 21-year-old Korean woman celebrating her newly given ability to change her surname

Education

Imperial Japan purged Korean schools of ‘pro-American’ professors, abolished Christian prayers, and labeled the English language as the ‘product of the enemy’, expelled Western missionaries (Dec. 1942)

2024-03-15

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I wanted to share something quite illuminating and, frankly, disturbing from a historical perspective. It’s an excerpt from an article

Model Korean Family

The Lim Family portrayed as happy, model pro-Japanese Koreans eagerly sending their eldest son Yeongjo to enlist in the ‘honorable’ Imperial Army as his little sister Imako-chan frolics with joy (Dec. 1943)

2024-03-03

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In December 1943, amidst the turmoil of World War II, Korea found itself under the colonial rule of Imperial Japan,

Education

Colonial regime forced Korean schools to drop English from the main curriculum to further wartime Imperial Japanese ‘character-building’ education (April 1943)

2024-02-19

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In April 1943, during the throes of the Pacific War, a notable article was published in Keijo Nippo, the leading

Korean Workers

Model Korean mother left baby and bedridden husband behind at home to work as a clerk for Imperial Japanese Army, praised by boss for happily working overtime, early morning to late at night for 1/3 the usual pay without complaining, even when so exhausted she couldn’t see straight (Feb. 1944)

2024-02-10

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This article features Mrs. Ahn, a Seoul native, who in the midst of war, leaves behind her baby and bedridden

Japanese Language

How Korean numbers (하나,둘,셋…) are related to Japanese numbers (hito-, futa-, mit-…), as explained by 1938 Japanese linguistics article from colonial regime

2024-02-05

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I ran into this interesting linguistics article in the June 1938 issue of “Chōsen” (Korea), published as an official propaganda

Imperial Way

Colonial regime made impassioned case for Japanese-Korean Unification in ranting mythological and historical narrative invoking the story of Yeonorang and Seonyeo, Shinto god Susanoo who settled in Silla, Prince Go Yak’gwang and Goguryeo refugees who settled in Musashi, Japan in 717 (April 1944)

2024-01-31

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A supporter sent me a copy of an extremely interesting wartime propaganda book published in April 1944 by the Imperial

Post-Liberation

Imperial Japanese news staff departing Korea wrote last words celebrating the ‘Young Korea’ as a ‘joyous uprising’, praising Kimchi, saying goodbyes to Korean collaborator writers, baring ‘a heart full of desolation’, mourning a daughter’s death, criticizing war leaders… (Nov. 1, 1945)

2024-01-23

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This is the second part of a two-part series. The first part is posted here. The following is content from

Post-Liberation

Japanese news staff wrote sad and internally conflicted farewell essays to the Korean people in the very last page of Keijo Nippo (colonial propaganda newspaper) published under Japanese control before takeover by Korean activists on Nov. 2, 1945

2024-01-17

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The following is content from a Seoul newspaper published on November 1, 1945, two and a half months after Japan’s

Post-Liberation

‘Malicious brokers’ and impoverished Koreans fought each other in cutthroat battles to lay claim to empty houses vacated by the Japanese in Seoul in immediate post-war period

2024-01-09

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Continuing with my ongoing exploration of the old newspaper archives from 1945 Korea that I checked out at the National