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Exposing Imperial Japan

Imperial Japanese newspapers transcribed and translated into English

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This Japanese teacher devoted a decade of...
Governor Koiso told Korean conscripts in Imperial...
In 1943, ethnic Korean school principal says...
Young female employees lining up to receive...
A Japanese author took a Busan-Seoul train...
By December 1943, poultry was unavailable anywhere...
Angry Koreans filed numerous complaints against local...
Western firms including Shell, Mobil, HSBC, Otis...
Korean girls in a “women’s volunteer corps”...
In October 1943, Seoul high school girls...
Colonial officials claimed ‘Korean must naturally stop...
1943 editorial calls for Korean language to...
Despite Pastor Underwood’s heroic refusal to worship...
In 1942, one pro-Imperial Japan Korean family...
1943 Editorial: nature is an object of...

Tag: 1944

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)
School

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

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Uncategorized

Imperial Japan built Shinto shrines all over Korea in every eup and myeon, enlisting Patriotic Groups to “cultivate the worship of gods and faith in the Emperor” among Koreans and realize “the fusion of the Japanese-Korean family based on divine will”

2022-10-06

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It is April 1944, over two years into total war against the United States and Britain, and it is not

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Military

Governor Koiso told Korean conscripts in Imperial Army in 1944 address that the onus was on them to reduce anti-Korean discrimination by ‘cleansing away’ the ‘vestiges of the Yi Dynasty within themselves’ to become less dishonest, and be ‘penetrated in the true meaning of national identity’

2022-07-07

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The following address is a remarkable admission by the Governor-General of Korea that Korean conscripts had filed complaints about being

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Food Shortages

Governor-General Koiso blamed excessive chili peppers for ‘stimulating’ Koreans and making them ‘mentally foggy’, and ordered Koreans to ‘improve’ their diets by eating more salt and less chili peppers in his desperate 1944 push to revitalize the war effort

2022-07-03

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This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

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Imperial Way

Propaganda editorials about Shinto shrines built in every township in Korea so Koreans don’t feel so ‘lonely and empty in their hearts’ and Korea can become a ‘paradise truly in accordance with the Imperial Way’ where every Korean is required to perform the Jingu Taima exorcism ceremony at home

2022-06-20

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This is my translation and transcription of two news editorials from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

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Small community of ~100 Russian Tatars in Seoul featured in 1942-1944 propaganda articles: a young 19-year-old Tatar girl is praised for filling out immigration forms for her neighbors, a Tatar woman is commended for scolding her friends with red fingernails for wearing ‘British-American’ cosmetics
School

Small community of ~100 Russian Tatars in Seoul featured in 1942-1944 propaganda articles: a young 19-year-old Tatar girl is praised for filling out immigration forms for her neighbors, a Tatar woman is commended for scolding her friends with red fingernails for wearing ‘British-American’ cosmetics

2022-06-15

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This is my translation and transcription of four news articles from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

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Uncategorized

‘We’re going to Washington!’ – a 1944 statue of an Imperial Japanese Army soldier ‘glaring with glistening eyes at the U.S. burning with an attacking, fighting spirit’ saying, ‘I will stand firm with my heroes and march on the U.S. mainland!’

2022-06-06

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(Translation) Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) March 17, 1944 Wartime Art Exhibition “We’re Going to Washington!” Information Section Chief Prize By

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Uncategorized

Korean modern dancer Choi Seung-hee featured in 1944 promotional poster in Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo)

2021-12-29

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  Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) April 20, 1944 Choi Seung-hee Artistic Dance Performance World Dance Comfort for Warriors Promotion of

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Military

In March 1944 in Seoul, an angry speech by Governor Koiso of Japan-occupied Korea called for the “Anglo-Saxon utilitarian worldview” to be shattered and Hakko Ichiu thought to be spread across the world; his rally celebrated the war path of martyrdom and “Banzai to Holy War”

2021-11-22

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  Kuniaki Koiso was the Governor of Japan-occupied Korea from June 1942 to July 1944. He was arguably the most

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School

In June 1944, the Japanese military gave a Burmese delegation a VIP tour of Seoul, including the local schools Japanizing Korean children (photo: Susong School in Jongno-gu, Seoul)

2021-11-22

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 In June 1944, the Japanese military gave their Burmese visitors a VIP tour of Seoul, including the local schools that

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Recent Posts

  • August 28, 1945: Colonial regime announces a peaceful transition of power to the new incoming Korean government, reopens comfort women services, department stores, cafés in Seoul as popular uprising subsides, plans orderly repatriation of Japanese residents
  • Koreans first read of the US/Soviet Division of Korea on Aug. 25th, 1945 in this historic Keijo Nippo news article explicitly announcing for the first time that ‘Korea is to be made free and independent’
  • Imperial Japanese Army finally acknowledges Korea’s imminent independence just over a week after liberation (Aug. 23, 1945) with a jumbled announcement full of desperate denials, threats, and unconvincing reassurances to fend off Korean armed resistance
  • A mere 3 days after surrender, liberated Koreans were already attempting to overthrow the colonial regime in Korea, alarming the Imperial Japanese Army who made this radio broadcast on August 18, 1945 to threaten military action against ‘individuals harboring evil thoughts’
  • Annie Ellers Bunker, American missionary who went from personal physician to Empress Myeongseong to thriving philanthropist in Colonial Korea, was praised in this 1938 Keijo Nippo obituary for endorsing the Imperial Japanese Army

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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

    Exposing Imperial Japan

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