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Exposing Imperial Japan

Exposing Imperial Japan

Viewing the suffering of colonized people through the lens of the colonizer's propaganda

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In 1942 Busan, Korean pastors and foreign...
Koreans generally used to make their own...
Korean director of Straits of Chosun (1943)...
Korean candidate defiantly ran for office in...
Korean modern dancer Choi Seung-hee featured in...
Converted Korean ‘ideological criminals’ (a.k.a. independence activists)...
Korean schoolgirls make improvised ‘tadon’ coal dumplings...
Imperial Japan had postwar plans to quadruple...
Korean kindergartners holding rising sun flags shouting...
Imperial Japanese colonial regime instilled intense fear...
Simon Young Kim (김영근), a South Korean...
Keijo Nippo editors endorsed the People’s Republic...
Governor Koiso likened Korea to a disabled...
Young Korean teachers teach children the ‘will...
In 1935, Pyongyang Girls’ High School made...

Tag: Cartoon

“Even Dreams Must Be in Japanese”: Imperial Japan’s Chilling Wartime Propaganda for Korean Assimilation
Japanese Language

“Even Dreams Must Be in Japanese”: Imperial Japan’s Chilling Wartime Propaganda for Korean Assimilation

2025-04-23

350

1117

These propaganda cartoons, serialized in 1943 during the height of Imperial Japan’s war mobilization, were aimed at the Korean audience.

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Propaganda cartoons from 1943 depict cheerful Koreans enjoying Imperial Japanese rule as they are sternly warned about eavesdropping Western spies
Japanese Language

Propaganda cartoons from 1943 depict cheerful Koreans enjoying Imperial Japanese rule as they are sternly warned about eavesdropping Western spies

2025-04-15

386

893

These propaganda cartoons, serialized in 1943 during the height of Imperial Japan’s war mobilization, were aimed at the Korean audience.

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Imperial Japanese cartoon from 1943 depicts Korean boy teaching his grandma how to issue commands to her dog in Japanese
Model Korean Family

Imperial Japanese cartoon from 1943 depicts Korean boy teaching his grandma how to issue commands to her dog in Japanese

2025-04-07

561

629

This propaganda cartoon, published in the Korean-language Maeil Sinbo Newspaper on November 1, 1943, depicts an idealized portrait of model

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Imperial Japanese cartoon from 1943 shows how Koreans were forced to bow to the Emperor every morning, speak Japanese, and accept poverty without complaints
Model Korean Family

Imperial Japanese cartoon from 1943 shows how Koreans were forced to bow to the Emperor every morning, speak Japanese, and accept poverty without complaints

2025-02-14

483

717

This 1943 propaganda cartoon depicts an idealized portrait of life as model Korean subjects under Imperial Japanese rule. It shows

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Recent Posts

  • “Demonic Americans”: How Imperial Japan Tried to Turn Koreans Against U.S. Missionaries in 1944
  • A Rare 1944 Korean–Japanese Bilingual Propaganda Poster Promoting Forced Labor Conscription
  • Terrified by rumors of forced labor conscription under the Imperial Army, young Korean women rushed into marriages to escape, prompting officials to hold April 1944 press conference to deny and deflect
  • Koreans tried to bribe their way out of Imperial Japan’s forced labor conscription, but patriotic student informants turned them in (June 1945)
  • In 1944, Imperial Japan launched an “all-out campaign” to erase Hangul from public life, mobilizing teachers and Korean youth to destroy Korean signs, books, and even phonograph records

Recent Comments

  • vong quay on Imperial officials fanned out across rural Korea visiting townships one by one to indoctrinate villagers in Imperialist ideology in ‘Grassroots Penetration’ Campaign (March 1944)
  • act-two on Koiso’s 1943 ‘Great Leader’ Strongman Tours: Surprise village inspections to intimidate local leaders and impose Japanese language and culture all over the Korean countryside
  • laser marking machine on Koiso’s 1943 ‘Great Leader’ Strongman Tours: Surprise village inspections to intimidate local leaders and impose Japanese language and culture all over the Korean countryside
  • zorse on April 1945 Seoul dining: the public endured price-gouging and scraps, while privileged Japanese and Korean collaborator elites drank and feasted behind closed doors

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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
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