Almost in time for Hiroshima Day, we have a Japanese propaganda booklet from World War II detailing the Imperial Army's plan for dominating the nations of the region...
Also: Studying Abroad in Japan has a translation and some interesting comments about this booklet
Paul Battley has another translation here.
Also: 2Bangkok.com main page
 |
Carleton writes: While back home in the US this month I went through some old photos and papers of my great aunt who passed away a couple years ago and was in the Women's Army Corp during WW II. A sampling of some Japanese WW2 propaganda emerged. Curious scenes of oppressed/colonized Asia and liberated/happy Asia, from the imperialist Japanese perspective... |
Japanese view of the region before (above) and after (below).
 |
Left: Ahead of the recognizable Asian flags still used today are ones for Burma (with old peacock design) and Manchuko (Japanese invention of a free Manchuria). |
|
Right: Detail of the blackboard above. The Thai reads Ka, Tapoo, Bida, Kaba, Jana Below: The Thai part reads Life and prosperity together. |
 |
Below: And from another booklet...
2Bangkok.com main page
Pingback: KMT and CCP during WW2 - Page 2 - Historum - History Forums
I’m creating media for a museum exhibit and one of the films is about Japanese and American propaganda during WWII. I’ve seen the image at the top of this page on numerous websites and I was wondering if you know the source or could provide a higher resolution copy of it. Thank you for your help.
Best,
Keiko
I don’t know about the source of the material at the top of the page but I had an original of the “Farewell, American Soldier” leaflet which my father found in the Philippines during the second world war. I donated it to the Douglas MacArthur museum but the curator gave me a very good copy of it. Any original leaflets of this that may still exist are probably not in the best of condition. They were printed on rice paper and have deteriorated over the years. My leaflet was folded to fit in my fathers pocket and he later reinforced the folds with cellophane tape. It is almost 50 years old but in decent shape.
The Japanese plan to unite Asia might have worked if I wasn’t for the fact that those cocky japs love to act like they are the best and as we all know, there can only be one type of Asians that have ego problems and that is the Chinese.
The same Japnese are comming again, this time with the helps from the US. The US’ pivote to Asia is the biggest chance for the Japanese to come back to dream their never forgotten dream.
We hope the people in Asia won’t forget they have experienced befor, and use all means to hinder it.
Oh come on, enough with this fictitious comparison of modern Japan with the Japan of the 1930s. If anyone commenting here had ever actually lived in Japan they’d know the Japanese people are very very far from that kind of thinking. Stop playing games.
Japan is still not trusted by its Asian neighbors as its politicians, year by year seem to manage some historical contradictory gaff.
Leaders of large political parties such as Shintaro Ishihara have denied Japanese atrocities while blaming non Japanese for crime levels in Japan.A bleak economic outlook and continual tensions with China put Japan closer to war than any period since 1939.
Overall the Japanese militarists who goaded the country to war were horrifically discredited by the events of 1944-45.
The conservative mindset of the times is still present but the empire-building has been directed to commercial sphere.
There were 10M draft-age Japanese men ca. 1975 but now that’s just 6M.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LFWA24TTJPQ647S
Can’t fight anyone really with that small a population base.
The picture of FDR and Churchill acting befuddled is an excellent explanatory image of how the Japanese got into the war in the first place. Japan, especially the Imperial Army, didn’t think either enemy could project the force it eventually did.
The B-29 was a miracle of engineering that barely worked when pressed into service.