Category: History

Imperial Japanese propaganda and the history of Kodansha

Boingboing linked to scans of a Japanese propaganda booklet for kids from the Japanese Imperial period. The low resolution of the scans (not to mention the old-fashioned katakana orthography) makes it a bit hard to read, but that hasn’t stopped two different bloggers from posting translations before I even saw it. Kyle Goetz and Paul Battley both have translations, but Paul Battley’s, in which he places the translation in captions around the original images, is far more readable. Kyle Goetz’s translation, which has more comments and translation notes, is recommended only for those who also know some Japanese. Kyle theorizes that the booklet was written for foreigners, but I believe it is quite clearly a children’s book.

Unfortunately, the book seems to be undated, but from the cover we can see that it was published by Dai-Nihon Yuubenkai Kodansha (大日本雄弁会講談社). Anyone who has even a passing acquintance with Japanese media or publishing will probably recognize Kodansha, which is still a major publisher of magazines, comics and various types of books.

According to the history section of Kodansha’s English language site:

Seiji Noma, the founder of the company, published his first magazine, Yuben (Oratory) in 1909. This was followed in 1911 by Kodan Club, a monthly collection of kodan or traditional stories from which the company was to take its name. The success of Kodan Club assured the future of the new company and, by the mid-1930s, Kodansha had taken a leading position in the magazine publishing industry through the publication of nine magazines.

Looking at the timeline in the more detailed history section of their Japanese language website, we can see that Dai-Nihon Yuubenkai and it’s spinoff, Kodansha, were merged in 1925, creating a company with the combined name of Dai-Nihon Yuubenkai Kodansha. Since this remained the companies name until 1958 (when it became simply Kodansha Corporation) and this booklet is very much a product of the Imperial era, it must have been published between 1925 and 1945.

The Wikipedia article also contains a fun piece of trivia about Kodansha. Before World War II, the company attempted to branch out into other industries, marketting a nutritional beverage called Dorikono. However, due to a wartime sugar shortage, they were forced to cease production of the drink, and completely withdrew from the food industry.

U.S. paid Unit 731 members for data

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The United States paid money and gave other benefits to former members of a Japanese germ warfare unit two years after the end of World War II to obtain data on human experiments conducted in China, according to two declassified U.S. government documents.

It has been known that the Allies offered to waive war crime charges at the tribunal for officers of the Imperial Japanese Army’s Unit 731 in exchange for experiment data.

But the latest findings reveal Washington’s eagerness to obtain such data even by providing monetary rewards, despite the horrific nature of the unit’s activities, in an attempt to beat the Soviet Union in the arms development race.
Continue reading U.S. paid Unit 731 members for data

Taiwan protests to UN for `misinforming’ exhibit

From the Taipei Times:

DPA , NEW YORK
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005,Page 3

Taiwan on Friday protested to the UN for naming the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as one of the world body’s founding members in a 60th anniversary exhibit.

Taipei’s representative in New York, Andrew Hsia (夏立言), wrote to Shashi Tharoor, the undersecretary-general for public information, accusing the UN of “blatantly deviating from history and misinforming the world.”

The Republic of China (ROC) — later known as Taiwan — was the government in power in China at the end of World War II and one of five powers that began the process of creating the UN, which was founded in 1945.

Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) communist forces forced the government to flee to the island of Taiwan in 1949, and communist China was awarded the Chinese seat at the UN in 1971.

Hsia protested because an exhibition at UN headquarters on its 60th anniversary includes a poster with names of the 51 countries that signed the UN Charter on June 26, 1945. The People’s Republic of China was named one of them.

“I hope that this mistake has been unintentional and ask for your prompt attention and action to have it corrected,” Hsia said.

The other UN founders were the US, the Soviet Union, France and the UK.

Notice that the article says “The Republic of China (ROC) — later known as Taiwan .” Despite a recent movement to change the name, this country is in fact still officially known as the Republic of China. It is known as Taiwan almost universally in informal circumstances, but the article’s wording implies that an official name change has taken place.

This article is apparently a product of the German wire service, Deutsche Press-Agentur. Unfortunately, unlike similar American services, it is subscriber only, and there is no way for me to check and see if the original article contains this statement or if it is a result of editing by the customer (the Taipei Times).

The Taipei Times, as the English language sister newspaper to the pro-independence Chinese language daily Liberty Times, is itself unabashedly pro-independence. While I generally sympathize with their politics, they do seem to have a history of playing a bit loose with the facts when it serves their political ends-a tendency that leaves me less than 100% trusting of their coverage. Bias may be appropriate in the editorial pages of a newspaper, and even in choice and manner of events covered, but I simply don’t believe that publishing genuinely misleading copy is helpful in the long run.

Does anybody out there have access to the DPA news feed, who could find the original unedited version of this article?

I should of course mention that the factual basis of the article would be pro-Taiwan enough without this manipulative phrase. It is absolutely true that it was the Republic of China, and not the People’s Republic of China, that was a founding member of the UN, and it is irresponsible of the UN to put out such incorrect information.

Decades After Abuses by the Japanese, Guam Hopes the U.S. Will Make Amends

Decades After Abuses by the Japanese, Guam Hopes the U.S. Will Make Amends
By JAMES BROOKE

MERIZO, Guam, Aug. 11 – In July 1944, American warships were bobbing on the Pacific horizon when a squad of Japanese soldiers swept through this old Spanish fishing port. Jogging down sandy alleys and bursting into stucco homes, they rounded up 30 villagers, all known for their ties to the United States.

“They didn’t want any leaders to be around when the military landed,” Ignacio Cruz said as he recalled the roundup he watched as a 17-year-old. “Then, they machine-gunned them, they grenaded them, and if they found them surviving, they bayoneted them.”

“Dad got killed, and a lot of young babies were brought up without fathers,” continued Mr. Cruz, who grew up, joined the Marines and became the village mayor, the post his father once held. “I managed to survive, and go to school, and build a house for my mother and continue my education.”
Continue reading Decades After Abuses by the Japanese, Guam Hopes the U.S. Will Make Amends

If you thought politicians in your country were immature — Part II

In keeping with Roy’s recent post on immature politicians, my previous post on a past dissolution of the Japanese Lower House, and the recent dissolution of the current Lower House by Koizumi, I thought it apropos to write today about a past instance in Japanese politics where immatuure politics led to the dissolution of the Lower House — the バカヤロー解散, or “name-calling dissolution.”

The incident in question occured on February 23, 1953 during a meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee (衆議員予算委員会) as then Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru (吉田茂) was questioned by Nishimura Eiichi (西村栄一) of the rightist faction in the Japan Socialist Party (右派社会党). Yoshida’s outburst during the questioning session would eventually lead to Yoshida’s dissolution of the Lower House, and finally to elections.

Here is an abridged transcription of the exchange:

西村「総理大臣が過日の施政演説で述べられました国際情勢は楽観すべきであるという根拠は一体どこにお求めになりましたか」

吉田「私は国際情勢は楽観すべしと述べたのではなくして、戦争の危険が遠ざかりつつあるということをイギリスの総理大臣、あるいはアイゼンハウアー大統領自身も言われたと思いますが、英米の首脳者が言われておるから、私もそう信じたのであります(中略)」

西村「私は日本国総理大臣に国際情勢の見通しを承っておる。イギリス総理大臣の翻訳を承っておるのではない。(中略)イギリスの総理大臣の楽観論あるいは外国の総理大臣の楽観論ではなしに、(中略)日本の総理大臣に日本国民は問わんとしておるのであります。(中略)やはり日本の総理大臣としての国際情勢の見通しとその対策をお述べになることが当然ではないか、こう思うのであります」

吉田「ただいまの私の答弁は、日本の総理大臣として御答弁いたしたのであります。私は確信するのであります」

西村「総理大臣は興奮しない方がよろしい。別に興奮する必要はないじゃないか」

吉田「無礼なことを言うな」

西村「何が無礼だ」

吉田「無礼じゃないか」

西村「質問しているのに何が無礼だ。君の言うことが無礼だ。(中略)翻訳した言葉を述べずに、日本の総理大臣として答弁しなさいということが何が無礼だ。答弁できないのか、君は……」

吉田「ばかやろう…」

西村「何がバカヤローだ。バカヤローとは何事だ。（以下略）」

(My) Translation:


Nishimura: What exactly was the basis of the Prime Minister’s statement during a recent policy speech that the international situation was optimistic?

Yoshida: I wasn’t saying that the international situation should be optimistic. I think that the British Prime Minister and President Eisenhower themselves had said that the danger of war was receeding and because the American and British heads of state said so, I also belive it to be so (abbv.)

Nishimura: I’m asking for the Prime Minister of Japan’s outlook on the international situation. It’s not like I’m asking for a translation of the British Prime Minister`s outlook. (abbv.) This isn’t about the optimism of the British Prime Minister or some other foreign Prime Minister (abbv.) The Japanese people are questioning the Prime Minister of Japan. Isn’t it natural that Japan’s Prime Minister should state his outlook and policy on international affairs? I think it is.

Yoshida: My answer just now is my answer as the Prime Minister of Japan. There’s no doubt about that.

Nishimura: I don’t think the Prime Minister should get so excited. There’s no need to get that worked up, is there?

Yoshida: Don’t be so impudent.

Nishimura: What’s impudent?

Yoshida: You’re impudent.

Nishimura: I’m just asking you questions. What’s so impudent about that? What you’re saying is impudent. (abbv.) What’s impudent about my asking you, as the Prime Minister of Japan, without using [Churchill’s*] translated words, to answer me? Can’t you answer? You…

Yoshida: You Idiot!

Nishimura: Who’s the idiot! Who are you calling an idiot?

The transcription ends here, but Nishimura went on to demand that Yoshida retract his comments, which Yoshida finally agreed to do. However, this was not enough to mollify Nishimura, whose party introduced a disciplianry measure (here’s a great new Japanese word one does not often run across –> 懲罰動議•ちょうばつどうぎ) on March 2. The measure passed in part due to the absence of a number of Yoshida’s own Liberal Party (自由党) members (it would still be two years before the formation of the LDP), notably those members close to Hatoyama Ichiro, who would later suceed Yoshida as Prime Minister, and Hirokawa Kozen, who at the time was serving as Agriculture Minister in Yoshida’s third cabinet.

But the retaliation did not stop there. Tweleve days later a motion of non-confidence was passed, which resulted in Yoshida’s dissolution of the Lower House and call for elections. Yoshida managed to be reelected Prime Minister and would hold on to power for almost two more years before resiging as Prime Minister and head of the Liberal Party.

(For the single, but excellent, online English language account I was able to locate, please see Mayumi Itoh’s article The Depurging of Hatoyama Ichiro: Power Struggles in Postwar Japan in the online journal E-ASPAC I should point out that it is from this source that I have used the english translation, “name-calling dissolution.”)

* Because the transcription provided by Wikipedia was abridged in several places it does not specifically mention Churchill’s name. However, this additional transcription found here fills in some of the gaps, including Nishimura’s criticism of Yoshida’s frequent quoting of foreign leaders, Churchill among them.

Classic WW2 Japan footage

Everyone has probably already seen some news coverage of the 60th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Nagasaki’s anniversary is today, and as always, overshadowed by their big-brother in nuclear devastation.)

Archive.org has an excellent collection of public domain films of various types, and here are links to some of the good ones I’ve found related to Japan, WW2, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

First of course we have Tale of Two Cities, A (1946), a film produced by the US War Department. While it clealy shows the devastation wrought on the cities, there is a conspicuous lack of human victims.

Next is My Japan (1945)

Complex and disturbing anti-Japanese propaganda film produced to spur the sale of U.S. war bonds. CONTENT ADVISORY: Explicit racism and extreme violence.

While, as the label says, this film is narrated in a bizarre Charlie Chan-ish yellowface manner, it’s actually one of the more interested presentations of Japan from that time that I’ve seen. It clearly presents Japan from the standpoint of an enemy that must be defeated, but does so by describing them as relentless adversaries worthy of respect.

Another notable must-see propaganda film is Our Enemy: The Japanese (1943)

Stridently anti-Japanese film that attempts to convey an understanding of Japanese life and philosophy so that the U.S. may more readily defeat its enemy. Depicts the Japanese as “primitive, murderous and fanatical.” With many images of 1930s and 1940s Japan, and a portentious and highly negative narration by Joseph C. Grew, former U.S. ambassador to Japan.

And last, Japanese Relocation (ca. 1943)

U.S. government-produced film defending the World War II internment of Japanese American citizens.

Universal Studios was good enough to, in 1967, put much of their pre-TV newsreel footage into the public domain.

Some relevant highlights from this collection:

Pres. Truman Warns Japs To Give Up, 1945/06/07 (1945)

“In a speech to Congress, President states that Japan faces the same complete destruction that was visited upon Germany. To that end, millions of troops, and their implements of war, are being transferred more than half way around the earth. The President adds that though many key industries have already been leveled by U.S. air attack, all of Japan’s industries will be completely destroyed unless Japan surrenders.

Jap Films of Hiroshima, 1946/08/05 (1946)

(1) Japanese Films of atomic bomb blast at Hiroshima, released one year later (2) Underwater atom blast rocks Bikini (line down middle of film frames) Admiral Blandy commander of task force, 2nd test of Operation Crossroads, cameras point to site of underwater explosion Test Baker, mushroom cloud of explosion, carrier Saratoga finally sinks, another view of the blast from overhead airplane. (sound track cuts out at very end)

B-29s Rule Jap Skies,1944/12/18
(1) “At Saipan, after briefing, the members of the 21st bombing Command take to Super Fortresses and roar into the sky – destination Tokyo! They shower tons of bombs and incendiaries on the huge sprawling city as they hit factories, steel mills and docks. Mass civilian evacuation of Tokyo was ordered after this raid. Japs Raid Saipan – Saipan is attacked by Jap raiders, 14 of which are shot down, after they had started spectacular fires and caused minor damage.” scenes of Japan fighter planes st…

Damage Foreshadows A-Bomb Test , 1946/06/06 (1946)

(1) “Japan: Dramatic pictures of atom bomb damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki foreshadow the coming Bikini Atoll experiment. Intense heat and light of blast scarred shadows of human beings on destroyed bridges!” scenes of visual evidence of atomic damage in Hiroshima (2) Italy Joins Democracies – “Italy: Following mass demonstrations and a democratic referendum, Italian voters cast their lot with the democracies and oust their king. The majority, who voted republican, wanted ‘No More Balconies!'” (partial newsreel)

How far back does your geneology go?

Prolific blogger Joi Ito delves a bit into his family’s ancient history. It’s a bit awe-inspiring for someone who just barely has a vague idea of which Eastern European countries his grandparents moved to Brooklyn from.

After the study group meeting at City Hall, I visited our family grave. I took a look at where my name will at some point be etched as the 19th family head of the Ito family. I took the opportunity to grill my uncle a bit more about the specifics of our history since I’ll be the custodian of this information at some point. I also had him collect up various family history documents. It appears that the first Ito, moved into our current home about 400 years ago and was some kind of union of a 25th descendent of Emperor Kanmu, the 50th Emperor (we’re on #125 now), and Kawatari Fujiwara. I can’t understand the old-fashioned Japanese text to understand the details of the arrangement. I believe Kawatari Fujiwara was from the Fujiwara family that lived in our region until they were defeated around 400 years ago. The only thing left from this period of the Fujiwara estate/castle is a golden pagoda and mummies in Hiraizumi. Anyway, the story I heard from my mother was that after their defeat, the survivors fled and started their own families in the region, and took the character “Fuji” from “Fujiwara” and changed their names to “Saito”, “Goto” and “Ito” which all use “Fuji” character for the “To” part of the names. Anyway, I’m not positive about the details so I better find out more before I have to take over the family and my children start asking me all kinds of questions.

Paekche and Kudara

I don’t usually like to just provide links to things on other blogs, but the Marmot pointed out this amazing article that’s just the sort of thing I love.

A research on the name Kudara
Here’s a random excert.

For these characters Karlgren reconstructs the archaic and ancient Chinese pronounciations: *χmwət / χuət for 忽 , – / mai: for 買 , *nâd / nâi- for 奈 and *nəg / nậi for 乃 50, from which we can obtain the pronounciations in Paekche’s language *xol for “fortress”, corresponding to the Mongolian qorga “fortress 51, fence”, to the ancient Turkish qurγan “fortress” and koriğ “enclosure” 52 and to the MK 53 .ulh “enclosure, fence” 54, *mai for “river”, perhaps to be connected to the MK mɨl “water”, and with the Mongolian mari “great river” 55, *nai for “land”, corresponding to the Jurchin náh, to the Manchu na, to the Goldi na and to the ancient Japanese *na, all with the meaning of “land”.

The already cited 56 Chou-shu passage mentions for the king of Paekche the names Wolaγa 於羅瑕 and Kjʌnkitsi 鞬吉支 and for the queen the name Woljuk 於陸 57. Let’s reconstruct, always with the help of Karlgren, the northern Chinese pronounciations of the 6th-7th century of these names.

Jewish populations

I spotted this article in the English language edition of Haaretz via this very cool website, which presents links to and translations of foreign press clippings about attitudes towards the US from around the world.

srael will have the largest Jewish population in the world by 2006, when it will surpass the United States for the first time in history, the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute said Monday.

Planning institute director general Avinoam Bar-Yosef presented the research group’s annual report on “the situation of the Jewish people” to the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee on Monday. The institute, which is partly funded by the Jewish Agency, concluded that the State of Israel is the single guarantee of the Jewish people’s continued existence. Bar-Yosef will submit the report to the government next week.

Today about 5.28 million Jews live in the U.S., with 5.235 million living in Israel.

For some reason this makes me a little uneasy. I’d always been a little bit relieved that Israelis were the minority of the world’s Jewish population. With there finally being more Jews in Israel than the US, will it be harder for people to accept that non-Israeli Jews like myself don’t necessarily have any particular bond to the country, support for their policies, or desire for them to have laws granting me special rights and privileges.

The article also notes that are are only about 1 million Jews left in Europe today. As we all know about 6 million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis, and of those who survived a huge proportion emigrated, becoming much of the aforementioned Israeli and American Jew populations.

To see the aftermath of the virtual disappearance of Jews from Eastern Europe, we turn to this fascinating article from the Boston Globe.

”How — if there were no Jews — the world would be enraptured!” she wrote. ”The people that stood at Sinai to receive a desert vision of purity, the people of scholarly shepherds, humane prophetic geniuses, dreams of justice and mercy” — how admired they would be. In a world without Jews, the memory of Jewish civilization would be endlessly fascinating. ”Christian ladies,” Ozick imagined, would ”study ‘The Priceless Culture of the Jews’ at Chautauqua in the summertime” or create Jewish prayer shawls at ”a workshop on tallith making.”

Well, Jews haven’t vanished from the world. They have, however, all but vanished from Poland. More than 90 percent of Poland’s Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, and most of those who survived emigrated long ago. The result is that a land that once was home to 3 million Jews — 10 percent of Polish society, the largest Jewish population in Europe — is now more than 99.9 percent non-Jewish. Millions of Poles have never knowingly met a Jew. But, oh, how enraptured they are with the genius that was Israel!

I arrived in Krakow near the end of the annual Jewish Culture Festival, a nine-day extravaganza of concerts, lectures, films, and exhibitions — all with the aim, to quote a festival brochure, of ”presenting Jewish culture in all its abundance.” An elegant catalog, 160 pages long, lists a dizzying array of offerings: lectures on ”Talmudic thought” and ”Jewish medical ethics,” forums on European anti-Semitism and the Hebrew poetry of Haim Nahman Bialik, concerts of klezmer music, liturgical music, and ”Songs of the Ghettos and Jewish Resistance,” workshops on Jewish cooking, Hasidic wedding dances, and celebrating Hanukkah with children.

I suppose it’s kind of sweet in a macabre sort of way that they find us so fascinating now that we’ve vanished from their country, but wouldn’t it have been nice if there had been a little bit of apprecation in Poland for Jewish culture say, between 1900 and 1945?

Turpan village holy site

This green dome is built above a cave that is considered the holiest Muslim site in all of China. The Uyghur people who inhabit Xinjiang (or East Turkestan, as it was known during a brief period of independence during the Chinese civil war) were devout Buddhists before they converted to Islam many centuries ago.

According to legend, the king of Turpan, who was a Buddhist, felt threatened by Islam and sent soldiers to chase down the first three Muslim missionaries that came to the region. They were eventually cornered here and sought refuge in the cave. The soldiers thought they would wait them out, but they were miraculously transformed into doves, and flew out of the cave and over the soldiers heads to freedom.

Today, Chinese Muslims often take pilgrimage here, since it is difficult to obtain permission from the government to travel to Mecca.