Japanese Propaganda Cartoons - Updated

Momotaro's Sea Eagle's 1943 Japanese Promotional Poster

Countries involved in any war engage in propaganda. It can be done with the blessing of the media, it can be done with the blessing of the government. Look... let's face it... I have worked for a daily newspaper or two in my day, and I know you aren't getting all the news that's fit to print... it's all the news the media wants you to know about.

This is what propaganda is... except it quite obviously slanders one country or political leader or religion or religious ideal while raising your own views to a higher level....

I've already shown you some very funny, racist cartoons created by patriotic American cartoon companies that were shown to children in movie theaters back in the 1940s. It was to show that evil exists and that we (patriotic we) are taking care of it for you, so don't sweat the gas rations or lights-out or curfews... we know what we are doing - and it's for your own good. Now rally around the flag boys and girls and cheer your country (which ever one you are in) to victory. Oh... by bonds, do a paper drive and plant a victory garden.

Japan was no different. As the aggressor nation in World War II against the U.S., Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaya, Burma, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, Australia, (and lots more!!!) and before that in the 1930s its invasion of so many other countries like China, Manchuria, Indo-China, Soviet Union (Yup!), Mongolia.

Yes... Japan was one bad mama-jamma. And still... in an effort to show that might makes right, Japan took the time to make a few propaganda cartoons - a selection of which are presented here for your perusal.

My friend Mike Rogers over at Marketing Japan has done a nice job in telling us a bit about Japanese propaganda cartoons, teaching me about such classics as Momotaro's Sea Eagles and Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors.

Wow... it's funny... I've always had a morbid fascination of WWII, going through my parents books as an eight-year-old staring at corpses in the Nazi ovens or the emaciated creatures the photo caption swore were people in something called a death camp. Even then I wasn't stupid. I knew it was a long time ago. And despite having a Jewish grandmother and German friends, knowing what I did about the past didn't affect the way I lived my present.

I personally think it's a great idea for people (and kids) to see these propaganda cartoons - provided some proper context is provided as to what they are actually seeing and why it was done, and why such views are not acceptable in today's society.

Too many people on this great blue marble have skewed views of the world. Others simply don't know their history. Of course... and this is why I am actually presenting this particular blog... history is always (re)written by the winners.

Twenty years ago when I first wanted top go to Japan and applied to the Japanese Consulate here in Toronto about getting into the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme. I quite clearly stated that one of the reasons why I wanted to go (and I'll bet I'm the only person to have honestly stated this), is that I wanted to go and actually talk to some of Japan's elder statesmen (old people) about what they thought about the war--to find out what they thought and felt, and how it impacted their life and that of their family.

Remember... history is written by the winners... despite Japan's pomp and bravado in the following cartoons, Japan was the 'loser' in WWII (amongst others). I wanted to know... not what the 'victors' had to say... but what the 'losers' had to say.

And I have no idea why so many of Japan's old-timers opened up to me (may have been the sake - Japanese rice wine), but they did. It made the past... WWII, less about a cold, sterile history and more human to me.

Go and talk to a war vet... while there is still time. Learn.

But... before you do... grab some of the flavor of WWII by watching some of Japan's propaganda cartoons!

Japanese males were characterized as being courageous and composed, kind and tolerant. China, meanwhile, is represented by women who are alluring, but obstinate and capricious. Western culture is disparaged through stereotypical portrayals, with Japanese or other Asian males with a Western education -- typically shown indulging in American cigarettes and jazz music -- portrayed as cowardly, deceitful, pleasure-seeking and venal.

The first Japanese cartoon we'll look at, is Momotaro's Sea Eagles (in Japanese it is: 桃太郎の海鷲 or Momotarō no Umiwashi) was made in 1942 by Seo Mitsuyo (surname first), and released by Geijutsu Eigasha on March 25, 1943 with a running time of 37 minutes.

It was supposedly produced with the cooperation of the Japanese Naval Ministry, but no cooperation was in place to protect military secrets, but nonetheless the Japanese Imperial Navy did endorse the film.

In this featurette Momotaro is portrayed as a young naval human commander leading a squadron of funny-animal monkey fighter pilots (his "sea eagles"). Featuring the "Peach Boy" character of Japanese folklore, this film was aimed at children, telling the story of a naval unit consisting of the human Momotaro and several animal species representing the Far Eastern races fighting together for a common goal. In a dramatization of the attack on Pearl Harbor, this force attacks the demons at the island of Onigashima - representing the Americans and British demonized in Japanese propaganda. In fact oni means ogres, demons and trolls - I'm not sure what ga means except maybe it's a modifier, and shima (and jima) means island), and the film also utilizes actual footage of the Pearl Harbor attack.

God help me... I could NOT find a copy of this cartoon anywhere - and I searched and searched! However, there is a small bit of it contained in the cartoon compilation below. A DVD version without English subtitles was released in Japan by Kinokuniya Shoten in 2004; one with subtitles was released in the United States by Zakka Films in 2009

Our next film is a sequel to the one above. Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (originally called in Japanese 桃太郎 海の神兵（ももたろう うみのしんぺい） Momotaro Umi no shinpei): Directed again by Seo, he was ordered to make a propaganda film for the war by the Japanese Naval Ministry, and with the Shochiku Moving Picture Laboratory, they shot the 74-minute film in 1944 and debuted it to audiences on April 12, 1945.

Here's a synopsis of the movie: After completing his naval training, a bear cub, a monkey, a pheasant and a puppy return home to say good-bye to their respective families. Again featuring Momotaro of Peach Boy fame, the cartoon is all about Japan's liberation of Asia and depicts a surprise attack on Sulawesi Island, featuring some awesome parachute jumps. The monkey, puppy and bear are the paratroopers, while the pheasant (being the only one with wings, naturally), is a pilot.  

Down below, is a You Tube video showing part one of nine...  when you click through, you will see links beside it to see the whole movie. This cartoon, despite the lack of translations is well worth the watch to peer into the mind-set of Japan during World War II.

What's interesting is how the school uniforms still worn today by the junior and senior high school kids are patterned after the navy costumes of Japan.

Okay, this has been all very good... Mike Rogers of Marketing Japan blog (see HERE) showed off these two films... but let's look a little closer at Japan's war on Asia done pre-WWII.

The classic Japanese cartoon from 1933 that I have chosen for you is Ugokie-ko-ri-no-tatehiki which I believe translates into Moving Picture: Fox and Tanuki (Raccoon Dog) Cheat Each Other. It is directed by Oishi Ikuo (surname first) and made by Toho Studios.

People who know their cartoons (me) know this one has a similar feel to the Max Fleischer cartoon of the era - if anyone has ever seen any of the black & white Popeye cartoons from this era - they are superb, and to me were the best (non-Disney) cartoons made until hell... Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

This toon has synced sound with a great soundtrack featuring traditional Japanese music and instruments. It also has some great visual puns and utilizes some excellent camera angles.

The plot revolves around a farmer walking in the woods, but being frightened away by a shape-shifting fox. The fox then disguises himself as a samurai and makes his way to a temple haunted by a young shape-shifting tanuki (raccoon dog) whose various attempts to frighten the fox/samurai away fail. The young tanuki telephones his father, and they join forces against the samurai/fox. During the pranks, the temple becomes ruined during an epic battle between the fox and the two tanuki. 

Now, obviously not all of Japan's cartoons were propaganda cartoons. Here's a delightful one from 1943 directed by Masaoka Kenzo entitled Kumo-to-Churippu (Spider And Tulip).

It is a story about a ladybird being chased by a spider. The spider catches the ladybird, but then it rains, the spider drowns, and the ladybird is freed by a friendly fly.
Just so you know, this is an important cartoon because it wasn't a propaganda cartoon - probably the only one made in Japan during the war! This actually angered the Japanese military! Three cheers for Masaoka-san for having the guts to make it!

And finally, here's an epic Japanese cartoon made post WWII showing the horrors of Hiroshima (and Nagasaki). This is NOT a propaganda cartoon. End of story.

It was made in 1983, and I believe is called Barefoot Gen. People who write in and comment about videos are often idiots - and the number of people who have done so when viewing this particular cartoon are proof of that. The cartoon is meant to show the horrors of war. To the Japanese, getting their collective ass kicked by atomic bombs was an eye-opener, and forever changed the way the Japanese went about its business globally. The cartoon is meant to state - 'never again'. It is not mean to point fingers. It is not mean to moan about how unfair the war was to Japan. It was made to show how unfair war can be to the innocent. Personally... if you are a soldier involved in a war, you are fair game. Civilians - and it doesn't matter which war or conflict throughout the history of mankind, civilians.. they suffer. Through the loss of loved ones, or through the rape, pillage and like in this cartoon, the near-total decimation of life, war sucks the big one.

You'll notice that the cartoon opens up as just another day, where people seemingly unaffected by the horrors of war are simply going about their life. But the then... war intrudes in a big, big way, ensuring the future of warfare and life-fare will be changed forever.  

It's a cartoon. And one that shows the horrors of war that propaganda will never reveal.  

I urge you all to take a good look at this movie and pray to whatever god or gods you worship that no one ever uses an atomic or nuclear weapon on another human being again. This cartoon is effing awesome. Thanks to my friend known as Alucard, we know this film is called Pikadon (brilliant light = pika; thunderous blas = don). Alucard says that the movie was created by Kinoshita Renzou (surname first). I really appreciate the help!

 
For a look at American propaganda cartoon made during WWII, please check out my November 16, 2011 blog: HERE.

Yes... it took me a month-and-a-half to create this particular blog, but I tried to do some serious research. 

By Andrew Joseph

Battle Of Iwo Jima - 67 Year Anniversary

With American veterans and Japanese dignitaries listening to a brass band, the 67th anniversary of Iwo Jima was marked on March 14, 2012 on the island that came to symbolize WWII's most dramatic, if not bloodiest battle.

The anniversary was celebrated with representatives of each nation saluting their respective flag at the base of Mount Suribachi - the iconic site of the five American Marines and one navy corpsman raised the Star Spangled Banner in 1945.

The photo up above, is an American Press photo and is one of the most famous and inspiring images of the war in the Pacific theater.

The bloody battle only began on February 19, 1945 and lasted until March 26, 1945 when Iwo Jima was officially declared secure as 21,570 Japanese and 6,821 Americans died in the fierce battle - nearly the entire Japanese compliment of troops on the isle.

Iwo Jima (in Japan it is known as Ioto jima - Ioto Island) is an uninhabited island about 700 miles south of Tokyo. The U.S. occupied the island until 1968 when it returned to Japan who still maintain a small military outpost.

This memorial, known as the Reunion of Honor, has been held on Iwo Jima since 1985 when American veterans began returning for a 40th anniversary. The memorial has been held every single year except 2011, which was cancelled after the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake.

Every single year, bodies, or rather remains, are found on Iwo Jima. However, as of 2012, there are still some 12,000 Japanese military men and 218 U.S. soldiers who are officially considered MIA (Missing In Action), though a recent search of the island in 2010 discovered a pair of mass graves that it suspects may hold at least 2,000 Japanese bodies.

Files compiled by Andrew Joseph

LEGO: Above And Below The Sea

I've been building models since I was four, and sleeping with models since I was 29. I've done a lot of both. But despite gaining a lot of satisfaction from models, I've always been limited in one way, shape or form.

My first model was, believe it or not, a submarine. It was maybe 10-inches long - probably from Revell - and was grey moulded. I glued it together quickly if not inaccurately - but I did it all by myself - and them submerged it into my goldfish aquarium. You might think the glue would have killed the fish, but I know for a fact one of those fish lived to be 17 years of age - in my possession.

Anyhow... building models - you had to follow the instructions. There were no extra parts unless you built it wrong. As an adult, I would begin to alter my models - specifically the 1/24th scale cars  and smash them with another kit to create my own Hot Rods. Although for my WWII airplanes and for my spacecraft, I went with authenticity - the same for the classic war ships, like the Phoenician galley et al.

When I got into Dungeons and Dragons, I began painting my own figurines (25mm in size) and learned all sorts of cool techniques from Dragon Magazine. Then I began building my own D&D worlds with cardboard... and while the spirit was willing, the talent was weak. By the way, cardboard should have been written as 'corrugated'. Packaging industry veteran eh.

But, it wasn't until recently - the past two years - when I got my son involved in LEGO, that things began to snap together. I would buy my 4-year-old son the most complex and huge LEGO models knowing they were too complex for him to build just so I could build them. The Power Miners stuff was awesome. The same with LEGO City and LEGO Star Wars.

And then LEGO put out Ninjago when my son was five. The Japanese-stylized LEGO world. Awesome. And then LEGO put a shop seven minutes from my house. The fates were screaming at me to listen. So I did.

Combining new LEGO Ninjago sets, with some older Japanese ones from my cousin Marc to my son Hudson (now 6), combined with some LEGO Castle sets, and just plane bricks from the LEGO wall... I began to use my fertile imagination. All fertile soil needs some bull-sh!t, and I'm full of it. I then started buying special parts from E-bay and presto... I began building LEGO dioramas of Feudal Japan.

My wife thinks I am insane. My son knows I am. But, as every sane person knows, only a crazy person would say they are not crazy - but I am not crazy. Just passionate.

But I had to do something! The little bugger is building at a 10-year-old level and sure as heck doesn't need dear old dad's help to build anything. I needed an outlet!

Four huge dioramas later - you've only seen three (DIORAMA 1, DIORAMA 2, DIORAMA 3), I've decided to go small... and to try something different.

Levels.

This underwater scene is all about levels. A Japanese fisherman catches a fish out on the sea - unaware that a shark just below the surface is about to take his prize! Further down, a Ninja in flippers has made his way (unbeknownst to the fisherman) past the boat and is about to attack an octopus guarding a treasure - a skeleton - though the Ninja believes it is protecting a treasure chest. The Ninja is also unaware (or is he aware?) that behind him looms a shark, that if it wasn't for the caught fish distracting it, the Ninja would be in great danger... or perhaps the octopus would be.

No one is bothering the snail, the spiky plants going with the flow of the current, or the bamboo-like plants growing from the exposed rock near the boat. Some of the things the fisherman caught seem odd, though...

Levels.

Enjoy. And remember that it's all just bricks in the wall... 

I even think my photography is getting better - one definitely looks like it's completely underwater!

There is still one more small diorama being constructed slowly as I have to make a costume for a minifig (miniature figurine); one more large one needs to be re-examined to determine if I am actually finished; and then I have to figure out a way to combine the big ones with other dioramas not yet thought of. 


LEGO is cool - especially when you are only limited by your imagination. Of course, you have all heard about the two Canadian teenagers who put a LEGO minifig man into space, a few days ago, right? HERE.

By Andrew Joseph

Unit 731: Chemical & Biological Warfare Division

Japan's Unit 731 outside of Harbin, Manchuria.

Sometimes I just find stuff out about Japan that just boggles the mind. This is one of those times.

One of the real reasons I wanted to go to Japan was to actually talk to a few WWII veterans there and get their opinion of the war. I did that and loved their refreshing candor in discussing how they had no hate for the enemy, and just wanted to go back home to their families safely. Granted I only sampled a small cross-section of the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy, but I still felt good about how the average Joe Suzuki wasn't a blood-thirsty killer, and was just merely a soldier in a war.

And then there's Unit 731... a secret Japanese military unit that is reported to have used Chinese prisoners for medical experiments so horrific that it would make the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele look like a saint.

I'm going to present this case with a small grain of salt. This was a secret military unit. Facts, such as they are, are not well publicized. Japan still denies the full extent of its participation in the following events. Did it occur? I wasn't there, of course, but there does seem to be a fair amount of evidence to say it not only occurred, but that more than one country prospered at the horrific results obtained from it.

Set up as a top-secret biological and chemical weapons facility during the Second Sino-Japanese War (starting in July 7, 1937) and World War Two (ending September 9, 1945), Unit 731 was a place of horror, becoming known as the Asian Auschwitz.

Officially, Unit 731 was known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Unit of the Kwantung Army (Kanto Army -関東軍 ) of Japan, but it had over 3,000 researchers, technicians, nurses and doctors, not including soldiers, to staff it.

Unofficially, Unit 731 is purported to have focused on human experimentation - the lethal kind - and it is estimated to have caused the death of some 200,000 civilians and military personnel– mostly Chinese and Koreans, but also South East Asians, Pacific Islanders and Allied P.o.W's (prisoners of war).

Hazmat suits were to used to move victims of germ tests.

Located within a six-kilometer square complex with 150 buildings just outside the city of Harbin, northeastern China (formerly Manchuria) , Unit 731 experimented on human beings via vivisection, amputations, germ warfare tests, explosive weapons testing, and much more, including on-purpose infected them with diseases including anthrax, cholera and the bubonic plague - all in the name of research science.

For example, on the frozen fields of Pingfang, northeast China, chained prisoners were led out. With their arms bare, they were subjected to a cold current of air to accelerate the freezing process. With a short stick, the prisoners would then be struck on the arm to ensure their limbs had frozen. It had to sound like a wooden plank being struck before the effects of frostbite could be studied,  

Now 200,000 victims sounds like an absurd amount of personal testing - but it wasn't always a one-on-one test. By the time the war was over, 3,000 prisoners died directly from the experiments, and some 200,000 citizens died through biological warfare experiments. Apparently each year some 600 prisoners were delivered during the 12 months to the facility by the Kempeitai (a special military police force).

One part of the Unit 731 complex was the Ro Block, a place down in the basement specifically reserved for experimentation on live human prisoners - men, women, children, even pregnant women and their unborn were not off-limits - who were known as maruta or 'logs of wood'.

Sheldon H. Harris, a historian on Unit 731, explained in a History Channel television documentary how the people tortured and killed were treated as objects: “These scientists had a weird sense of humor,” Harris revealed. “They referred to their victims as “matures”, which, loosely translated, is logs, and that’s how they thought about them, as pieces of wood, not as humans. They could cut them up; they could burn them in a fireplace… If they ran short of candidates, the secret police would just literally sweep the streets of the city and pick up enough candidates for the lab.”

Matsumoto Shoichi (surname first), a Unit 731 bomber pilot, said: "There were always 2,000 or 3,000 logs (people) prepared. There were two burning places and there were always burning dead bodies.”

Examples of some of the cruelties inflicted upon these people include: 

• purposely infected with cholera, typhoid, anthrax, plague, syphilis;
• the cutting up of still alive victims to see the successive affects of hemorrhagic fever;
• Siphoning of blood to be replaced with horse blood;
• experiments to see pain thresholds and death via guns;
• testing to death via flame-throwers; 
• testing to death via explosives; 
• testing to death on gangrene via gases; 
• testing to death via bombardment of high levels of X-Rays; 
• testing to death via giant spinning centrifuges;
• testing in sealed high-pressure chambers until eyes popped out; 
• testing via electrocution; 
• testing via dehydration; 
• testing via freezing; 
• testing to death via boiling.

Autopsies were performed on the dead and living at Unit 731.

According to reports, two prisoners were placed on a diet consisting of nothing but water and biscuits and then worked non-stop. They would be forced to walk the Unit 731 compound whilst loaded with 20-kilogram sandbags on their back until they died. While one lasted longer than the other by a month, this was Unit 731 research into malnutrition. 

One of the medical researchers involved with Unit 731 explained how vivisection was performed on people: “I was ordered to wash that person’s body with a deck brush before he or she was taken into the dissection room naked by a member of the special team,” he recalled. “The first time, I trembled. One team member was listening to the heartbeat with a stethoscope. One was standing holding a knife. The moment the stethoscope was removed from the ear, a knife went into the body. I did not know, but according to doctors, this timing was very important, because if the timing was wrong, we could get blood all over us, and then we could get infected.”

Some of the most violent tests were connected with trying to find the best ways of treating Japanese shrapnel injuries sustained during fighting. Prisoners were tied to wooden stakes positioned around a bomb at various distances before the explosive was detonated. Those who survived would have surgery performed on them; the rest went for autopsies.

Other prisoners literally became human targets for testing other weaponry such as flamethrowers, not to mention germ-releasing bombs and chemical weapons.

Vivisection was performed on men, women and children – who had been infected with diseases – without the use of anesthetic. Organs were removed from test subjects while they were still alive so that decomposition would not alter the results as was feared might happen.

Regarding germ warfare testing, the aim was to find a mode of delivering such pathogens that would cause the most widespread death and devastation, and several were developed – among them the defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb.

Fleas carrying the bubonic plague – along with anthrax, typhoid and dysentery germs - were dropped in these bombs, some of which were designed with porcelain shells (apparently a brainchild of Ishii himself).

When the bio-weapons attacks were launched, the infected items were released from planes to fall on areas of China not occupied by Japan, where they contaminated agriculture and water supplies. What’s more, the diseases were actually administered to children in villages by way of deadly poisoned candies. In testing the effects of their work, scientists wearing hazmat suits would inspect the dying victims.

Prisoners were also infected with STDs (sexually-transmitted diseases) such as gonorrhea and syphilis to see how the diseases spread in the body without treatment. Meanwhile, fleas needed for the bio-attacks involving the bubonic plague were bred by the container-full, as were chemicals and other biological agents.

Bodies piled outside in the freezing cold at Unit 731.

Some infected prisoners were sliced open to have invasive surgery performed on them while alive; others had limbs severed to study blood loss. Apparently some researchers are known to have re-attached amputated arms and legs to victims’ bodies, and to have frozen and thawed some limbs so that they could study the effects of the rot and gangrene that set in.

Discussing some of the methods used inside the unit, Sheldon H. Harris said: “They had refrigerator chambers, and also, in Manchuria, the winters here were very severe, 40 to 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, and they would expose prisoners – various parts of their bodies – to these temperatures, freeze them and then try various techniques to literally dehydrate them, to see what was the most effective way of dealing with frostbite, so that that could be used in warfare as well – both to protect Japanese troops as well as to affect the enemy.”

There were many other fiendish experiments acted out on the thousands of prisoners incarcerated in Unit 731. These included testing chemical weapons on people trapped inside gas chambers; spinning victims in giant centrifuges until they perished; hanging individuals upside down to test their endurance before they choked to death; and injecting air into prisoners’ arteries and horse urine into their kidneys.

Lt. Gen. Ishii Shiro, Unit 731.

Unit 731 was the creation of Lieutenant-General Ishii Shiro (surname first) (石井 四郎, b: June 25, 1892 – d: October 9, 1959), a microbiologist born in Shibayama Village in the Sanbu District of Chiba-ken (Chiba Prefecture). Studying medicine at Kyoto Imperial University, he was a smart, if not brash individual. 


In 1922, he was assigned to the 1st Army Hospital and Army Medical School in Tokyo, and two years later went back to Kyoto Imperial University for post-graduate medicine. In 1928, he traveled Europe over a two-year span to study the effect of biological and chemical warfare caused by WWI. His findings helped him win the patronage of Araki Sadao, then the Minister of the Army.  

In 1932, he began his preliminary experiments in biological warfare as a secret project for the Japanese military at Zhongma Fortress (Unit Tōgō) - all under the overview of Sadao.

Unit Tōgō did indeed do real and legitimate (read here - legal) medical research on vaccines and public health, but with Ishii's need to conduct secret biological warfare testing, it was felt the facility was too close to a highly populated area. A second site, selected by Ishii about 100 kilometers to the south of Harbin at the village of Beiyinhe caused the forcible relocation of the villagers. The village was burned down and a large tract of land was fenced off.

Prisoner/test subject at Unit 731.

Chinese labor was used to build the facility including common criminals, captured bandits and anti-Japanese partisans and political prisoners and people rounded up for suspicious behavior by the Kempeitai (a special military police force). 

At this new facility, bizarre experiments were conducted, despite the fact that the prisoners were well fed on their usual diet of rice or wheat with meat, fish and occasionally even alcohol – with the intent of starting experiments with the subjects in their usual state of health. In some experiments, the prisoners were drained of blood over a few days to examine how their condition would deteriorate. Other test subjects underwent water or food deprivation. Those who survived, but were too weak to work were executed.

In August 1934, one prisoner, named Li, managed to overpower his guard, seize the keys and free about forty of his fellow prisoners. A heavy rain had knocked out the facility's electricity, deactivating the searchlights and electric fence, but despite 10 men being shot and others recaptured, some did escape to tell about the horrors being conducted there.

As a result of this publicity, Zhongma Fortress (Unit Tōgō) was closed down, and its activities transferred in 1936 to a new site closer to Harbin called Pingfang (Heibo), which came to be known as Unit 731.

An autopsy at Unit 731.

On 9 February 1939, Ishii gave a lecture on bacteriological warfare in the War Ministry Grand Conference Hall in Tokyo. One of the attendees was prince Yasuhito Chichibu, Hirohito's (the 124th Emperor of Japan) brother, who also watched vivisection demonstrations by Ishii.


From 1940, Ishii was appointed Chief of the Biological Warfare Section of the Kwantung Army, holding that post along that of the Bacteriological Department of the Army Medical Academy.

In 1942, Ishii began field tests of germ warfare agents developed, and various methods of weapons dispersion on Chinese prisoners of war and operationally on battlefields and against civilians in Chinese cities.

From 1942-1945, Ishii was Chief of the Medical Section of the Japanese First Army^.

Part of Ishii's fame came from the invention of a water filter that would be used by the Japanese military in the field. He once reportedly demonstrated the effectiveness of the filter to Emperor Hirohito by urinating through it, and offering the result to the Hirohito to drink. The Emperor declined, so Ishii drank it himself.

In 1945, in the final days of the Pacific War, Japanese troops blew-up Unit 731 to destroy evidence of the research done there. Ishii also ordered the remaining 150 remaining prisoners killed. 

A crematorium at Unit 731 destroyed by Japan.

Here's where things get sketchy, but not wholly unbelievable, as the U.S. became involved. As an aside, it is known that many Nazi Germany scientists who work on the rocket programs were given safe haven as scientists - not as war criminals - to provide research and data that helped the U.S. weapons and space programs.   

When a country becomes engaged in a war it later wins, why should it not also revel in the spoils of war?

Feeling that the germ warfare research was valuable, the U.S. arranged a deal with Japan. In 1947, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur wrote that: “additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii, probably can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as ‘War Crimes’ evidence.”

Crappy MacArthur grammar aside, by granting immunity to Ishii and other scientists working under him, the U.S. tried to ensure no other country could get hold of this data. However, the U.S.S.R. gathered some facts after prosecuting 12 leaders and scientists from Unit 731 in war crimes trials held in 1949. Those found guilty were sentenced to between two and 25 years in a labor camp, and the Soviets built a biological weapons facility in Sverdlovsk using the data collected.

Meanwhile, Ishii was allowed to move to Maryland, U.S. where he worked as a bio-weapons researcher. No war-crimes trial for him!

Ishii, lived in peace and quiet to the ripe old age of 67, when he died of throat cancer.

Ishii examines a test subject of Unit 731.

It can be argued that China suffered longer than other countries in the days leading up to WWI and during it, starting with Japan's occupation of Manchuria. While the "Rape of Nanking" has become well documented, historical evidence documenting the extent of Japan's atrocities during World War II pales to the evidence against Nazi Germany's war crimes.

Author Hal Gold has written a book on the whole sordid affair entitled Unit 732 Testimony that was written after Japan had organized a national exhibit about Unit 731 to remind its citizens of the horrible crimes Japan had committed during the war; a historical fact that had been virtually ignored.

Although some remorse is indicated by Japan, most believe the unit was merely performing their wartime duty for Japan, and thus has nothing to apologize for. Key evidence of this can be found during a court case from 10 years ago. 

On August 28, 2002, in a case that lasted five years, three judges of the Tokyo District Court rejected a claim for an apology and compensation by 180 Chinese who were either victims or the family of victims of Unit 731.

This was, however, the first time,a Japanese court had acknowledged that Unit 731 and other units had engaged in "cruel and inhumane" biological warfare in China, costing many lives.

But, the judges claimed there was no legal basis for the plaintiffs' claim, as all compensation issues were settled by a treaty with China in 1972.

Just another day at Unit 731.

Testimony during the court case was heard by a former member of Unit 731, Shinozuka Yoshio (surname first) who felt great remorse.

One of Shinozuka's job at Unit 731 was to scrub test subjects down before the vivisection.

"I still remember clearly the first live autopsy I participated in," he recalled. "I knew the Chinese individual we dissected alive because I had taken his blood once before for testing. At the vivisection, I could not meet his eyes because of the hate he had in his glare at me."

The victim had been infected with the plague, and was totally black. Shinozuka was reluctant to use the brush on the man's face.

"Watching me, the chief pathologist, with scalpel in hand, impatiently signalled me to hurry up," he recalled. "I closed my eyes and forced myself to scrub the man's face with the deck brush. The chief pathologist listened to the man's heartbeat with his stethoscope and then the procedure started."

The case before the Tokyo court also heard from the victims, and family of the victims, in villages and towns infected by the plague and cholera between 1940 and 1942.

Bombs were used to deliver Unit 731 devised germ warfare.

Peize Xue was a young boy in Jiangshan when the Japanese infected the area with cholera. He recalled how his sister's three children had been struck down: "The three little ones died such tragic deaths. They were poisoned by the Japanese army," she sobbed. "Before Shuanglan (aged eight) passed away, she asked me, lying limply on her bed, to build a small casket for her."

It was only in 1981 that international attention refocused on these events when American journalist, John W. Powell junior published A Hidden Chapter in History, alleging an American cover-up.

In his authoritative Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45, and the American Cover-up, Sheldon H. Harris recounts that the matter was raised only once at the Tokyo war crimes tribunal in 1946-48.

At the war crime tribunal, an American counsel assisting the Chinese, David N. Sutton, stunned the war crimes tribunal by saying: "The enemy . . . took our countrymen as prisoners and used them for drug experiments. They would inject various types of toxic bacteria into their bodies, and then perform experiments on how they reacted . . . this was an act of barbarism by our enemy."

The presiding chief judge, Australia's Sir William Webb, asked: "Are you trying to tell us about a poison liquid being administered? Are you trying to provide more evidence? This is a new fact that you have presented before we judges."

The writer Harris says that after a brief pause, Webb said: "How about letting this item go?" Sutton replied: "Well, then, I'll leave it." The issue never surfaced again, Harris writes.

The immunity granted to those in Unit 731 saw the doctors involved return to mainstream Japanese society. In 1989, the now-defunct Japanese magazine Days Japan revealed how those who had escaped prosecution had gone on to take some of the most prestigious positions in the Japanese medical community.

The man who succeeded Ishii Shiro as commander of Unit 731, Dr. Kitani Masaji (surname first) became head of Japan's largest pharmaceutical company, the Green Cross. Others took up posts heading university medical schools or worked within Japan's health ministry.

During the court trial Yamane Kazuyo who lectures at Japan's Kochi University on peace studies says she and other Japanese traveled to China in 1998 to find out more about Unit 731. "Because we didn't have any means to know what really happened, we decided to go and try to know what really happened," she says noting that they spoke to people who had lost family members because of the biological warfare experiments.

"We felt really guilty as Japanese," she says adding that she believes the Japanese Government should apologize and compensate the victims of the "terrible damage" done during the war in Asia. "That's what we citizens think. But I think there is a huge gap between the citizens and the Japanese Government."

In the only official comment on the day of the decision, the Japanese Justice Ministry said the court's decision verified the validity of the Japanese Government's position in refusing compensation and an apology to the victims of Unit 731.

Files compiled by Andrew Joseph

Ghost Island

Always fascinated by ghost towns and cities (did you know that there was a Sodom and Gomorrah in Ontario, Canada about 80 kilometers west of Toronto?), I thought I would see if Japan had something similar.

Hashima Island (端島) consists of 15-acres of land, and is one of 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki-ken (Nagasaki Prefecture). Situated about 18.5 kilometers southewest off the port of Nagasaki,  it was populated between 1887 and 1974 as a coal mining facility.

Known also as Gunkanjima, Gunkanshima (both of which mean Battleship Island), it is also called Ghost Island nowadays because it is abandoned.

Mitsubishi Material (A segment of the Mistubishi company who are the automobile manufacturer who once manufactured engines for the WWII Japanese Zero fighter planes), purchased the island in 1890 to dig out coal from undersea mines which led to the industrialization of the country.

Concrete buildings of Hashima.

They built Japan's first large concrete buildings - between four and seven stories high - as a block of apartments back in 1916 to house the growing number of workers. It was made of concrete to help add a layer of protection against strong typhoons.

There are currently 10 concrete buildings placed alongside the coastline of Hashima. There is also a very strong sea wall surrounding the island to protect it from typhoons and tsunami.

It should also be noted that a lot of the workers at the mine were forcibly recruited from other parts of Asia, notably China and Korea.

I've said it before, but Japan was pretty bad-ass in the old days, which is why the rest of Asia still ends to look at the country with hate and distrust - despite the damage done generations ago. Long memories, you know...combined with Japan's failures to accept culpability. 

As one of the most productive coal mines for Japan during WWII, Hashima was mined, amongst other nationalities, by 500 Koreans during 1939 - 1945.

Collapsing stairway into Hell, Hashima.

“The Island was a living hell. You could not dare to escape it because of high breakwaters and huge waves. By the end of the war, Koreans were involved in dangerous work and they were often vulnerable to violence of mine supervisors,” recalled Park Jun-gu, 87, a victim of the mine.

According to a recently discovered document, 122 Koreans died in the Hashima mines from cranial damage, drowning and crushing. They were buried or cremated on the island.

After World War II, the island saw an improvement in life with modern luxuries provided for the workers (no longer prisoners). Televisions, radios and a movie theater were placed on Hashima - all maintained by the island’s employee-residents.

Have a seat and watch the show.

In 1959, the population of the entire island peaked at 5,259 people (a population density of 835 people per hectare or 83,500 people/km² or 216,264 people per square mile), or 1,391 per hectare (139,100 people/km²) for the residential district.

By the time the 1960s rolled around, oil and gas began to replace coal in Japan, forcing the closure of many coal mines, eventually leading to Mitsubishi officially closing the Hashima mine in 1974.

Seawall and concrete living quarters, Hashima.

Mistubishi voluntarily gave Hashima to the town of Takashima in 2002, which itself was merged into part of Nagasaki-shi (Nagasaki City) in 2005. That means Hashima is part of Nagasaki now. 

Back in 2007, Nagasaki set about re-opening Hashima as a tourist destination - though mindful that not all of the buildings were safe for visitors. It was also attempting to put the island and its Japan-first concrete buildings on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

Needless to say, neither plan was welcomed by Truth Commission on Forced Labor under the Japanese Colonial Rule of South Korea.

Hashima pre-1974 boasted a school for its workers' kids.  

The South Korean group criticized the Nagasaki attempt to develop Hashima as a tourist destination while covering up their crimes against Koreans.

Lee Jae-cheol, spokesperson of the commission, says: “Nagasaki’s attempt to put Hashima Island where Koreans suffered so much on the World Heritage List is in line with the Japanese government’s attitude of whitewashing its history. We will take appropriate actions in relation to Nagasaki’s moves.”

Because of the architecture, Hashima has gained some international attention not only as one of the modern international heritages in the region, but also as the housing complex remnants in the years from Taishō era to Shōwa era.

Hashima was not the most picturesque place to live even in pre-1974.

The main problem regarding the re-opening of the island for tourism is that since being abandoned in 1974, the island has not been maintained and several buildings have already collapsed. Other existing buildings could still collapse, though some collapsed exterior walls have been restored with concrete. It was evened mentioned in the premier season (2009) of the History Channel's Life After People television show noting how after only 35 years, buildings would fall into absolute decay.

To fully make all of the buildings safe for human visitors, quite obviously a large amount of money and Korean laborers would required, neither of which appears to be forthcoming. 

Still, travel to Hashima was re-opened on April 22, 2009 after 35 years of closure. It is not currently on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.


Files by Andrew Joseph

Japan Says Sorry to Canadian P.o.W.'s

Canadian Infantry, Hong Kong.

Lest we forget...

In a Tokyo ceremony held on December 7, 2011 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong, Japan apologized to the Canadian war veterans who suffered horrendous treatment in prisoner of war camps during WWII.

The ceremony was to pay tribute to the nearly 2,000 Canadian military personnel who helped defend Hong Kong during a massive invasion. Hundreds of Canadian soldiers were killed or wounded during the campaign. The survivors became P.o.W.'s for nearly three-and-a-half years until the war ended.

Japan's parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs Kato Toshiyuki (surname first) apologized for the mistreatment of those soldiers who survived the battle and spent years toiling in labor camps.

Despite the apology, Canadians were still not satisfied.

"This was not a political apology. This was an expression from the Japanese people to the Canadian prisoners of war," states Derrill Henderson of the Hong Kong Veteran's Association.

He was one of three veterans who traveled to Japan to accept the apology. No Canadian officials were allowed into the meeting.

But, Henderson stresses the apology was to all Canadian prisoners of war and not just those who fought in Hong Kong.

The declaration, delivered to an audience that included Canada's Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney, also missed the mark for one of its intended targets.

Phil Doddridge, who spent nearly four years between two prisoner of war camps, says the apology would never have come about without political pressure from Canada and doesn't have the ring of truth.

"The apology is a little bit hollow. I'm not sure how sincere it is," says the 89-year-old Doddridge from his home in New Richmond, Quebec, Canada. "I'm sure that if they hadn't been badgered about it, they wouldn't have done it. Although I appreciate all the work that's gone into this, I've been able to get along without it for 70 years. I could have done without it."

A spokesman for Veterans Affairs Canada said efforts to seek an apology from Japan had been under way for some time, but did not provide further details.

Doddridge says the apology would have been more meaningful in the years after the war when veterans were still healing from the physical and psychological abuse they suffered.

Canadian soldier graves, Hong Kong.

"If it had come in 1947... or even in 1952 when the Canadian government absolved the Japanese of any financial responsibility, that would have been okay then," he admits.

Claire Hachey, whose father survived labor camps, agrees that the apology was too long in coming. Dean Hachey lived 33 years after returning from Hong Kong and would have had to survive 33 more to hear the Japanese government take responsibility, she notes.

Still, she says she believes he would have joined the rest of his family in welcoming the apology and forgiving the past.

"I don't think that we can hold the people today accountable for what happened 70 years ago," she says. "A lot of them are not even taught what happened 70 years ago, probably because of shame... I do not feel anything bad towards the Japanese."

Blaney characterized the apology as an attempt to move forward in the present without ignoring the atrocities of the past.

"This important gesture is a crucial step in ongoing reconciliation and a significant milestone in the lives of all prisoners of war," he said in a statement. "It acknowledges their suffering while honouring their sacrifices and courage."

Sheila Forsyth who lost her father to the war says: "Finally there is an admission that there were some things done that were not quite right when the men were in incarceration."

"If you had seen the faces of the veterans in that room it (the apology) was not too late; they actually closed a chapter in their lives," says Henderson. "I'm sure those veterans walked out of the room feeling they had won the battle."

In the small crowd were people like Hope Harris, a toddler who laid a wreath down for her great grandfather who died in battle, and Ted Terry who lost his father who lasted less than a year in the prison camp.

"My dad died in Hong Kong. He was the paymaster of the Winnipeg Grenadiers and he was captured along with all the other soldiers that were there and two nursing sisters," says Terry.

Now, after years of feeling like forgotten heroes the Canadian veterans have the Battle of Hong Kong memorial wall, which was erected in Canada's capital of Ottawa at the corner of Sussex Drive and King Edward Avenue in 2009, and now the long-awaited apology.

Some 1,975 Canadian troops were hastily sent to reinforce Allied troops defending Hong Kong, a British colony on China’s southern coast, as Japanese forces massed near the border in 1941. The Canadians were from the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers, and within weeks of their arrival Japan entered the Second World War.

The Battle of Hong Kong began December 8, 1941, and lasted until Christmas Day. The Allies surrendered after almost 18 days of fighting in which 290 Canadians were killed and 493 wounded.

Those who survived were held prisoner until Japan’s surrender in 1945. Aside from the battle casualties, another 267 captured men died in prison camps where they were subjected to what Canada calls 'deliberate and systematic mistreatment at the hands of their captors.'

The Canadian prisoners of war were 'forced into backbreaking labor in construction sites, mines, shipyards and foundries, and were frequently beaten and starved.'

Many of the PoWs who survived and returned to Canada suffered serious disabilities as a result of their experiences in Hong Kong, and many died prematurely, Veterans Affairs said.

In all, more than 550 soldiers who sailed from Vancouver to Hong Kong in October of 1941 never returned home.  

Files by Andrew Joseph

Pearl Harbor Photos

I hope this works... but here's a link to some previously unseen photos of the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, bombed by the Japanese this date in 1941.


PHOTOS

Andrew Joseph

American Propaganda Cartoons Vs Japan

The first thing you have to understand is that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

Hawaii at the time was not a U.S. state. It was a protectorate, much like Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. I've been to Saipan, of all places. Nice place!

In 1893, a group of American expatriates and sugar planters supported by a division of U.S. Marines deposed The Kingdom of Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawaii. One year later, the Republic of Hawaii was established as a U.S. protectorate with Hawaiian-born Sanford B. Dole as president.

And... just so you know, Dole's cousin, once-removed was James Dole who arrived in Hawaii in 1899 and established the Hawaiian Pineapple Company on the island of Oahu which later became the Dole Food Company (everyone heard of Dole pineapples?).

Statehood for Hawaii was proposed in 1937 and was shot down by the U.S. Congress, citing it's distance from the US mainland and the fact that it had a mixed and diverse population... which sounds like they meant it wasn't White enough.
 
But what really made the U.S. mad was the fact that Japan bombed the crap out of a US military base. If that was an act of war, nothing was.

So... with the U.S. really ticked off at Japan in 1941 (by the way... just what was the U.S. doing to help fight the Nazi's in WWII, a war that officially began in September of 1939?), the propaganda machine was started up.

I'm not going to bore you with tales of Japanese internship camps in this blog today, rather let's take a look at the American animation industry, and how it attempted to enlighten the youth of the day into believing Japan consisted of some really stupid bastards. I'm not saying the U.S. was correct in that statement, and I'm not saying they weren't, but let's watch some cartoons--none of which you will ever see on television.

• We'll start with the classic Warner Brother's cartoon from 1944 starring Bugs Bunny, in Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips. Nips, is a racial slur denoting the Japanese, as Nippon is Japanese for Japan. As well, I should clarify that this particular cartoon was not part of the official Censored Eleven cartoons that were banned from public television syndication in 1968.... so it may have made its way onto television in your neighborhood.. though I recall seeing and knowing about it as a kid. In this cartoon, Bugs is castaway on a Pacific island that he finds is crawling with Japanese soldiers... he then single-handedly defeats the enemy.

• Let's now look at Tokio Jokio, another Warner Brother's cartoon made in 1943. This one is pure propaganda, done in the form of a US news reel that purports to show how Japan is running its war, and how everyone is definitely incompetent, so cheer up, we'll kick their ass soon. It's actually a funny cartoon if one removes the stereotypes and instead concentrates on the gags themselves. It is about Japan, despite the picture below which makes it look like its about Nazi Germany.

One of the more vicious cartoon characters to partake in the bash Japan propaganda during the war was Popeye The Sailor Man... perhaps not too surprising considering he's a sailor, and a lot of seamen lost their lives in the attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor. 

• Here's Popeye The Sailor Man in the classic 1942 short: You're A Sap Mr. Jap, as released by Paramount Pictures, produced by Famous Studios. In it, Popeye single-handily defeats the crew of a Japanese battleship.

• Popeye's at it again, in the 1942 short: Scrap The Japs, in which the squinty-eyed sailor with the muscle problems (wrong muscles are overly large) defeats a Japanese scrap repair ship.

• Last up for Popeye was his epic Seeing' Red, White & Blue, made in 1943, in which Popeye is in charge of the military draft, and arch-nemesis Bluto has just been drafted... after a lot of monkeying around they happen to break up a Japanese plot actually being plotted on American soil. 

• A cartoon character and cartoon I had never heard about was Cap'n Cub. In this 1945 cartoon the Japanese are portrayed as monkeys - perhaps a tip of the hat and a spit in the face to the Japanese wartime cartoons of the 1930s in which the monkeys in the Japanese propaganda cartoons represented the Chinese. The Yanks are led by a cute character named Cap'n Cub... but in all cartoons I've ever seen when nations are involved, bears are the Soviets. Whatever. This cartoon starts off all cute but turns kind of nasty near the end. 

•  Let's now take a look at Superman... rocketed to Earth as a baby from the dying planet Krypton, DC Comics' Superman became the superheroic ideal for America... despite Nazi Germany trying to create their own supermen. Superman (first appeared in Action Comics #1), as you all know was created by an American, (writer Jerry Siegel)  and a Canadian (Joe Shuster). Shuster, born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, supposedly came up with the concept of a hero from another planet with super powers. Just so you know, in the early decades of Superman's existence, his alter ego Clark Kent worked as a reporter for the The Daily Star... with Shuster channeling the Toronto Star newspaper for reference. Just so you all know, your humble author Andrew Joseph was a reporter for the Toronto Star (along with alumnus Ernest Hemingway). DC Comics, by the way, actually stands for Detective Comics Comics... from the Department of Redundancy Department.... Detective Comics #27 was where Batman made his first appearance. In this first flick called Japoteurs starring Superman as drawn by Famous Studios back in 1942, the Japanese are the bad guys, with Supes stopping spies from stealing a bomber plane and taking it back to Tokyo. excluding Disney, the art on these cartoons is fantastic - perhaps only second to the black and white Popeye cartoons of the 1930s, and not surpassed until Who Framed Roger Rabbit? some 50 years later. Enjoy.

• Here's one more from Superman in 1942 called The Eleventh Hour, when our hero becomes a saboteur in Japan at the Yokohama Navy Shipyard. Hey, while the US and Japan were at war, the Superman cartoons are not racist, and are merely a sensible sign of the times. plot-wise, these Superman cartoon are a bit thin, but they are still an enjoyable view.

There may be more... but this was all I was able to find at the moment. Anyone with more information on American propaganda mainstream cartoon against the Japanese, feel free to contact me and teach me.

By the way... for all fans of cartoons, let me direct you to the excellent book Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animation by Leonard  Maltin (the movie reviewer of Entertainment Tonight fame). This one has a ton of history, and is my cartoon bible. Buy it!

Propaganda Cartoons

Y'know... I always try to write the perfect blog... something that readers will find interesting... but every once in a while I get beaten to the punch.

I was going to present a blog today on WWII cartoons... America's look at Japan in such classics as Bugs Bunny "Nips The Nips", a 1941 Warner Brothers cartoon played in the movie the movie theaters for kids back in the day when for a dime (10 cents/10 yen) a kid could watch several cartoons, a movie serial episode, a movie and god help us, a new reel on the weeks events from around the world.

The Japanese were the big enemy in the world back then, along with Nazi Germany, so perhaps the cartoon while not appropriate by today's standards was appropriate back in 1944 from a purely propaganda point of view. Regardless... this is one of many cartoons that will never, ever be seen in mainstream television.

I'll be honest, except for the title of the flick, I didn't find anything overly racist in it. Okay, the characterizations are a little over the top, but whatever... it's a cartoon featuring a wise-cracking rabbit who speaks English with a cross of a Brooklyn/Bronx New York accent.

Having said all that, in rebuttal, please take a look at the blog posted earlier today by my good friend Mike Rogers in his Marketing Japan blog. It's a Japanese propaganda cartoon dealing with the liberation of Asia by the cool Japanese folk who are saving these dumb savages from themselves.

Check this out: JAPANESE PROPAGANDA CARTOON

Cheers! And thanks Mike for showing that great minds think alike (though fools seldom differ).

Andrew Joseph
PS: I have a great collection of cartoons, and own a lot of banned cartoons and others just never seen since they were originally released, collected from back in the late 1970s when I got one of the first video tape recorders on the market (cost me $527... a JVC VHS VCR from Canadian Tire) and back before television networks began cutting the crap out of cartoons to remove as much violence as possible, taking an 8-minute cartoon and trimming it to 5-minutes. Awful. Buy a good DVD collection of Warner Brothers cartoons... like any of the five Looney Toons Golden Collection DVDs... all well worth the money! The full cartoons are contained within, and look spectacular!