Control of Morale by Propaganda, Chapter 10

Japan already had decades and decades of getting its people to think a certain way.

Military defeats were minimized.

Early island conquests by the Americans were treated as not that important.

People were told to give more and more to the war effort. Saipan basically caused an intensity of this.

Rumors began to fly.

If you don't have any victories to brag about, just make them up.

Leyte gulf was an example of that treatment.

Course, they still lost the battle.

The kamikaze actions were used for major propaganda effect.

The Okinawa invasion was treated as a critical stage of the war. There were too many of this kind of description, though.

The kamikaze successes were blown out of proportion.

The potential invasion of Japan itself was put out as a part of Japanese strategy.

They felt that America would get tired of losing so many of its soldiers, that the American people would demand an end to the war.

Japan tried to convince its people not to give up due to the air raids.

They tried to claim large numbers of the B-29s were shot down.

The raids should be strengthening the spirit of the civilians, at least according to the Japanese government.

The idea was to play down the air raids and get the people to really hate America.

The food problem was a difficult one to deal with.

The problem got worse as the war went on.

Then there was propaganda about the propaganda.

Exaggerated victories were used.

Damages were played down.

Reactions to the Japanese propaganda among the people.

Fewer and fewer people believed the government propaganda.

As long as the battles were far away the government could give any slant to them they wanted.

Returning servicemen, though, told a different story.

The idea that civilians would defend themselves with bamboo spears did not go over well.

When you only have very limited information about what people are really like it's easy to manipulate how you feel about them.

An example.

A defeat is a victory? Not really.

Why their propaganda failed.

The United States did radio propaganda aimed at Japan but it wasn't successful.

Why it didn't work.

The Japanese government jammed the American radio transmissions.

People who heard believed.

Our radio attempts were a failure.

Percent exposed to them.

How people felt about the announcements America made about what cities would be bombed.

Did people believe the announcements?

Problems with early leaflets used.

Counterfeit money as propaganda.

Less education vs. more education as far as belief in leaflet contents went.

Critical of leadership = more belief in leaflets.

Leaflets were successful.

Announcements of bombings.

Evacuating towns.

Tokyo metropolitan government comments.

Belief in bombing announcements little related to education.

Raid announcements highly successful.

Countering American propaganda.

Listen to an American broadcast and get punished.

Rumor spread leaflets were booby trapped.

Experience can trump propaganda claims.

Unskillful Japanese propaganda.

Propaganda about American people worked.

Why American propaganda worked when it did.

Back to the leaflets.



Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page