Tokio Jokio

This is an imitation of the weekly news reports shown in American theaters.

A vulture appears out of the skin of the rooster and says "cock-a-doodle-do please" with a Japanese accent.

A demonstration of "Japan's finest air raid siren." The two take turns sticking each other in the rear end with a long sharp pin.

A listening post and an "aircraft spotter."

Fire prevention headquarters, shown "too late." Fire was a great danger for Japanese cities since most of the buildings were wooden at that time. The incendiary raids by the U.S. could lead to the destruction of square miles of areas at a time due to the spreading fire. A Miyazaki film, Grave of the Fireflies, shows this type of thing happening.

The warning was not to approach the bomb for five seconds. After five seconds have elapsed the guy puts a hot dog on the end of his umbrella and tries to cook it using the bomb.

"Oh so, oh, to demonstrate how to constructing delicious Japanese club sandwich.

"Slice bread ration card so.

"Place a piece of meat ration card so.

"Then eat them. Oh yum, yum sandwich."/p>

Notice that the "Victory Suit" is simply a diaper attached with a safety pin.

The Japanese "king of swat." He uses a fly swatter to try and kill a fly which takes it from him and beats him with it then takes off with the trophy itself.

Here the cartoon is making fun of Yamamoto, an early leader of the Japanese forces and probably one of their best if not their best military leader of all. He had visited the U.S. prior to the war and warned the Japanese military leaders that any war with the U.S. would be a mistake since America had such incredible industrial potential. He wasn't listened to, of course, and Japan's defeat in the war was largely due to the very fact that the U.S. could out-produce the Japanese industry.

Yamamoto was eventually killed when he was on a plane and the U.S. found out about his trip. U.S. planes were sent out and shot down the plane he was on, killing him in the crash.

A Japanese hides during an air raid. There's a skunk in the log with him.

The skunk reacts to his presence.

During this part fun is made of Hitler and Mussolini.

"This submarine launched three weeks ahead of schedule." Notice it's not finished yet. A few moments later it falls apart or is somehow otherwise destroyed.

Inside the sub the "very technical" machinery. The thing in the front is a peep show booth that the guy is looking into.

This "happy gentlemen" is piloting a human bomb.

The Japanese "super-duper catapult device."

The zero fighter demonstrating the "new tricycle landing gear."

Their "busiest aircraft carrier."

A Navy mine sweeper.

One of the purposes of this type of cartoon is to de-humanize the enemy, making them look like incompetent fools. Although this makes the people seeing the cartoon feel better it is also misleading, causing people to think that the Japanese would be easily beaten. De-humanizing an enemy makes it easier for the average person who was not actually on the front lines to not feel bad when they heard reports of thousands upon thousands of Japanese people being killed by American firebombing, for example. Some politicians in the U.S. followed the principle that "in war there are no civilians," clearing the way for the death of women and children who might have had nothing to do with the war other than that they lived in Japan and were Japanese.

Similar cartoons made fun of the German fighters, too, and also the Italians who were the other two Axis countries. Cartoons of this nature, though, have also been used to make fun of blacks and people from the south. That type of cartoon was even meaner since it served no useful purpose at all; it just perpetuated stereotypes of blacks and southerners.

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