A Critical Comparison Between Japanese and American Propaganda During World War II

This is another thing that I found on line about one of my favorite topics and that is propaganda during World War II. I'll point out some of the most important aspects of the work although the entire work is fascinating and well one.

Hakko Ichiu. (“Eight corner of the World under one roof.”) Japanese War Slogan

This itself is an interesting quote. The Japanese leadership back then had the idea of the 'eight corners' of the world which made up the entire planet being under the rule of the Emperor. This thus would give them the perceived right to force all the world under their control.

What makes the social aspect of war so significant is that it involves a dynamic within the human person. In time of war, there is killing, violence, and hate, all stirred up from within.

Much of the social warfare between the United States and Japan involved instilling within their people both a strong nationalistic pride for their own country as well as an incendiary hatred for the other.  This was done with the help of the media—newspapers, books, radio, and film—that were consequently used as propaganda against the enemy. Much of the material was racist and catered to such ideas as racial inferiority and ethnic supremacy. One’s own nation was always the civilized one while the enemy was depicted as barbaric, sub-human, and in some cases, demonic.

It is always fascinating to look back at the publications during that time. I'll add comic books to the above list along with cartoons, those aimed at the younger people. Keep in mind this was not being done just in American; it was also done in Japan and Germany. The Japanese, for example, were sometimes referred to as 'monkey men' and their stereotype image is easily recognized.

Words are powerful, but some of the images in wartime posters drew attention more vividly because they attracted an audience on a wider scale.

In other parts of this section of my web site I have some of these posters and some of them get very extreme in their depiction of the enemy on either side.

Radio and film, however, may have been the most effective means of reaching its audience simply by virtue of its medium.

The film included movies, of course, but also included cartoons and newsreels which were shown in the theaters. Some of the Popeye and Daffy Duck cartoons were very racist and anti-Japanese. The Japanese had their own films also using animals to make it appear that they were liberating areas that had been under the control of the greedy and nasty Caucasians. What is unfortunate is that some of the Japanese items were destroyed at the end of the war and that part of their history is lost.

Japanese films showed a lot of sacrifice more so than American films in order to create a more humanistic and endearing empathy for the characters.

This is related, of course, to the Japanese culture and the code of Bushido. Sacrifice and hardship was a seen as a normal part of their lives and to die in the service of the Emperor was actually seen to as an honor. If the war had continued there is no doubt at all that many of the civilians would have been armed with primitive weapons such as spears or equipped like today's terrorists with bombs strapped around them, all in order to kill as many American soldiers as they could.

The Japanese propaganda campaign was not only directed toward the United States but also towards Asian countries whom they sought to conquer.

The Japanese tried to pass themselves off sort of as 'big brothers' to the other Asian nations that, once they had the sense to acknowledge the superiority of the Japanese, would bow down to Japan and accept their rule and be the better for it. This at the same time as Japanese was in a war with China and was killing vast numbers of civilians. The nations that were taken over realized they had just replaced one master with another.

“…a date which will live in infamy”

Admiral William Halsey, who became commander of the South Pacific Forces early on during the World War II made famous the slogan “Kill Japs, kill Japs, kill more Japs.”  So vengeful was his rage following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor that his motto under which he would rally his men was “Remember Pearl Harbor—keep ‘em dying.”

Perhaps the biggest miscalculation on the part of the Japanese related to their attack on Pearl Harbor. They believed that America would be so stunned that it would, in effect, role over and not wage war against Japan but leave Japan to run wild in Asia.

Instead, what happened was perhaps the major focus of propaganda during the war. Remember Pearl Harbor became the theme on posters, war-bond drives, etc. It solidified the stereotype of the Japanese as sneaky and without honor and it was used over and over in virtually all the media to fan the hatred of the enemy.

Pearl Harbor hatred did not spring full blown in the minds of people, though. There was a long-standing tradition of hatred of Asians.

The “yellow” color race code was the branding of choice when referring to the Japanese.  They were the “yellow peril,” and “yellow monkeys.” Even Time magazine in a report on Pearl Harbor used the phrase, “the yellow bastards!”  The New York Times contributed with their own anti-Japanese rhetoric explaining how the Japanese “have kept their savage tradition ‘unbroken through ages eternal,’ from the fabulous age of their savage gods to the present day.

There had been a special hate for the Japanese on the West Coast where various organizations banded together to stop Japanese immigration and, if possible, to drive the persons of Japanese ancestry who were living on the west coast completely out of the country. Interesting enough, this was not the case in Hawaii. The PJAs (Persons of Japanese Ancestry) made up about a third of the popular and were highly important the economic welfare of the islands. The PJAs had also assimilated rather well into the society so Hawaii was basically a hodgepodge of people.

There was some prejudice against them, of course, and some rumors that they had directed the attack, etc, but these were all shot down. Also, the military declared martial law on the islands and there was no mass movement of PJAs to the internment camps but this type of thing did not seem to be played up very much in the mass media, at least from what I have seen. Good news doesn't sell.

A commonly held view was that the Japanese were subhuman or evolutionarily inferior.  It was an all too common idea among not only the Americans but among the other Allies as well.

Never under-estimate a potential enemy. The anti-Japanese prejudice was also shown by the British. Canada moved its PJAs to their own version of internment camps. This kind of thinking led to the United States not being prepared for war against Japan.

The paper uses images to illustrate the way that the Japanese were though of. The Japanese soldier has the stereotype appearance and his body position is almost demonic in nature. He has a white woman over his shoulder playing to sexual-related prejudices and fears. This would then contribute to the theme of fighting to keep your loved ones safe and the white women from being raped by these animals. (I'm using the term white women here since this was still the time of tremendous prejudice against Black people and they weren't really used very much in propaganda, again, as far as I have seen. Actually, I can't recall seeing a single propaganda poster or cartoon that had Blacks in them, or at least non-stereotyped Blacks.)

A common technique used by propagandists was to liken the Japanese to animals like snakes and rats.But the most common animal used to portray the Japanese was the monkey.

This are easy to find; examples are numerous. The main purpose was to make the enemy look subhuman and thus make it easier to kill them. You aren't killing a human, you are killing a thing.

During the time of the war, Hollywood created numerous war-related films such as Objective, Burma!, The Bridge on the River Kwai,  The Story of G.I. Joe, and In Which We Serve. There were also a number of documentary films created at this time, perhaps the most famous of which was Frank Capra’s Why We Fight series.  Capra, who is noted for such films as It’s a Wonderful Life, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, was commissioned by Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to create a film series that would be viewed by army men and be used as a learning tool of sorts by the army in order than America would come to “know its enemy.”

Fortunately it's easy to find these movies, particularly with You Tube and other services. I'll also mention John Wayne films.

Anti-Chinese rhetoric was quite common partly because China was Japan’s largest foe in Asia.  Yet they still maintained their stance of “good intentions.”  Japan was the good parent while the child countries of Asia, as stubborn as they were in the Japanese’ eyes, didn’t know what was good for them.

The anti-Chinese rhetoric was on the part of Japan, of course, In the United States the Chinese were presented as American friends who needed their help in their fight against the Japanese.

Japan failed to recognize any wrongdoings it may have committed to other countries.  It maintained adamantly that Japan’s motives were, without question, for good and only good, and that any action taken against other Asian countries, such as China were brought about on account of self-defense.

Herein lies a problem to this very day and that is the failure of Japan (in the eyes of many people) to apologize or even acknowledge the atrocities that they committed during the war including the bombing of civilians, Unit 731 which experimented on people, the use of 'comfort women, ' the rape of Nanking and other areas in China and numerous other things that Japanese did that the country still seems to try to try not to deal with.

The author points out that the audiences for the propaganda were different. American propaganda was aimed at Americans, basically, while the Japanese propaganda was aimed at the Japanese, at other Asians, and at America. This made their task more difficult from the very beginning.

One thing Japan did use as part of its propaganda was American history, particularly slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, and the American colonization of other countries. They tended to overlook their own colonization efforts and their treatment of the burakumin, the group that was treated like the outcast group in India and for similar reasons.

There was also a major difference in the films in how the enemy was shown.

For whatever reason, the Japanese cinema tended to shy away from showing images of the enemy.  The anti-Western sentiment was apparent in both literature and in graphic art, but nearly altogether absent in cinema.  The enemy is vague.  They are referred to as karera or “they,” tekihei or “enemy soldier,” In contrast, Hollywood depicted Japanese as an outright despicable and atrocious enemy in the present time and would not hold back from using any racial slurs wherever possible.

Another characteristic of Japanese war films that separated them from their American counterparts was their ability to appeal to their audience without over-sensationalizing or over-dramatizing their actors.

Thus, Japanese propaganda films differed from American films in how they physically showed, or didn't show, the enemy. They also emphasized self-sacrifice in their movies and how heroic that was.

The author also takes some time to show how both the United States and Japan were guilty of imperialism, the United States having a longer history than Japan, but with Japan rapidly trying to catch up with their takeover of Korea and their attack on China.

Also pointed up is the Japanese anti-Korean propaganda, showing Korea as a dirty, backward place, and thus it was Japan's duty to help their 'brothers' by taking over Korea and showing them an enlightened way. This is yet another aspect of World War II that resonates to this day, particularly among Koreans.

The author continues discussing the issue and notes that the effects of propaganda linger.



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