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Images of World War II in the Japanese Media

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Images of World War II in the Japanese Media CERTAIN VICTORY Books of Interest from the Series Japan and the Modern World Series Editor: Mark Selden, Binghamton University The Atomic Bomb Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki Kyoko and Mark Selden, eds. and trs. Foreword by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. The Atomic Bomb Suppressed American Censorship in Occupied Japan MonicaBraw The Japanese Monarchy, 1931-1991 Ambassador Grew and the Making of the "Symbol Emperor System" Nakamura Masanori Translated by Herbert P. Bix; Jonathan Baker-Bates; Derek Bowen Living with the Bomb American and Japanese Cultural Conflicts in the Nuclear Age Laura Hein and Mark Selden, eds. The Other Japan Conflict, Compromise, and Resistance Since 1945 New Edition Joe Moore, ed. Re-Inventing Japan Time, Space, Nation Tessa Morris-Suzuki CERTAIN VICTORY Images of World War II in the Japanese Media David C. Earhart An East Gate Book ~~ ~~o~;~~n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK An East Gate Book First published 2008 by M.E. Sharpe Published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2008 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. First paperback edition 2009 No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Earhart, David C., 1963- Certain victory: images of World War II in the Japanese media I by David C. Earhart. p. em.- (Japan in the modern world) "An East gate book" Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7656-1776-7 (cloth : alk. paper)- ISBN 978-0-7656-1777-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. World War, 1939-1945-Japan-Press coverage. 2. World War, 1939-1945-Japan-Mass media and the war. 3. World War, 1939-1945-Japan-Propaganda. I. Title. D799.J3E37 2007 940.53'52-dc22 2006034584 ISBN 13: 9780765617774 (pbk) ISBN 13: 9780765617767 (hbk) "I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war." -Lord Byron, Chi/de Harold (canto IV, line 177) "Nothing is as good as peace, and nothing so frightening as war." -Nagai Katu, DanchOtei nichiji5 (Danchotei Diary), 20 August 1945 v This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Map of the Japanese Empire and the Pacific Theater of World War II ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction: A Picture Worth a Thousand Arguments 1 1. Emperor ShOwa 11 2. The Great Japanese Empire 37 3. Men of the Imperial Forces 69 4. A People United in Serving the Nation 107 5. Warrior Wives 14 7 6. Junior Citizens 183 7. "Now the Enemy Is America and Britain!" 215 8. The Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere 261 9. Uchiteshi Yamamu: "Keep Up the Fight"! 309 10. Faces of the Enemy 333 11. Dying Honorably, from Attu to Iwo Jima 375 12. The Kamikazefication of the Home Front 409 Conclusion: Endgame 461 Appendix 1: Annotated Bibliography of Japanese Wartime News Journals 477 Appendix 2: Glossary 489 Bibliography 493 Index 497 vii This page intentionally left blank Map of the Japanese Empire and the Pacific Theater of World War II R S S I A U Attu Kiska ALEUTIANS Dutch Harbor MANCHURIA SAKHALIN OUTER MONGOLIA Vladivostok Sapporo JEHOL MONGOLIA Mukifen SEA OF JAPAN INNER Beijing KOREA A N YELLOW Hiroshima PACIFIC OCEAN SEA N A I Nagasaki Nanjing P H Shanghai C A Qongqings Hankon J Yangtiv River Midway OGASAWARAS Okinawa Hawaiian Islands INDIA Iwo Jina ><" Canton TAIWAN Honolulu Hong Kong Pearl Harbor BURMA Wake SEA Rangoon Hanol SOUTH Saipan Hanol CHINA Bagulo PHILIPPINES MARIANAS Manilla Tinian Bangkok SEA Guem INDOCHINA Eniwotek ANDAMANS Gilberts Saigun Leyte Yap Kwajatein CAROLINES Ponope NICOBARS Mindanao Palan Truk Jaluit Kota Bharu Kuala Lumpur BRITISH LEAGUE OF NATIONS MANDATE TO JAPAN MALAYA BORNED DUTCH Makin SUMATRA Singapore Tarawa DUTCH Gilberts BORNED Hollandia Balikpapan Ocean Maratai BISMARCKS Palem Bang SEA Rabaul Batavia DUTCH NEWGUINEA BRITISH Surabaya NEW ELLICE EAST INDIES New Bangauville SOLOMONS GUINEABritain Djakarta Port Moresby TIMOR Tulagi (Dutch/Paruguera) Guadalcanal CORAL CORAL AUSTRALIA Honolulu The Japanies Empire in 1910 Expansion on the Asian Continent, 1931-1940 Territorial Gains. 1941-1942 Greatest ExtenPearlt of th eHarbor Japanese Empire, June 1942 This page intentionally left blank PREFACE The Japanese government of the 1930s was not the first to use the media to motivate and manipulate the citizenry in a time of national emergency. Nor was a streamlined, centralized modern state a Japanese invention, but in the years immediately preceding World War II, the Japanese Imperial State did achieve a degree affusion of government, military, economy, and media, as well as the mobilization of the citizenry, rivaling that of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Of course, the rule among all nations that fought World War II, including Great Britain and the United States, was the unity ofthe citizens and the war effort. In Japan, from the early 1930s, and particularly from 1941, this concentration of power and mobilization of society toward a single goal-total, permanent war-required an epic narrative, highlighting the positive results of the people's efforts and spiritually mobilizing them to make the necessary sacrifices for nation and emperor. The function of the media within the mass culture of a modem society at war is to produce images and texts orienting citizens within the national cause as participants in a glorious history-in-progress, one whose goals are lofty (in the case of Japan, freeing Asia from the grip of rapacious European colonial rulers and fulfilling the "destiny" of the Yamato race and their ancient imperial tradition) and above all else, one that leads ineluctably to victory. For the media to play the role of narrator of a national mission requires unity and coordination among the media, the government, and the military. When this dynamic is operating properly, a juggernaut of dazzling illustrations and inspiring stories bring together the home front and the battle front in a glorious and triumphant synthesis. In the United States, World War II is still referred to as "the good war," although at the time it was often described as a crusade to save democracy. In Japan, too, the media gave several titles to this epic tale of conflict. From 1937 through 1940, this struggle was usually called "the China Incident, A Holy War," and in 1940 and 1941, "the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" or "Developing (or alternately, Constructing) Asia." In December 1941, this tale of national greatness evolved dramatically, and was anointed with an appropriately grand title: "the Great East Asia War." The shorthand for these titles was simply "Certain Victory" (HisshO), the epic tale this book recounts through eight hundred images selected from over fifty thousand pages in two thousand five hundred Japanese publications, predominantly photodigests and newspapers published in Japan between 1937 and 1945. I have spent nearly twenty years amassing and researching these materials. XI xii PREFACE This book borrows analytical tools, more commonly applied to serially published novels, to deconstruct Japan's narrative of "Certain Victory." The rationale for doing so is found in the many parallels between the writerly practice of the archetypical serial novel and the method of producing weekly photodigests in wartime Japan: in both cases, the creator assumes an authoritative, omniscient stance toward the narrative, which traces a plot through its development and denouement. The story is uniquely the work of its author, who maintains close creative control over it. In other words, there was only one source for the story of the war's progress conveyed to the Japanese people. The corporate author of "Certain Victory" was the Cabinet Information Bureau (CIB), a branch of the Japanese government responsible for disseminating war information and serving as guardian of the imaging war on the home front, as well as supervisor and censor of the private media. The multitude of Japanese citizens who voraciously consumed "Certain Victory" read it as enthusiastically as the devotee of the serialized social or adventure novel, because its pages reflected their ambitions and reconfirmed their values. Thus the literary analogy is further supported by parallels in readerly practice. As antagonists, protagonists, and scenes change through the process of a novel's creation and serialization, readers accordingly revise their interpretive strategies and refine theories of the resolution of the tensions presented in the narrative. The final resolution, that is, the end of the story, while presumed to be known only to the author, is constantly foreshadowed in the work. Indeed, the many elements of "Certain Victory," a massive bildungsroman in which Japanese society would evolve under the nurturing influence of a centralized, all-powerful state, and eventually meet the challenges to its becoming a master race, were all arranged as indications-signifiers---of the certain victory to come.
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