Tokyo Rose

For other uses, see Tokyo Rose (disambiguation).

Iva Toguri D'Aquino mug shot, Sugamo Prison - March 7, 1946.

Tokyo Rose (alternative spelling Tokio Rose) was a generic name given by Allied troops in the South Pacific during World War II to what they believed were multiple English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The broadcasts were aimed at Allied forces in the Pacific, with the intent of lowering morale. "American servicemen in the Pacific often listened to the propaganda broadcasts to get a sense, by reading between the lines, of the effect of their military actions." "She often undermined the anti-American scripts by reading them in a playful, tongue-in-cheek fashion, even going as far as to warn her listeners to expect a “subtle attack” on their morale."

"Farther from the action, stories circulated that Tokyo Rose could be unnervingly accurate, naming units and even individual servicemen". Such stories have never been substantiated by documents such as scripts and recorded broadcasts, but they have been reflected in popular books and films such as Flags of Our Fathers. Similar rumors surround the propaganda broadcasts of Lord Haw-Haw and Axis Sally.

Iva Toguri is the most famously-linked name behind the Tokyo Rose persona. Toguri was a native to Los Angeles and was stranded in Japan because she was visiting her family when the war broke out. Toguri’s prominence saw her branded as one of the war’s most notorious propagandists, but evidence shows that she was not a Japanese sympathizer. Toguri’s program became conflated with more vicious propaganda, and she was arrested and convicted of treason after the Japanese surrender. She was released from prison in 1956, but it was more than 20 years before she received an official presidential pardon for her role in the war.

The Zero Hour

Main articles: Iva Toguri D'Aquino and The Zero Hour (World War II)

More than a dozen female Japanese broadcasters were dubbed “Tokyo Rose,” but the name is most strongly associated with Iva Toguri, an American citizen born to Japanese immigrants. Toguri broadcast during the 15-20 minute D.J. segment of the 75-minute program The Zero Hour on Radio Tokyo (NHK). The program consisted of propaganda-tinged skits and slanted news reports as well as of popular American music. Using the handle “Orphan Ann,” the smoky-voiced Toguri soon became a legend of the Pacific Theater. By late 1943, thousands of GIs regularly tuned in to “The Zero Hour,” a radio show where she played pop music in between slanted battle reports and put-downs aimed at U.S. troops.

After World War II ended in 1945, the U.S. military detained Toguri for a year before releasing her for lack of evidence. Department of Justice officials agreed that her broadcasts were "innocuous". But when Toguri tried to return to the US, a popular uproar ensued because Walter Winchell (a powerful broadcasting personality) and the American Legion lobbied relentlessly for a trial, prompting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to renew its investigation of Toguri's wartime activities. Her 1949 trial resulted in a conviction on one of eight counts of treason. In 1974, investigative journalists found that key witnesses claimed that they were forced to lie during testimony. U.S. President Gerald Ford pardoned Toguri in 1977.

The name "Tokyo Rose" in the context of these broadcasts first appeared in U.S. newspapers in 1943.

Tokyo Mose

Walter Kaner (May 5, 1920 - June 27, 2005) was a journalist and radio personality who broadcast under the name Tokyo Mose during and after World War II. Kaner aired on US Army Radio, at first to offer comic rejoinders to the propaganda broadcasts of Tokyo Rose and then as a parody to entertain U.S. troops abroad. In U.S.-occupied Japan, his “Moshi, Moshi Ano-ne” jingle was sung to the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down" and became so popular with Japanese children and GIs that the army paper called it “the Japanese occupation theme song.” In 1946, Elsa Maxwell referred to Kaner as “the breath of home to unknown thousands of our young men when they were lonely.”

Popular culture

Tokyo Rose has been the subject of songs, movies and documentaries:

• 1945: Tokyo Woes, propaganda cartoon directed by Bob Clampett featuring Seaman Hook. The cartoon's titular character (voiced by an uncredited Sara Berner) is portrayed as an overly enthusiastic, buck-toothed Japanese woman speaking on a propaganda broadcast with a loud voice and an American accent.
• 1945: Tokyo Rose "Voice of Truth", five-minute film short produced by the U.S. Treasury Department to promote public support of the 7th war loan.
• 1946: Tokyo Rose, film drama directed by Lew Landers. Lotus Long played "Tokyo Rose", a "seductive jap traitress"; Byron Barr played the G.I. protagonist, set to kidnap her.
• 1957: In the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, a Tokyo Rose broadcast is briefly heard on the demolition team's portable radio.
• 1958: In the film Run Silent, Run Deep a Tokyo Rose broadcast detailed ships and sailors lost at sea based on information gained from trash jettisoned by U.S. submarines.
• 1959: In the film "Operation Petticoat" a Tokyo Rose broadcast warns the crew of U.S. submarine to surrender.
• 1969: The Story of "Tokyo Rose", CBS-TV and WGN radio documentary written and produced by Bill Kurtis.
• 1976: Tokyo Rose, CBS-TV documentary segment on 60 Minutes.
• 1976: "Harbor Lights", a hit song by Boz Scaggs on his album Silk Degrees, begins with the line " Son of a Tokyo Rose, I was bound to wander from home".
• 1985: Canadian rock band Idle Eyes had a #1 hit in their homeland with the song "Tokyo Rose" from their self-titled debut album. The song's narrator addresses his lover, saying she "tells a story like Tokyo Rose".
• 1987: American heavy metal band Shok Paris released the song Tokyo Rose on their 1987 album Steel and Starlight. It's about a lonely GI who fell in love with the propaganda broadcaster during the war, and remembers her voice many years later.
• 1988: Canadian singer songwriter Joni Mitchell mentions "Tokyo Rose on the radio" in her song "The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms)" on the album Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm.
• 1989: American composer and musician, Van Dyke Parks released a concept album titled, "Tokyo Rose", on the subject of American and Japanese relations.
• 1995: Tokyo Rose: Victim of Propaganda, A&E Biography documentary, hosted by Peter Graves, available on VHS (AAE-14023).
• 2011: American country-rockabilly band Whiskey Kill, released the song "Tokyo Rose", the opening track for their debut album Pissed Off Betty.

See also

• Eastern Jewel - Chinese woman who spied for Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Lord Haw-Haw - propagandist who broadcast from Nazi Germany during World War II
• Axis Sally - propagandist who broadcast from Nazi Germany during World War II
• Axis Sally - propagandist who broadcast from Fascist Italy during World War II
• Mitsu Yashima - the American equivalent of Tokyo Rose
• Pyongyang Sally - propagandist who broadcast from North Korea during the Korean War
• Hanoi Hannah - propagandist who broadcast from North Vietnam during the Vietnam War

External links

• "Zero Hour" broadcasts archived at EarthStation1.com