The dog days of summer end tomorrow here in Japan... August is finished. Of course, every year in August, the surrender of Japan in World War II is celebrated... With it the war crimes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are also remembered....
I was searching through the Internet Archive for something to commemorate this time - but from a different perspective - and I found these recordings of Tokyo Rose.
Iva Toguri D'Aquino
Contrary to what people believe, Tokyo Rose was not just one person. Tokyo Rose was about a dozen different girls broadcasting under the name of Tokyo Rose. The most famous was Iva Toguri D'Aquino.
From Wikipedia:
Toguri called herself "Orphan Ann," she quickly became identified with the moniker "Tokyo Rose", a name that was coined by Allied soldiers and that predated her broadcasts. After the Japanese defeat, Toguri was detained for a year by the U.S. military before being released for lack of evidence.
I think it is absurd to think that some girl on the radio would really know any secret information about Allied troop movements or anything else for that matter. Just like people today... People need a job.
The madness of war! One would hope that we'd learn someday... But judging from what is going on right at this moment... I guess we won't.
Anyway, for your enjoyment and for a short trip into the past, here's some recordings of Iva Toguri D'Aquino... The famous Tokyo Rose.
From the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/TokyoRose
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Keywords:
Mike in Tokyo, Marketing Japan, Iva Toguri D'Aquino, Tokyo Rose, Mike Rogers, Orphan Ann, Mike in Tokyo Rogers
6 comments:
Fascinating - thanks for posting
Interesting. I notice that you call the dropping of the atomic bombs a war crime. That is a point of view because many innocents died in these terrible events. Undisputed. I try to set it within the following context: 1.Japan had a continuous history from 1937 of atrocities against civilians and also prisoners of war.
Perhaps we should say that the rules were set by Japan at the Rape of Nanking.
2. The bombs were dropped to force the surrender of Japan. The alternative, an invasion of mainland Japan would have cost far more innocent lives as well as those of thousands of Allied & Japanese soldiers. Such an invasion would have resulted in the massacre of all surviving Allied Prisoners of War - the order for this had already been given.
To me the dropping of the bombs was a cruel
necessity.
Thanks Martin
Jonathan,
So, using your logic, the killing of Americans is justified because of the slaughter of native American Indians... Or such. No... One crime does not justify the other.
every major country involved in that war is responsible for war crimes. they are all bad and one is not worse than the other.
Anonymous Bravo! Well said.
It is rare when a westerner will make this admission. I applaud you. Usually it is an excuse, "Well, they started it" or "What about Nanking?" or.....
Thank you.
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