Tokyo Rose

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 intention of demoralization. "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 famous name linked to the Tokyo Rose persona. Toguri was a native of Los Angeles. She was stranded in Japan when she was visiting her family at the onset of war. Toguri’s prominence saw her branded as one of the war’s most notorious propagandists, but evidence showed she was not a Japanese sympathizer. Toguri’s program became conflated with more vicious propaganda. She was arrested and convicted of treason after Japan's surrender. She was released from prison in 1956. It was more than 20 years before she received an official presidential pardon for her role in the war.

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.

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