Japanese propaganda

Propaganda in fascist Japan, in the period just before and during World War II, was designed to assist the ruling government of Japan during that time. Many of its elements were continuous with pre-war elements of statism in Shōwa Japan, including the principles of kokutai, hakkō ichiu, and bushido. New forms of propaganda were developed to persuade occupied countries of the benefits of the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, to undermine American troops' morale, to counteract claims of Japanese atrocities, and to present the war to the Japanese people as victorious. It started with the Second Sino-Japanese War, which merged into World War II. It used a large variety of media to send its messages.

Propaganda is biased information intended to promote a particular political cause or view. In that sense Japanese propaganda was no different from other nations' propaganda, but it had some defining elements, such as nationalism. Japanese wartime propaganda was, as with Nazi Germany's propaganda, a reaction against perceived foreign cultural domination. In Japan's case, propaganda attacked Western, and particularly Anglo-Saxon, culture. The believers in this propaganda saw themselves as offering a different, distinctly Japanese, way of life from Western Imperialism. Propaganda portrayed the West, and especially the Anglo-Saxon world, as decadent and weak. Japanese nationalistic propaganda made it difficult for the diverse nations of Asia to feel that they belonged in the new world order Japan was offering. (Japanese propaganda also promoted general Pan-Asianism, but this was never implemented as thoroughly as the nationalistic elements.) Because of this, Japanese propaganda was less appealing to non-Japanese than American propaganda, with its message of universal democracy open (in theory) to everybody.

Japanese wartime propaganda was distributed through films, magazines and newspapers, radio, books, cartoons and the education system.

The Film Law of 1939 decreed a "healthy development of the industry" which abolished sexually frivolous films and social issues. Instead, films were to elevate national consciousness, present the national and international situation appropriately, and otherwise aid the "public welfare."

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