Tokyo Rose
Tokyo Rose was the fabricated name given by Allied forces to a number of of American-speaking women who made propaganda broadcasts on behalf of the Japanese Imperial Forces. They taunted the American soldiers, highlighting their hardships and sacrifices and playing music from home, in an attempt to demoralise them.
Although there were a number of women used for this purpose, including the American Ruth Hayakawa, Canadian June Suyama, known as "The Nightingale of Nanking", who also broadcast on NHK's Radio Tokyo, as well as Myrtle Lipton who broadcast under the name "Little Margie" from Radio Manila, whilst it was still under Japanese control, none ever actually used the pseudonym "Tokyo Rose".
The name has, however, become synonymous with American-born Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino (4 July 1916 - 26 September 2006), who broadcast on Radio Tokyo's "Zero Hour" program, using the name "Orphan Ann". She was arrested after the war and tried for treason in 1949. The jury found her innocent on seven of the counts of treason against her and guilty on one count, for which she was sentenced to ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Bibliography
- Masayo Umezawa; Tokio Roze, Koji no Taiheiyou (トキオロゼ、孤児の太平洋); Kodansha Japan
- Peter Duus; Tokyo Rose - Orphan of the Pacific; Kodansha International/USA; 1979 (a translation of his wife's original work above)
- Russell Warren Howe; The Hunt For Tokyo Rose; Madison Books; 1990; ISBN 0-8191-7456-4
- Stephan G. Christianson; The Tokyo Rose Trial: 1949; included in Great American Trials (ed. Edward W. Knappman; Gale Research; 1994