Tokyo Rose
Tokyo Rose, so named by Allied forces, was any of a number of English-speaking women who made propaganda broadcasts on behalf of the Japanese Imperial Forces, during World War II. They taunted the American soldiers, highlighting their hardships and sacrifices, and playing familiar music from home, in an attempt to demoralize them.
The women used for this purpose were mostly of American or Canadian descent, 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.
Subsequent investigations after her release, during which time she had to work to pay back the outstanding amount of the $10,000 fine, revealled that she had assisted Allied POW's working at the station; had been abused and threatened by the Japanese because she had refused to relinquish up her US citizenship and accept Japanese citizenship. Throughout the war, she had been hoping for, and confident of, an Allied victory.
It also transpired that several Japanese witnesses, who had testified at her trial, later admitted to perjuring themselves. However, these admissions only came after the occupying forces no longer had jurisdiction over Japan, thus exempting them from the threat of US prosecution. On the grounds of this new evidence, President Gerald Ford granted her a full pardon on 19 January 1977.
Early Life
Iva Ikuko Toguri was born in south-central Los Angeles on 4 July 1916, the daughter of a Japanese immigrant. This made her a nisei (二世 lit. "second generation", or a first generation American citizen, of Japanese descent). Her mother was crippled as a result of diabetes. She was raised a Methodist, joined the local Girl Scouts, and dreamed of becoming a medical doctor, fueled in part by having to care for her mother.
She graduated from UCLA, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Zoology in 1941. Her aunt Shizu, who lived in Japan, then took ill and Iva was chosen to go to Japan to represent the Toguri family in after her ill aunt. Her travel documents listed her occupation as “pre-med student”.
She sailed for Japan on 5 July 1941, aboard the Arabia Maru. However, she left with no passport. The State Department refused to issue one on such short notice and instead, gave her a Certificate of Identification, saying that this document would be sufficient to get her to and from Japan. However, when she applied to return to the U.S. in November 1941, becoming more fearful of the situation in Japan, she was refused on the grounds that there was no evidence that she was an American citizen, and the document provided by the State Department was unacceptable. She was thus left stranded in Japan when war broke out in December.
Beginning of the War
As a foreign national, Iva was regarded as an enemy alien by the Japanese authorities, who instructed her to renounce her American citizenship and register as a Japanese citizen. She refused, requesting instead to be sent to an interment camp along with other foreign nationals. Her request was refused, because of her gender and also because she was of Japanese descent. Alone, frightened and unable to read and barely able to speak Japanese, she returned to live with her uncle.
However, problems arose when she was overheard expressing happiness at the Doolittle Raid and neighbours accused her uncle of harbouring an enemy spy. In order to protect them, she left their house, renting a small apartment. She gave piano lessons to pay the rent, as well as for Japanese lessons.
She found employment at the Domei News Agency, working as a typist, transcribing English-language news broadcasts for the agency. It was here that she saw the report containing the names of her family in America, who had been shipped off to Gila River Interment Camp in Arizona. Already shocked by this news, she returned home one night, to find her room being searched by the dreaded Kempeitai Military Police. At this point, Iva again requested to be interned, but this too was declined and she was told, with typical Japanese efficiency, that it would cost too much to feed her, especially when she was perfectly capable of earning a salary.
Shortly thereafter, Iva was hospitalized for six weeks, suffering from malnutrition, pellagra and beriberi. In order to pay the hospital bill, she had to borrow money from her landlady, as well as from a Portuguese national, Felipe d’Aquino, who shared her pro-American feelings and with whom she had struck up a friendship. In order to pay them back, she took on a second job, working as a typist for Radio Tokyo. Her job was to type up English-language scripts, drafted by the Japanese Propaganda Ministry, which would then be broadcast to the Allied troops in the Pacific war zone.
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