Report from Tokyo: A Message to the American People

Title page. Notice the man had been the U.S. ambassador to Japan, so it gives him good credibility. The book is dated 1942.

Table of Contents.

He starts off saying the American people are 'dangerously ill-informed' about the strength of Japan.

He mentions the co-prosperity sphere and refers to the 'legitimate' interests of other countries. This is one thing I sort of wonder about. Why would other countries, as such, have legitimate interests in another country? It's not the country that has the interest; it's almost always economic cartels and corporations that have their own best interests at stake and not the interests of either country. 'Greed over all' is more their theme.

He writes about Japanese bombing of American humanitarian places in China.

The Declaration of War against Japan.

He writes about how the Japanese tortured Americans that were in Japan when the war began. He also refers to the Rape of Nanking.

Japanese feelings of superiority.

He says the Japanese are fanatical.

There could be another war with an even stronger Japan in the future.

The lot of the Japanese worker.

Japanese use of propaganda on their own people.

He talks about the things needed to defeat Japan and mentions the merchant marine, which is something often not covered in books on the war. The destruction of Japan's ability to export and import materials was critically important to the process of weakening Japan.

The Japanese are behind the war effort and worship the Emperor.

There's a chapter that examines the economic basis of what Japan is doing.

Japan treated the countries it took over badly.

In the following chapter, it talks about how the young people of Japan are molded into potential soldiers.

The young people faced many different kinds of pressures all working to force them to conform to a particular mold.

The following chapter deals with how the people of Japan are exposed only to what the government wants them to be exposed to.

1. The myth of Japanese military invincibility.

2. The Japanese were told of the victories of their military, but once the military started losing, they were either not told at all, or so much spin was put on the losses that they still appeared to be victories.

3. The massacre of thousands of Chinese was not even mentioned.

Japanese racism.

The book talks about various pledges that Japan had made and broken, citing Korea as one of them.

What they did in Manchuria.



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