These propaganda cartoons, serialized in 1943 during the height of Imperial Japan’s war mobilization, were aimed at the Korean audience. Through cheerful imagery, they depict militarization, economic exploitation, and cultural erasure as progress and enlightenment.
Maeil Sinbo Newspaper, November 22, 1943
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Maeil Sinbo Newspaper, November 29, 1943
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Maeil Sinbo Newspaper, December 2, 1943
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Maeil Sinbo Newspaper, November 22, 1943
Frame 1 (マ・MA): 真面目な生活、和やかな愛国班
Earnest living, harmonious Patriotic Group
Korean “patriotic groups” (愛国班) were grassroots neighborhood cells comprising a few households which facilitated wartime mobilization, resource control, and ideological indoctrination. The cells also imposed surveillance and compliance, fostering an environment of coercion and control. The Japanese flags on every house signal loyalty to the Empire, demanding unity and ideological purity from all families — including colonized Koreans.
Frame 2 (ミ・MI): 南に北に真心の慰問袋
Sincere care packages sent to the north and to the south
Anthropomorphized care packages march with cheerful faces. These care packages were prepared by schoolchildren and "patriotic women" who included things like books, picture scrolls, sweets, photos, newspaper clippings, poetry, dolls, senninbari cloths, etc.
Frame 3 (ム・MU): 無駄をなくした良いお嫁
A good bride who got rid of waste
A humbly dressed Korean woman, newly married, embodies self-sacrifice. Her patched monpe pants and travel pack reinforce the romanticized thrift and simplicity expected from colonized women in service of the war.
Frame 4 (メ・ME): 目よりも大事な孫も志願兵
Even more precious than one's eyes, the grandson becomes a volunteer soldier
The old Korean grandfather's pride as he sends his grandson off to war exposes the enforced loyalty expected from colonial families.
Frame 5 (モ・MO): 『もしもし』電話も正しい国語
Even when saying “Hello?” over the phone, proper Japanese must be spoken
A Korean woman is shown speaking Japanese on the phone. Language suppression was central to Japan's colonial rule — Korean was suppressed in schools and public life, and cartoons like this normalized linguistic erasure.
Maeil Sinbo Newspaper, November 29, 1943
Frame 1 (ヤ・YA): 破れかぶれ、アメリカの負け戦
Desperate and reckless — America’s losing war
Roosevelt, depicted cartoonishly, watches his planes crash. This blatant propaganda mocks the Allies while reinforcing Imperial Japan's self-perception of invincibility — a view they expected Koreans to adopt.
Frame 2 (イ・I): 石にかじりついても勝ち抜くぞ！（負けるもんかっ！）
We are determined to win even if we have to bite into rocks! (We will not lose!)
A crazed man bites a rock — symbolizing blind perseverance.
Frame 3 (ユ・YU): 夢の中でも国語でお話（先生、セーンセイ、ムニャムニャ）
Speaking Japanese even in your dreams. (Teacher... teeaaacher... mumble mumble)
A Korean child, dreaming in Japanese, reveals the extent of desired assimilation. The subconscious itself was not allowed to remain Korean.
Frame 4 (エ・E): 枝や切り株は松炭油に
Branches and stumps become pine charcoal oil
Farmers were expected to scavenge wood for fuel production, supporting the war economy. Total war mobilization extended even into rural Korean life.
Frame 5 (ヨ・YO): 夜なべに叺や草鞋つくり
Making straw bags and sandals late into the night
A Korean couple toils under a light bulb, producing straw bags or straw sandals using traditional techniques. The straw bags were known 'gamani' (가마니) in Korean or 'kamasu' in Japanese. They were traditionally made in the winter, and used to transport everything including manure, coal, salt, and grain. First, the straw is weaved into rope, and then the rope is used to weave the fabric that forms the bag.
Maeil Sinbo Newspaper, December 2, 1943
Frame 1 (ワ・WA): 忘れるな！十二月八日の感激！（やったぞ！やったー！大本営万歳！十二月八日！）
Never forget the excitement of December 8th! (We did it! Hurrah! Long live Imperial HQ! December 8th!)
December 8, 1941 was the day of the Pearl Harbor attack. The cartoon rewrites history to portray it as a triumphant moment that all subjects — including Koreans — should cherish.
Frame 2 (ヰ・WI): 遺族や出征家族に銃後の真心（誉れの家、援護）
True spirit on the home front for bereaved and deployed families (House of honor, support)
A giant hand labeled "Support" protects a house labeled "House of Honor." Families were coerced into viewing military sacrifice not as tragedy, but as privilege.
Frame 3 (ウ・U): 嬉しいこと、国語で書けたこの手紙
What a happy occasion! I was able to write this letter in Japanese
A smiling and singing Korean woman celebrates being able to write in Japanese. This idealized scene masks the violent suppression of Korean literacy and identity.
Frame 4 (ヱ・WE): 笑顔で売り買い、明るい生活
Buying and selling with a smile — a cheerful life
Two Koreans smile to each other as goods are exchanged. The colonial regime conducted "kindness" campaigns to induce shopkeepers to improve their manners by smiling more often and speaking Japanese.
Frame 5 (ヲ・WO): おじさんは陸軍へ、兄さんは海軍へ
My uncle went to the Army, and my big brother to the Navy
A young girl waves the Japanese and Rising Sun flags. Indoctrination begins in childhood — glorifying militarism and the enlistment of Korean men into Imperial Japan's war machine.
These cartoons reveal how deep Imperial Japan’s psychological manipulation ran — coercing Koreans into erasing their identity, language, and even familial bonds for the sake of a foreign Empire. Every frame promotes joy in submission, glorifying assimilation and military servitude. This propaganda targeted even Korean children’s dreams — literally.
These AIUEO March cartoon strips were part of a larger Japanese-language four-page supplement published in Maeil Sinbo (매일신보 / 每日申報), the last remaining Korean-language newspaper during the Imperial Japanese colonial period. By 1940, all other Korean-language publications had been shut down, and Maeil Sinbo, under strict Japanese control as a tool for Imperial propaganda, became the last operational Korean-language newspaper in Korea.
This supplement was written in basic Japanese, primarily using Hiragana and Katakana, to make it accessible to Koreans with limited Japanese literacy. But it was not just a language learning aid - it also doubled as a war propaganda medium.
Each AIUEO cartoon strip is organized around a five-character sequence of the Japanese kana syllabary, such as ka-ki-ku-ke-ko (カキクケコ) or sa-shi-su-se-so (サシスセソ), and is divided into five panels. Each panel begins with a different kana character from that set, illustrating an ideal picture of life in Korea that was promoted as a part of Imperial Japanese propaganda. The panels may have been meant to be cut out and used as iroha karuta playing cards for entertainment.
These particular cartoon strips, published on November 22th, November 29th, and December 2, 1943, were organized around the ma-mi-mu-me-mo (マミムメモ), ya-yu-yo (ヤユヨ), and wa-wo-n (ワヲン) kana groups, respectively. However, the last two kana groups were modified in the cartoon strips to become ya-i-yu-e-yo (ヤイユエヨ) and wa-wi-u-we-wo (ワヰウヱヲ). The last modified Kana group has the now-obsolete kana letters ヰ and ヱ, which used to be respectively pronounced as wi and we in ancient Japanese, but now respectively pronounced as i and e in modern Japanese.
I carefully browsed the October, November, and December 1943 collections of Maeil Sinbo in the Digital Newspaper Archives of the National Library of Korea, and I have now posted all the AIUEO cartoon strips for every kana group except for two: a-i-u-e-o (アイウエオ) and ra-ri-ru-re-ro (ラリルレロ). I'm not sure if they were never published, got lost when the newspaper archive was established, or I simply missed them as I pored through the newspaper pages.
For your convenience, the links to all the previously posted AIUEO March cartoon strips are listed below:
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