In Japan-colonized Korea, everyone was required to perform the daily 7 am and 12 noon prayers. These 7 am and 12 noon prayers were mandatory in Korea, but not so in mainland Japan. There were usually loud sirens marking those two times of the day, and you had to immediately stop what you were doing and perform the prayers. As the following articles indicate, starting on August 12, 1943, even if you were driving a car or operating a train, you were required to immediately stop in the middle of the road or the tracks at 7 am and 12 noon sharp to perform the prayers.
The 7 am Kyūjō Yōhai ritual (宮城遥拝) involved deeply bowing several times in the direction of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo while standing, vowing loyalty to the Emperor. The noon prayer was a moment of silence in honor of the Imperial Japanese soldiers.
Enforcement of this rule was performed by the Korean Federation of National Power (国民総力朝鮮連盟, 국민총력조선연맹), which functioned as the one and only political party of Korea, the patriotic groups (JP: aikoku-han, KR: aeguk-ban, 愛國班), which were the local level neighborhood cells of the political party, and the police.
(Translation)
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) August 12, 1943
All vehicles must be stopped for the morning prayer and for the moment of silence at noon, effective today
Effective today, August 12, all vehicles must be stopped for the morning prayer and for the moment of silence at noon. At a regular press conference on August 11, Governor-General Koiso said, "Neither cars nor trains are stopping, even though they may have heard the sirens at noon," and called for the transportation authorities to look into this. The Governor-General's words were heard by the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Department, and he immediately ordered all trains, cars, rickshaws, and other vehicles to always stop for the Kyūjō Yōhai morning prayer and for the moment of silence at noon, just as ordinary pedestrians do, and he also instructed all police stations to ensure that drivers and others offer respectful prayers and moments of silence, so that his orders would be definitely executed.
Until now, government officials, merchants, farmers, and everyone else, whether at home or on foot, have always offered prayers and moments of silence. Once visitors set foot on the Korean peninsula, they voice their admiration seeing such a beautiful scene of people offering their prayers. Nevertheless, trains, cars, carts, and other vehicles have not stopped, but instead have sped along in clouds of dust past people offering their moments of silence. This unpleasant phenomenon was also lamented by the collective voices of the Korean Federation of National Power. On August 10th, the "Iron Rules for Life Fighting Decisive Battles" was issued by the Seoul Branch of the Korean Federation of National Power as a set of practical measures for the patriotic groups to follow, calling for all vehicles to be stopped to perform the morning prayer and the moment of silence. Starting today, all vehicles must stop immediately for the morning prayer and the moment of silence.
It is not too late!
Don't cause traffic accidents
Message from Mr. Isaka, Chief of the Provincial Safety Division
The chief of the Gyeonggi Provincial Security Division, Mr. Isaka, urged all drivers to be careful when stopping their vehicles for the morning prayer and for the moment of silence at noon:
All vehicles should have already stopped to observe the morning prayer and moment of silence by now. However, it is not too late if we do it thoroughly even today. It was unpleasant to see just the cars not stopping while everyone else was stopping for prayers.
We will strictly admonish drivers who do not do this in the future. Cars, trains, and other vehicles must pay attention to their surroundings when stopping in order to prevent traffic accidents if the vehicles all stop at the same time.
For example, if five or six cars are traveling in a row when the car in front stops suddenly, and the car behind carelessly forgets to stop at the same time, there is a possibility of a rear-end collision. All vehicles should pay attention to these points to avoid traffic accidents.
The train conductor will remind you when the train is stopped
From August 12, all trains, cars, carts, and other vehicles are to stop for the Kyūjō Yōhai morning prayers and at noon for moment of silence, just as ordinary pedestrians do, and drivers are to offer morning prayers and moments of silence to pray for military victory and for the long life of the Imperial Japanese Military, as well as to encourage the spirit of respect for the gods and the ancestors. The director of the Transportation Department, Mr. Sakamoto, who is in charge of transportation for the one million inhabitants of Seoul, was asked about what measures he has taken for stopping the trains in Seoul.
"We immediately gathered all the employees together and urged them to thoroughly enforce the stopping of the trains. I believe that it is a necessary act for the national people on the home front to stop their cars for the morning prayer and for the moment of silence at noon to offer heartfelt thanksgiving. However, for various reasons, it is impossible for trains to stop exactly on time with the sirens, and there is also the fear that a sudden stop could result in a traffic accident. Therefore, when the sirens sound, we stop the train as soon as possible, and the train conductor informs the passengers that it is time for the morning prayer or the moment of silence. This is technically difficult, but I believe things will gradually improve through training."
Imagine you are parent in 1944 Seoul and it is April, the beginning of the new school year. You are about to send your children to their first day of National School, which was equivalent to elementary school. To allay your anxieties, you may have picked up the newspaper and read this article to learn what to expect, and how to prepare your children for school. But this was Imperial Japan, so your children were going to be indoctrinated into State Shintoism. That meant bowing in the direction of the Imperial Palace every morning, praying in a moment of silence at noon for Imperial Japanese soldiers, and praying to the kamidana miniature Shinto shrines that were set up in the classrooms. The morning and noon prayers were mandatory in Korea, but not in mainland Japan. In addition, there were regular field trips to local shrines.
Textbooks and notebooks were provided free of charge. Free school lunch was provided, consisting of one 157-gram piece of bread, roughly equivalent to 1 and a half bagels, but parents were apparently expected to supplement it with food brought from home. Each piece of bread cost 13 sen, or roughly 2 to 3 US Dollars today.
In addition to memorizing their own names and home addresses, the children were also expected to memorize the names of their own Patriotic Groups, which would have been something like 'the Fourth Patriotic Group of the Fifth Team of Sajik-dong'.
Patriotic Groups (JP: aikoku-han, KR: aeguk-ban, 愛國班) were neighborhood cells which functioned as the local arm of the Korean Federation of National Power (国民総力朝鮮連盟, 국민총력조선연맹), the single ruling party of colonial Korea. Every Korean living in Korea belonged to a Patriotic Group. It typically consisted of a few households, led by a Patriotic Group leader, who normally acted as a mini-tyrant micromanaging the lives of everyone within the Patriotic Group. That included things like rationing food and goods, enforcing mandatory State Shinto prayer times and shrine visits, ‘volunteering’ laborers upon the colonial government’s request, arranging marriages, holding mandatory Japanese language classes, spying on ‘ideological criminals’, etc.
(Translation)
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) April 1, 1944
Fighting Families
Discipline for school children
Be strong, honest and cheerful!
With the joyous first day of school for the children finally approaching, we asked teacher Ms. Nakajima Ei of Seoul Sakurai National School about how to prepare the children at home.
Ms. Nakajima Ei, teacher at Seoul Sakurai National School
☆ … Discipline for children starting school
The three desirable qualities in children starting school are (a) a strong body, (b) an honest and cheerful nature, and (c) orderly discipline. However, not all children are educated in a uniformly excellent manner at home, so if your child lacks even one of these three qualities, please take the opportunity to correct his or her shortcomings as soon as possible.
In the area of child discipline, above all, we must instill in our children the education and awareness of being Imperial subjects from the time they are children in order to raise them to become capable citizens who will fight decisive battles. To this end, we should remind them of the dignity of the Imperial family and cultivate a spirit of reverence for the gods and the ancestors, so that they will not neglect daily routine national disciplines such as the Kyūjō Yōhai ritual [7 a.m. bowing several times in the direction of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo while standing], a Moment of Silence at noon [to honor Imperial Japanese soldiers], visiting Shinto shrines, and worshipping at the kamidana (miniature Shinto shrines inside rooms).
Let's also make it a habit to change the carefree lifestyle of the past and have our children wake up early, go to bed early, and go to and from school properly according to the rules. We must also teach them how to greet people in the morning and evening and how to respond to adults in a courteous manner. In addition, although it may seem trivial, it is important to give your child the confidence to do what he or she can do on his or her own without help from adults, so that he or she can pay for school supplies on his or her own after entering school.
☆ … Preparation at home before school starts
There is no need to teach your child various complicated things, but it is a good idea to have your child practice reading and writing his/her own name, learn the names of his/her parents, their address, and their patriotic group.
☆ … School supplies and other belongings
The school will take care of the necessary school supplies such as textbooks and notebooks, so there is no need to worry. It is advisable to avoid new or extravagant clothing, and to wear only what you have on hand or recycled clothing. It is also a good idea to get into the habit of taking good care of things such as pencils and paper.
☆ … Correcting children's selfishness, pettiness, bashfulness, nervousness, etc.
There are many causes for these problems, and it is difficult to say exactly what they are, but the National School is a training ground to build a character which is appropriate for Imperial subjects. Of course, selfishness is unacceptable, but petulance, bashfulness, and nervousness will gradually improve as they spend their lives together as a group at school. If parents consult with their children's teachers and take appropriate measures, then it will be possible to correct their children's behavior.
To this end, please encourage your children to think of school as an interesting and fun place when you drop them off and pick them up in the morning and evening. When they come home from school, be sure to talk to them about their day at school, even if it is just to review the day's activities.
In short, the home and school should work together to help children grow up brightly and strongly, and to teach them to have the determination to win the war as little national people of Japan fighting decisive battles.
School Lunches
The new school year will see the start of school lunches for the children of the National Schools. For the time being, each student will be given one loaf of bread of 42 monme (157.5 g) each until the cooking facilities have been set up. This is equivalent to about 7 shaku (70 ml) of brown rice. This is an expression of concern by the parents determined not to let the growing little national people feel hunger. However, there are apparently some families where the adults take advantage of the fact that 13 sen was paid to buy bread for the children, by eating up the rice that they used to provide in their children's lunch boxes.
The following are parts 3 and 4 of an interesting roundtable discussion by Imperial Japanese colonial officials discussing how to best utilize the incarcerated juvenile criminals, ideological criminals, and common criminals under their control for wartime production purposes. Please see this previous post for parts 1 and 2 of this roundtable discussion. Apparently, colonial officials believed that ideological criminals, who included Korean independence activists, could have their thoughts corrected, so they had more labor potential than common criminals, who were perceived to be less reformable. One gullible penal official was apparently duped into paying in part for the Korean clothes of one laborer who had a criminal record for theft, and the official's home was later burglarized, presumably by the laborer himself.
(Translation)
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) September 12, 1943
Talking about Judicial Protection
Roundtable discussion organized by the head office of Keijo Nippo newspaper - Part 3
Guidance for Increasing Military Strength
Encouraging Prisoners in the Construction of Airfields
Speakers (in no particular order)
Mr. Fukuzō Hayata, Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau of the Governor-General's Office
Mr. Michiyoshi Masuda, President of Seoul Law School
Major Nishida, Director of Seoul Naval War Office
Mr. Norimitsu Ohno, Director of the Seoul Court of Inquiry
Mr. Yūzō Nagasaki, Director of Seoul Probation Office
Mr. Utarō Sakafuji, Administrative Officer of the Legal Affairs Bureau's Criminal Affairs Division
Mr. Yasunori Miyazaki, Secretary of the Criminal Affairs Division, Bureau of Justice
Mr. Shizuo Kojima, Director, Ideology Division, Korean Federation of National Power
Mr. Shōichi Fujii, Seongam Academy
Mr. Masataka Ōkubo, Director of Yasaka Youth Dōjō
Keijo Nippo: Mr. Akio, Director of Editorial Department, Mr. Mine, Director of Social Affairs Department
Roundtable discussion scene
Keijo Nippo Reporter: No matter how earnestly we give guidance with love and fervent instruction, I think that there will still be people who will cause trouble for the Bureau of Justice. What are the views of those in the military as to how the subjects of judicial protection should be mobilized?
Naval Major Nishida: I think it would be fine if they are readily used under the firm guidance of companies in the production area that believe that what they are doing is directly useful to the nation. There may be a security issue or two, but in the context of the war, these issues are not so important, and I think this is the quickest way to meet the demands of the nation.
We have used prisoners to build certain airplanes, but I have heard that most of the prisoners were so enthusiastic and happy to know that their work in a place without any comfort services was helping to protect Japan. I have also heard that they were more efficient than those who were used from one group.
I think it would be very good if you could supervise them and assign them to such areas, rather than just suddenly releasing them out of the blue.
Keijo Nippo Reporter: As a specialist, what is your opinion on the problem that crime is preventing the increase in military strength in wartime?
Mr. Miyazaki, Secretary of the Criminal Affairs Division: Recently, the public has been paying a great deal of attention to the issue of production buildup. This is the people's mindset of responding to the current stage of the war, and anyone who stands in the way must be resolutely removed. Judicial protection is playing a significant role in removing such obstacles.
So far, the goal of judicial protection has been to passively maintain public order, but from now on, it must also get involved in the wartime aspects of life which are directly involved in the production buildup.
The number of Korean subjects of general judicial protection is estimated at around 3,000, and even though it is difficult to figure out what to do once we gather them together, it is not effective to handle them as a dispersed group. The most important thing is to gather them together and use their combined strength towards the goal of increasing production.
Mr. Ohno, Director of the Seoul Court of Inquiry: I have been thinking about what you said earlier, and although I think that people who commit ideological crimes are not well made as human beings, if only their thoughts could be corrected, then they will get better. However, this is not the case with ordinary criminals. In the fall of the year before last, I had some work to do at home, so I hired three laborers from the Seoul Educational Foundation.
I took notice of these laborers who had relatively good potential, so I invited them back to my house several times, so I could work with them and guide them. I thought to myself, if it went well, then there would be much to gain. My wife also felt this way and did various things, such as serving them dinner before sending them home, and letting them take some fruits home.
One of them was 17 years old and had one conviction for theft, but he was completely repentant and said he would do anything to get back on his feet. He said he would figure out something to do even without my prompting, but he eventually came to me and asked if I had a relatively preferential job for him. As New Year's Day approached, he asked me, "I found this store selling some Korean clothes for 17 yen, but I only have half the money to pay for it. I'm wondering if you could provide me with the rest of the money to help pay for it?" He was just a small 17-year-old child with no parents, so I decided to help him purchase it.
However, he never came again. After a while, my house was burglarized. I cannot believe that my way of doing things was a success in any way, even as a joke. I think it is a difficult question to answer as to why I failed. The judicial protection program is designed to guide and rehabilitate subjects by showing them compassion. It is extremely easy to first show them compassion, but it is extremely difficult to guide and rehabilitate them.
Mr. Miyazaki: Mr. Ohno mentioned that judicial protection services are very difficult to manage. I think that it is very difficult for judicial protection services to remake a subject's personality into a perfect person.
However, it is not enough for today's protection services to merely strive towards the perfection of the subject's personality. When human resources are in dire need of replenishment, it is not enough to perfect the human personality. Instead, I believe that the most important demand for judicial services today is to directly contribute to the buildup of production.
I believe that this is, at the same time, the goal of judicial protection. In this respect, juvenile protection seems to be very easy. There is a possibility that the trial court can place a juvenile in a juvenile reformatory institution or in a judicial protection group and firmly deal with them. Furthermore, ideological criminals under judicial protection also have the probation office to watch over them, so it is possible to put all of their cases together there. But there are difficulties when it comes to general judicial protection.
Mr. Ohno: It's just two sides of the same coin, isn't it?
Mr. Satō, Chief of the Protection Division of the Legal Affairs Bureau: That requires organization.
Roundtable discussion hosted by the head office of Keijo Nippo newspaper - Part 4
Rehabilitated prisoners who are sent south
Futaba Cram School, a juvenile protection school with an attractive reputation
Keijo Nippo Reporter: I would like you to share your thoughts from the standpoint of judicial punishment.
Mr. Sakafuji, Officer of the Criminal Affairs Division: I am in a position directly related to judicial protection, and from that standpoint, I believe that judicial protection must always move in the same direction as judicial punishment. However, simply viewing things in light of the ongoing current war situation, we find ourselves needing to cooperate in all aspects to increase military strength. In terms of its essential and systemic aspects, judicial punishment has been very passive in nature.
However, in order to break through these various restraints to some extent, and to actively embark on this project, we are currently dispatching a considerable number of people to the south. We have received a large number of requests from those who wish to be dispatched to the south. In general, the volunteers want to gain redemption by serving during wartime, and there is a significant feeling that this desire for redemption can be used towards the purpose of increasing military strength. However, for this reason, we do not send any number of people who wish to join us, but rather we select and train from among those who wish to join us.
At present, prisons also provide special training and technical training for this purpose, but I believe that an organizational plan must be established to mobilize subjects under judicial protection to increase military strength based on the Imperial Way of Labor.
Since subjects under general protection are dispersed, it is acceptable to organize a few protection groups for all of Korea. Labor groups can be organized, and they can become the basis for increasing military strength through work. This is where the way forward for judicial protection can be found.
Keijo Nippo Reporter: Now, Mr. Satō will give us an overview of judicial protection in the past year.
Mr. Satō: Judicial protection can be divided into three parts: juvenile criminal protection, ideological criminal protection, and general criminal protection. The system for juveniles was established for the first time in Korea on March 25 last year, but the law was promulgated on March 23 and came into effect on March 25. That left only two days to implement the law, which did not leave enough time to actually implement it. I must say that most of last year was spent in preparation for the implementation of this law.
Last year, we started by appointing juvenile protection officers. The Juvenile Court asked the chief public prosecutors in the six provinces within the jurisdiction of the Seoul Court of Inquiry to recommend suitable juvenile protection officers, and we appointed 151 of them as commissioned juvenile protection officers. The appointments were made on September 18, and it took a considerable period of time just to select the juvenile protection officers. The Juvenile Protection Center has established an organization called Futaba Cram School Foundation with the idea of providing direct guidance for the actual judicial protection of juvenile ideological criminals.
We are in the process of renovating buildings that have been confiscated from enemy states, but when this is completed, we plan to accommodate 200 juvenile offenders in both Incheon and Gongju, and if we give them focused training for two months, just as we do in mainland Japan, we will be able to train about 1,000 people five times a year. If we do not do this, we will not be able to provide actual judicial protection for the approximately 20,000 juveniles in our jurisdiction. In this way, we would like to have them serve in projects related to the current war situation and, if possible, become industrial warriors. The Seoul Juvenile Training Center is currently under construction. It is currently housed in a temporary building in the town of Ahyeon. It began operation in January of this year, but it has a capacity of about 20 students, which is inadequate.
The Juvenile Court began to handle all cases in January of this year, and from January to June of this year, the number of cases it has handled is 980. Since the facilities for the internment judicial protection of these juveniles are not yet complete, they are left in the hands of the protection officers, and we are in a hurry to add collective training as soon as possible.
Keijo Nippo Reporter: What about ideological crimes?
Mr. Satō: Currently, we have [redacted] people under judicial protection for ideological crimes. In the six years since the system started, the number of those placed on judicial probation has totaled 3,500, of which 45 were prosecuted for committing further crimes during their probationary period, so the number of recidivists is small. Our aim is to have passive allies and true converts alike devote themselves to the service of our country. When I see such admirable things, I am struck by their seriousness. They remake not only themselves, but also embark on the Imperialization movement, so that there are 44 Japanese language institutes and 12,000 graduates of those institutes, with 6,500 people currently attending lectures. In addition, we are making considerable efforts to ensure that the purpose of the conscription system is thoroughly understood.
Next, I would like to mention the activities of the Judicial Protection Commissioners. Last year, we appointed 4,500 commissioners in all of Korea. As of the end of June, there were 3,513 subjects under the oversight of the commissioners, of which 34 have been found to have committed a second offense. Considering the fact that the number of so-called previous offenders who committed a second offence during the probationary period is one third the number in previous years, I think 34 is a good result.
Keijo Nippo reporter: Lastly, what are your hopes for the general public regarding judicial protection?
Mr. Hayata: It is thought that judicial protection has always been considered to be important, but in the past, the critical importance of judicial protection was forgotten. Although the general public has become more aware of this issue, it is still not enough. I would like to see this point thoroughly raised, especially in newspapers and magazines.
In particular, I believe that the most important thing in this emergency situation is to maintain security in the home front. I am glad to see that the judicial protection activities have made considerable progress, but I think it is most necessary to secure human resources as well as to maintain security.
This is a particularly important issue in the current decisive war situation. In this sense, I would like to ask the general public to firmly pull those who are subject to judicial protection in the right direction. If we do so, we will be able to maintain public order and secure scarce human resources, which will immediately help to strengthen our armed forces. I would like the general public to be well aware of this.
Keijo Nippo Reporter: Thank you very much for your time.
This is a 'feel-good, heartwarming' story of a novice teacher who gradually gets used to teaching her fourth-grade students in the farm village of Sosa and builds up her confidence. The story sounds ordinary for the first few paragraphs, until she starts to talk about the 'will to fight', defeating the U.S. and Britain, dedicating everything to the Emperor, and other Imperialist propaganda points. Today, Sosa is part of Bucheon, a city located 25 kilometers away from Seoul.
(Translation)
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) October 11, 1943
"The story about the acorns" is filled with a will to fight
Teachers' appreciation for the lovely children
Farm village schools are fighting
Report by a trainee of Seoul Women's Teachers College (2)
It was now dawn at the farm village school. Today was the day the trainees would finally begin their full-scale training. We had spent a night in an unfamiliar room. Although there was a little bit of discomfort, life with my 51 classmates was pleasant. When I opened the window, a gentle breeze came in over the golden ears of rice soaked in the night mist. In the fresh air, we ate breakfast made with freshly picked daikon radish and bok choy cabbage.
The trainees waited, their hearts racing with new hope for the day ahead. "What kinds of facial expressions will the children have when we meet them?" we wondered.
Soon, it was 8:30 in the morning. It was time for the trainees to go teach for the first time at Sosa North Public National School. They only had to walk from the waiting room to the staff room, but everyone was tense. "Good morning, teachers," said a large sixth-grade boy, raising his hands in a bow. After responding back saying "Good morning," I felt somewhat relieved.
At 8:45 a.m., we had our staff morning assembly, a recital of a prayer to the gods, and other announcements. Then the children's morning assembly began. As the sound of four children blowing their horns reverberated in the air as an admonition, the children, who had been running around the school yard, gathered around the assembly area in front of the school and tried their best to line up quickly, which was a very encouraging sight.
During the morning assembly, we introduced ourselves. When my name was called out as the teacher for the second class of the fourth grade, I involuntarily responded in a loud voice, "Present!" When I stood in front of the children, I got worried, since many things could happen. I looked at the fingertips of the child in front of me and involuntarily stood immobile. The cute little children with bowl haircuts were all lined up in a row. The thought of living with these children for the next sixteen days made me want to talk to them.
I walked up the polished and shining stairs and entered the classroom of the second class of the fourth grade. When I saw the children properly sitting in their chairs waiting for me, I was reminded of my own elementary school days. I was then filled with emotion, realizing that I was now in a position to teach them.
Not long after I calmed down, it was time for me to give a lesson to the students. The students were children from rural villages. I had no idea what kind of knowledge they would have. I was teaching a class on spoken Japanese. Since it was an hour of instruction with children whom I had just met, my heart was aflutter. But I could not let them think that my podium was too high. The children stared at me more and more, as if they did not know of my inner turmoil. However, now that I was at the podium, I was the teacher. I had to be firm. I stared into the dark, shining eyes of each of the nearly 80 children who were seated in rows. My self-awareness of the fact that I was a "teacher of Japan at war" firmly supported me in my heart.
As to how they speak, listening to the five or six students that I had picked, I realized that their topics of conversation were different from those of the urban children. They spoke of "acorns," "pulling grains out of barley ears," and other topics that smelled of earth and sunlight. While children in the city read picture books, children here go out to work in the fields and mountains. This kind of life on the ground comes alive in the classroom.
Their way of speaking was rough, but I thought it was precious that the children of the soil had such a healthy spirit and were proud to share their experiences in front of everyone. When I said, "Sosa is a beautiful place," they all smiled and said, "Yes, it is". I couldn't help but think how sweet it was to see a child from a pure farm village so happy to be praised for his or her hometown.
Another thing that surprised me was the fact that the topic of "acorns" and "stories about pulling grains from barley" often included the fact that Japan is now fighting hard to defeat the U.S. and Britain. The stories of the children are not merely "natural life experiences" in the midst of nature in the farming villages. Indeed, the "will to fight" and to destroy the U.S. and Britain permeates and boils over in every acorn and in every ear of barley in everyday life. I was infinitely happy to see this "will to fight" in the lives of the children of today's farm villages, and as a national teacher, I was grateful and honored to see it.
In the peaceful and tranquil nature of the farming villages, people live with the sun, the sky, the crops, the cows, and the horses. Life in a farming village where people enjoy nature is now a dream of the past. The true meaning of the Imperial Way of Labor lies in the fact that every stalk of grass and every tree is connected to the nation, and that every hoe and every kiln, the crops and labor in the farming villages are all solely dedicated to the sovereign Emperor alone. It is only natural that the will to fight is now clearly evident in the minds of the children of the farming villages of today, and in the topics that they talk about.
I shouted out in my heart, "Oh, children of the fighting farming villages of Japan! I cannot help but admire your fierce and burning will to fight that is reflected in your pure faces."
It was recess. My love for the children was boundless, so I couldn't help but join hands with them in the schoolyard. The autumn sun's rays were pouring down like a bright rain all over the schoolyard. Oh, the joy of playing hand in hand with those children who were burning with the will to fight! I couldn't help but think to myself, how could I not feel the joy of an educator here?
In the afternoon, I returned to the waiting room for an afternoon event. Lunch was a delicious dish of kinpira gobo. From 1:00 p.m., Mr. Watanabe gave an instructional lecture on practical training.
1. Train individual students with the goal of instilling sincerity.
2. Train individual students with the purpose of increasing promptness.
3. Train jointly with the students to work organically together.
4. Train students as group to work as an organized team.
5. Conduct specialized training for emergency situations.
After listening to the above, I went to the practical training site and watched the fourth graders work on point #1.
(By Ayako Hoshimura)
Photos: Children's play (above) and children in the classroom (below)
It is April 1944, over two years into total war against the United States and Britain, and it is not going so well for Imperial Japan. Governor-General Koiso's office had made a big announcement on April 11, 1944 about plans to build Shinto shrines all over Korea in every eup (town) and myeon (township) that does not yet have one. This article is a follow-up speech by the colonial regime religiously justifying this action as a way to realize "the fusion of the Japanese-Korean family based on divine will", and celebrating the lack of separation of state and religion in Imperial Japan. The speech calls upon every patriotic group leader to compel its group members to construct the shrines, all in spite of severe wartime material and labor shortages. It sounds crazy on many levels, but perhaps the superstitious war leaders thought that currying favor with the gods would somehow turn the tide in Imperial Japan’s favor.
Patriotic Groups (JP: aikoku-han, KR: aeguk-ban, 愛國班) were neighborhood cells which functioned as the local arm of the Korean Federation of National Power (国民総力朝鮮連盟, 국민총력조선연맹), the single ruling party of colonial Korea. Every Korean living in Korea belonged to a Patriotic Group. It typically consisted of a few households, led by a Patriotic Group leader, who normally acted as a mini-tyrant micromanaging the lives of everyone within the Patriotic Group. That included things like rationing food and goods, enforcing mandatory State Shinto prayer times and shrine visits, ‘volunteering’ laborers upon the colonial government’s request, arranging marriages, holding mandatory Japanese language classes, spying on ‘ideological criminals’, etc.
Koreans are immensely proud of their national and ethnic identity. Underestimating this was perhaps the critical mistake of the colonial authorities, who thought that maybe enough brainwashing and coercion would win the hearts and minds of the Korean people, and lead them to change their minds and become true Japanese people. But as we now know, the exact opposite happened. If anything, the mandatory shrine visits and other coercive tactics probably inflicted such humiliation and psychic trauma, that they radicalized an entire generation of Koreans into doubling down on their Korean nationalism, Christian faith, and anti-Japanese sentiments, the reverberations of which we still see today.
The issue of Shinto shrines is a particularly sensitive topic that can still evoke strong emotional reactions among both Japanese and Korean people. Many Japanese are still angry at the fact that the 1000+ Shinto shrines that were built in colonial Korea were all destroyed following the end of the war, starting with the Pyongyang shrine which was set on fire on August 15, 1945, the day Imperial Japan surrendered. Today, the only vestiges of the shrines in Korea are found in their ancillary structures, like the stairs. A statue of Kim Il-sung now stands on the former site of Pyongyang shrine.
(Translation)
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) April 21, 1944
Cultivating faith in the central principle of unity
One shrine to be built in each eup (town) and myeon (township)
Broadcast by Director Kojima of the Faith Division of the Korean Federation of National Power
In view of the announcement made by the Governor-General's Office regarding the policy and measures to rapidly realize the vision of one shrine in each eup and myeon, Mr. Shizuo Kojima, Director of the National Faith Division of the Korean Federation of National Power, made a broadcast from the Seoul Central Broadcasting Station at 6:30 p.m. on April 20, requesting the sincere cooperation of patriotic group members to fully construct shrines as soon as possible:
"The fundamental difference between our nation and other countries is that our nation is united in its government and religion, while other countries have their governments and religions separated from each other.
The unity of government and religion means that government and religion are under the control of a single person, and that the government manifests the spirit of the religion as it actually is. In foreign countries, the priest presiding over religion is a completely different person from the head of state, who is the sovereign of the political system. Government and religion take two paths: the government that rules the here-and-now is completely different from the religion that governs the afterlife, and the two are often thought of as being in contradiction with each other.
In our nation, the Sovereign Sumemima-no-Mikoto inherits the blood lineage of the Great Ancestral Goddess Amaterasu, and at the same time, inherits the lineage of the Amatsu-gami, which is why he is referred to as the Living God. This point is particularly important, and this is the reason why both government and religion are controlled by one person. In our nation, in terms of management roles, the Prime Minister is the head of the cabinet in politics, and the Chief Priest in charge of religious rituals. (abbreviated)
It is indeed a matter of great joy that the Governor-General's Office has announced the policy and measures for the rapid realization of the goal of one shrine in each eup and myeon. In accordance with this policy, the Federation is making preparations for the training of shrine workers who will serve in this capacity.
These shrine workers are not to be limited to shrine service, but are to play a role in educating and guiding the people of wide regions in their national faith, and at the same time, they are to set annual events and conduct all their daily activities with a focus on the Gods, to have an attitude of living consistently with the Gods in life and death, and to rely on the Gods in joyous and sad times. I would like everyone to wash their hearts and minds in the Mitarashi River that flows out of the shrines' forests, to clear their minds in the wind of the pine trees, and to bow before the Gods and pray for the prosperity of the nation, peace in their hometowns, safety in their homes, and good bodily health.
The Gods of our nation are the essence of harmony between god and man, and the religious festivals should be held not in a rigid manner, but with a sense of solemnity and harmony. If the Gods are confused with the demi-gods (half-mortal, half-gods), or if we keep them away at a distance by showing too much respect and solemnity, then that is against the will of the Gods. The cause of the current calamity is the separation of man from god, the separation of family from nation, and the spread of the ideology of materialism. The only way to be saved is to return to the Great Way of the Gods.
Japan and Korea have the same ancestors and the same roots. Their spiritual lives have a common origin from the earliest times, and their cultural processes are also on the same track. We must be aware that the fusion of the Japanese-Korean family based on divine will is going to be realized as it was in the past. We must grasp the true spirit of this fusion, and fix the situation in this world. The war situation is becoming more and more intense, but I believe that by following the Great Way of the Gods, by devoting ourselves to the cause of reverence for the Gods and the Emperor, by being faithful to our ancestors, and by thoroughly practicing our devotion to the Gods day and night, we should be able to end this calamity in a timely manner.
I am keenly aware of the urgent need to cultivate the worship of gods and faith in the Emperor on the Korean peninsula, which lacks faith in the central principle of unity. Let everyone in the Patriotic Groups cooperate in the construction of shrines as quickly and fully as possible. Together, let us hope that this will be realized."
