Tokyo rose

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Tokyo Rose is a nickname used by Americans during World War II in the Pacific to refer to the many English-speaking female voices on Japanese propaganda programming on Radio Tokyo ( NHK ).

story

Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino outside Radio Tokyo

The name "Tokyo Rose" is primarily associated with Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino , a Los Angeles -born Japanese woman who went to Japan in 1941 to visit a sick relative. After the surprising outbreak of war, she was refused return travel to the USA because she did not have a passport . In order to earn a living, she first worked as a piano teacher in Japan, then for a news agency and also for the Japanese broadcaster Radio Tokyo . In late 1943, she began as one of 20 hosts on The Zero Hour(German "Zero Hour"), which soon became part of Japanese propaganda. Her alias on the show was Orphan Ann . However, there is no evidence that Iva Toguri ever mentioned the name Tokyo Rose in any of her shows. The origin of the name appears to be in the American Navy or Army , where it first appeared in early 1944. Other well-known speakers were Foumy Saisho , whose pseudonym was Madame Tojo , Myrtle Lipton , whose pseudonym was Little Margie , or Manila Rose , and Ruth Hayakawa , who went by the name Nightingale of Nanking .

"Greetings everybody! This is your Number One Enemy, your favorite playmate, Orphan Ann on Radio Tokyo – the little sunbeam whose throat you'd like to cut! Get ready again for a vicious assault on your morale, 75 minutes of music and news for our friends - I mean, our enemies! – in the South Pacific.”

"Greetings to all! This is your number one enemy, your favorite playmate, Orphan Ann on Radio Tokyo, the little ray of sunshine whose throat you'd love to slit! Prepare again for a vicious assault on your morale, 75 minutes of music and news for our friends - I mean enemies - in the South Pacific!

– Iva Toguri as Orphan Ann : Simulated Zero Hour broadcast for an American newscast on September 20, 1945

After the end of the war, she was classified as a security risk by the United States and was held in various Japanese prisons . At the end of 1945 she was released again. But in 1948 she was arrested again, taken to the United States, and put on trial by the FBI for treason .

Iva Toguri D'Aquino was acquitted of seven of the eight charges, but was sentenced to ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine on October 6, 1949. On January 28, 1956, she was released from custody. She then lived in Chicago , where her family owned a business.

After several petition letters , President Gerald Ford issued a presidential apology on January 19, 1977 . However , she never received any compensation . On September 26, 2006, Iva Toguri D'Aquino died in Chicago.

literature

  • Russell Warren Howe: The Hunt For "Tokyo Rose", Madison Books, 1990, ISBN 0-86806-367-3 .
  • Masayo Umezawa Duus: Tokyo Rose: Orphan Of The Pacific. Kodansha International, 1979, ISBN 0-87011-354-2 .
  • Rex B. Gunn: They Called Her “Tokyo Rose”. self-published, Santa Monica, CA, 1977

See also

web links