THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN

[Music] [Applause] you are about to see the second of three films which have been made to help us sign up our enemy Japan to meet the Japanese and to do the job thoroughly we have got to understand them thoroughly the Japanese are not easy to know I've lived among them for ten years and I can testify that they are as different from ourselves as any people on this planet the real difference is in their mind you cannot measure Japanese sense of logic by any Western yardstick their weapons are modern their thinking is two thousand years out of date to the 70 million people of Japan Hirohito their emperor is a God who direct descent from the great Sun Goddess Amaterasu they believe that he personally owns Japan its land its resources and even themselves and they believe that it is the right and destiny of Japan's Emperor's to rule the whole world to bring about the fulfillment of this destiny and to destroy all nations and peoples which stand in the way of its fulfillment is the sacred duty of Japan's army and navy the army of Japan is a well-trained sternly disciplined force of fanatics deal to reckless courage by a primitive moral code which assures to every man who dies in battle and immortal life among the Shinto gods behind the fighting forces stand all the wealth and power and resources of a people whose national dream is to see Tokyo established as the capital of the world from Tokyo the Japanese have for over eleven years been carrying on one long uninterrupted war again and again Western economists have predicted that Japan's economy must soon collapse but Japan is stronger today than ever before in its history an adaptable people the Japanese have made good use of the inventions and conveniences of the Western world which might fit in with the plan for world conquest which is their national obsession non-essential industries in Japan have it all but wiped out but the Empire has recognized but one need the need for the materials of war efforts to hold down prices have failed and inflation has decreased the purchasing power of the end Japan's gold supply is carefully hoarded no longer forms a basis for her money but Tokyo's bankers see their turn coming later when Japan begins exploiting the lands it has conquered most eagerly sought securities on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are the shares of government control corporations set up to develop the gold and iron and timber of the Philippines the abundant rubber and tender baleia the oil and kaneen of the Dutch East Indies all the raw materials needed to make japan's self-sufficient in a war which many of its leaders believe may last a century never an inventive or creative people the Japanese have always depended on the scientific and industrial knowledge of the Western world and now that they are at war with Britain and the United States they find their chief source from which to borrow fast changing production techniques in Nazi Germany in the theatres of Japan Nazi methods of propaganda are also copied to good effect the Nazi concept of total war is highly satisfying to the Japanese mind for throughout its modern history Japan has been a totalitarian state preparing for total war playing their closely supervised part in total war our japan's metropolitan newspapers which ate the great american dailies or a stick of type can be set it must be approved by the army the Navy the police and the Foreign Office no story or editorial no picture or cartoon may be printed which opposes the concept of a Japanese ruled world thus to the Japanese reading public the progress said their holy war is an unbroken succession of triumphs every disaster becomes a victory and all news is good news for every channel of public information is being used to impress upon Japan's people that the war is proceeding according to a divinely guided plan and that the people's part is merely to double and redouble their sacrifices on behalf of the Emperor and of their sons and fathers away at the front greatest single source of Japan's fighting men is its peasant population long use to hard work and self-denial toiling from before dawn to long after sunset the farm family accepts hard work and squalor with the unfeeling stoicism of a disciplined race homes are crudely built with a framework of wooden beams and walls of muds and chuck straw in these huts Japan's peasants have for generation graze sons to fight for their Emperor there are few luxury crops in Japan today practically everything has been replaced by crops which give the greatest nourishment to all grain and rice belong to the state the whole crop is bought by the government at a price just high enough to keep the peasant alive and working and in a nation where land is the chief source of food and life no square foot to farmland however meager is left until to protect its supply of hardwood Japan has four years practice reforestation on a national scale and today it's lumber like everything else it produces is going into the war effort in one way or another to make sure that on the farm not an hour is spent in idleness no material is wasted every rural community produces useful handicrafts in the towns and villages home industry is also the rule and in these homes lies much of Japan's industrial strength with each home a miniature factory the nation's total production is almost beyond estimate with the same fanatic zeal that inspires the soldiers who may so devotedly support the Japanese people are today working for the destruction of the land they fear and hate most of all the United States the land which more than any other the Japanese have caused to remember with gratitude and affection for when in 1923 Japan was wrecked and broken by an earthquake it was the United States which was first and most generous in giving aid into Tokyo and scores of other shattered and suffering cities poured millions of American dollars shiploads of American supplies to save lives to heal the injured and to help rebuild Japan today Japan's restored cities are filled with mills and factories turning out materials of war in these factories there is no shortage of labor farms and villages comes an endless supply of girls eager to contribute to the war effort for a year or two before they marry and begin bearing sons for the Army and Navy willing to work 14 hours a day were little more than room and board a fine factory meals of boiled rice fish and teeth better fare than they had at home since nearly a decade before Pearl Harbor Japan's heavy industry has been mobilized on a war footing its materials machine tools and workmen integrated into a long range program to build up and maintain the Japanese war machine to make up for shortages of strategic materials it accumulated great stockpiles of raw materials by importing them from China India the Netherlands East Indies and from Western nations [Music] Japan's state religion is Shintoism which teaches that Japan is a heavenly land protected by their gods who have even taken the form of a divine wind which scattered and confounded enemy fleets Shinto gods exist in rocks trees and rivers and even the souls of men who have died for their Emperor are worshipped as minor gods and in the immemorial fashion of these ancestors they fortify with pageantry and savage symbolism their belief that innumerable and very fierce deity's have destined them to be the conquerors of the world early in life Japanese school children learn to feel the proper reverence for national heroes for by implanting such devotion the Empire is assured of a youth imbued with fanatical courage and militarist ideals [Music] from infancy Japanese children find their days strictly scheduled till the discipline of total war physical culture groups they harden their bodies learn the obedience to orders which will make them good warriors in later life by wreaking pitiless destruction upon unarmed cities and their helpless people and by slaughtering all those who spend in Japan's way the young Japanese will win honor and grace in the sight of his gods for they have decreed that it is Japan's destiny to achieve mastery over the whole world to bring to all people's the blessings of the samurai code [Music] [Applause] it learning to read and write the complex Japanese language of more than 4,000 characters there is stern discipline for the mind never are they allowed to forget that the way of Japan is the way of the warrior and that modern weapons of war are as glorious as the samurai swords with which their ancestors won honor and immortality to the Japanese child these are not mere planes and ships but symbols of the conquering bite of his August Emperor as he grows older the future Japanese soldier devotes a large part of his time to the study of warfare he learns to submerge his individuality in mass drills and maneuvers which teach him the fundamentals of the life he will soon lead he is taught how to handle a rifle under a drill master who is both able and severe he is trained so that handling a gun becomes second nature to him in preparation for the time when he will be a full-fledged soldier ready to die for his Emperor anticipating worldwide expansion Japan has four years maintained a school of military government and colonial administration where pick jeong japanese learn the approved attitude and method of ruling conquered people in a conquered territory the Emperor's future Gauleiters leader Spartan existence become used to the simple rations which must be their lot until the day of final victory at 17 every Japanese becomes automatically eligible for military service and on his induction into the army his years of military training and ingrained discipline begin to serve the nation averaging only 5 feet 3 in height and a hundred and seventeen pounds in weight the Japanese soldier is expected to compensate for his small size by his fanaticism in battle under the eyes of an elite corps of officers the new soldier spends nearly two years learning how to take care of himself and it is a matter of pride with each Japanese soldier that he conformed to the accepted pattern he is taught that the greater the odds are against him the more glorious will be his death building on this foundation of the will to conquer the Japanese have made good use of the offensive spirit which inspires their people [Music] today they believe themselves well on the way to realizing their imperial dream the dream of uniting all mankind into one worldwide household with Japan at its head this then is the enemy primitive murderers