{"title":"Japanese Propaganda Methods in Indonesia during the Military Occupation :Focusing on Kitahara Takeo’s Indoneshiajin no Seikaku","authors":"Dewi Anggraeni","doi":"10.22628/BCJJL.2020.11.1.187","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Japanese South-commissioned writers who left for Southeast Asia during World War 2 as members of the military's Propaganda Unit usually presented Indonesian people in a positive light. However, this was not the case with Kitahara Takeo, one such writer. This article examines the function of the negative portrayal of Indonesians by Kitahara, as seen in his essay Indoneshia no Seikaku(1943.8), and argues that this form of representation was a propaganda technique employed by the author for the purpose of furthering the project of a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”. In advancing this cause, Kitahara emphasized that “tough measures rather than mere slogans” were needed. In his view, the move toward a co-prosperity sphere had to be embodied in concrete policy, and it was necessary to recognize the actual problems in the Indonesian colony in order to devise the appropriate policies. His negative representation of Indonesian people can be read as a way of expressing “the real problem in the colony” that had to be addressed if the right policy was to be arrived at. He believed that this, eventually, would lead back to the idea of establishing a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”. The purpose of this paper is not to categorize Kitahara’s work according to a simple “anti-war/pro-war” distinction, but rather to observe the diversity of propaganda techniques employed by South-commissioned writers.","PeriodicalId":33066,"journal":{"name":"Gwagyeong Ilboneo Munhak Yeongu","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-12-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Gwagyeong Ilboneo Munhak Yeongu","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.22628/BCJJL.2020.11.1.187","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Japanese South-commissioned writers who left for Southeast Asia during World War 2 as members of the military's Propaganda Unit usually presented Indonesian people in a positive light. However, this was not the case with Kitahara Takeo, one such writer. This article examines the function of the negative portrayal of Indonesians by Kitahara, as seen in his essay Indoneshia no Seikaku(1943.8), and argues that this form of representation was a propaganda technique employed by the author for the purpose of furthering the project of a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”. In advancing this cause, Kitahara emphasized that “tough measures rather than mere slogans” were needed. In his view, the move toward a co-prosperity sphere had to be embodied in concrete policy, and it was necessary to recognize the actual problems in the Indonesian colony in order to devise the appropriate policies. His negative representation of Indonesian people can be read as a way of expressing “the real problem in the colony” that had to be addressed if the right policy was to be arrived at. He believed that this, eventually, would lead back to the idea of establishing a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”. The purpose of this paper is not to categorize Kitahara’s work according to a simple “anti-war/pro-war” distinction, but rather to observe the diversity of propaganda techniques employed by South-commissioned writers.
二战期间作为军事宣传部成员前往东南亚的日本南方作家通常以积极的眼光看待印尼人民。然而,这样一位作家北原武夫却不是这样。本文考察了北原在他的文章《印尼》(indonesia no Seikaku, 1943)中对印尼人的负面描述所起的作用,并认为这种表现形式是作者为了推进“大东亚共荣圈”计划而采用的一种宣传技术。为了推进这一事业,北原强调需要“采取强硬措施,而不仅仅是口号”。他认为,走向共同繁荣圈的行动必须体现在具体的政策中,必须认识到印度尼西亚殖民地的实际问题,以便制定适当的政策。他对印尼人民的负面描述可以被解读为一种表达“殖民地的真正问题”的方式,如果要达成正确的政策,就必须解决这个问题。他相信,这最终会导致建立“大东亚共荣圈”的想法。本文的目的不是根据简单的“反战/反战”区分来对北原的作品进行分类,而是观察南方委托作家使用的宣传技巧的多样性。