Japan’s Use of Propaganda as a Tool for Psychological Warfare in the Second World War.

World War II was one of the most monumental events in history and certainly one of the most significant events in the 20th century. The series of confrontational events that led up to Pearl Harbor and the events that followed up until the Japanese surrender in 1945, were waged on the political, and military fronts, but one aspect of the war which sometimes is overlooked is the war waged on the social front. What makes the social aspect of war so significant si that it involves a dynamic within humans. In time of war, there is death, violence, and hate. Thoughts and emotions come into play; ideologies and philosophies, ways of life, end up creating culture clash between countries. War is no longer between soldiers on the battlefield, but between nations and their ideas. And in order to make a whole nation support the war with their emotion, there needs to be influence. That influence is propaganda. The main goal of the propaganda was to rid Japan of fears that the nation had to endure since the 1860’s during the time of imperialism where Japan was more or less invaded by modern western countries in Europe, UK as well as the United States. The main affect the Japanese where aiming for in their war propaganda efforts, was the promotion of their culture to justify why they should have the right to be industrialized as well as a major power in the world. Propaganda helped portray the Western Allied countries as an evil demonic, aggressive, along with suppressive country, which was inferior to Japan in every way. Thus, increasing Japanese support for the pacific War. Therefore propaganda was an effective psychological warfare method for fueling hatred towards Japan’s supposed enemies. One of the things that propaganda did for the Japanese is it allowed them to get their messages out to the other countries it was hoping to influence. It can almost be said that the Japanese had an overwhelming task of trying of not only conquering these other Asian countries

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