US wartime manual re Japanese

[amdg]

"To sum it up, spotting a Jap depends upon three things: 1 appearance, 2 feet, 3 pronunciation." ... "and g-string"

Here

[Taro Toporific]

[dimwit]

Japanese soldiers (especially officers) were significantly shorter than the average Japanese largely as a result of the training regimen. They were effectively malnourished throughout there teenage years in an attempt to toughen them up.

Indicidently, one of the great prizes of my book collection is 'How to spot a Jap Plane' which seems to combine two fun activities; plane spotting and racism.

[Kanchou]

And you know the ironic thing is that in 30 years they're probably going to make a "How to spot a chink among our Japanese allies..."

And it'll have the same racist stereotypes being passed off as a way to distinguish the races...albiet reversed.

What I love is how they compared Chinese features to European ones in order to animalize the Japanese.

[72hw]

Just one more reason why I am so deeply proud to be a Middle Aged White Male American Living In The USA - what a croc!!!!

[Greji]

" ... "and g-string"

That was quite educational to learn that so many J-males worn G-strings. That would explain a lot of those dudes I've met in Shibula and Roppongi.

[jingai]

Hey Dimwit, do you have a scan or link to the plane spotting book?

[Hokgwai]

The title should be "How to spot an ignorant racist"

Step 1: Just look at the name of the SOB who actually took the commission to do that book.

Yeah, these were "different times" but still......
..."Note how the good Chink's eyes are set like ours and note how Japs have squinty eyes that slope towards their flat noses..."
Those motherfather SOBs.....can't believe they were serious.

That comic artist was a pretty well known and respected artist in comic book history....what a shame.....

[Greji]

Yeah, these were "different times" but still......
..."Note how the good Chink's eyes are set like ours and note how Japs have squinty eyes that slope towards their flat noses..."
Those motherfather SOBs.....can't believe they were serious.

Don't let it bother you! Those were different times and the thinking of that time is not something that we can compare to today. The psyops people wanted to put forth a "hate first" image of the enemy and that's all they did. There was no PC and no selective deversification in society in those days. The people at the time saw Japanese as the people who had made an unannounced sneak attack on the military forces and territorial property of the US, casusing death and damage. Those people saw them exactly in the light that the cartoon portrays them.

It may not be right, but as you said, those were "diffent times" and it accomplished the purposes for which it was intended. You cannot approve or disapprove of anything that was said or done in those days by our present standards and way of thinking. We are not those people and now is not then!

[kamome]

It may not be right, but as you said, those were "diffent times" and it accomplished the purposes for which it was intended. You cannot approve or disapprove of anything that was said or done in those days by our present standards and way of thinking. We are not those people and now is not then!

It's always beneficial to revisit history to see how far we've come and how much farther we need to go. You certainly can disapprove of what happened in those days, if only to ensure that it doesn't happen again. It's called evolution.

[Charles]

It may not be right, but as you said, those were "diffent times" and it accomplished the purposes for which it was intended. You cannot approve or disapprove of anything that was said or done in those days by our present standards and way of thinking.

Oh sure we can. Today we can recognize the racist injustices of the WWII era, for example, the Japanese internment, or the embargo of the Italian fishing fleet in San Francisco. Just because people did not recognize it as racist at the time, does not make those events less racist, now that we have "evolved" to recognize it for what it was.

[Greji]

Oh sure we can. Today we can recognize the racist injustices of the WWII era, for example, the Japanese internment, or the embargo of the Italian fishing fleet in San Francisco. Just because people did not recognize it as racist at the time, does not make those events less racist, now that we have "evolved" to recognize it for what it was.

I didn't say it wasn't racist and that it didn't occur. There were reasons that those things occurred in the enviornment of that day that would be impossible in today's society in most countries, but they did in fact occur. I suppose you would have us go back and apologize for that?

As the seagull says, it never hurts to revisit history, which is spot on because there is much to learn there, but by the same logic, you cannot live in any part of history and expect to keep pace with the present.

[Charles]

I didn't say it wasn't racist and that it didn't occur. There were reasons that those things occurred in the enviornment of that day that would be impossible in today's society in most countries, but they did in fact occur. I suppose you would have us go back and apologize for that?

Well, actually, we DID. Reagan issued a formal apology in 1988 and reparations were paid to the internees or their direct descendants. Fred Korematsu (who fought internment all the way to the Supreme Court, and lost) was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 by President Clinton.

No justice for the SF Italians, unfortunately.

[kamome]

Actually, there are lessons we can take from the past regarding racism justified by the "exigencies of the times" (i.e., war). Back then, it was thought that the existence of war justified racial profiling, internment, violations of civil rights, etc., etc.

The same thing is happening now in the U.S., and I don't know whether an argument could be made that Muslims and people of Arabic descent are getting fair treatment after the events of 9/11. We're not sending anyone to concentration camps, but the 4th Amendment (dealing with searches and seizures) seems to have morphed out of existence.

[CrankyBastard]

Racial stereotyping/profiling: The commonly held belief that the Japanese are workaholic automatons is completely unfounded. Even as far back as the 1940's they were renowned for their lazyness. More than half of their airforce pilots were even too lazy to bother flying their planes back to Japan!

[Big Booger]

The funny thing is Japanese themselves continue to protray gaijin like these cartoons... I remember last year watching some manzai routine where one was dressed like a foreigner... and had put on a costume that over emphasized certain features.. a big nose, a big peter and so on... it was silly and funny but certainly stereotyping if not racist.

[jingai]

It may not be right, but as you said, those were "diffent times" and it accomplished the purposes for which it was intended. You cannot approve or disapprove of anything that was said or done in those days by our present standards and way of thinking. We are not those people and now is not then!

I agree that it is important not to judge the past by current values ("presentism") if you're talking about history, but if you're talking about something relevant to modern politics then it's fair game.

Was racism and discrimination against Japanese and even imprisonment perfectly acceptable by the standards of the 1940s? It may have been popular and easy to justify, but I don't think it was the only way our leaders at the time could have acted. The fact that there were lawsuits going up to the Supreme Court, including the badly decided Korematsu decision indicates there was at least some opposition.

Here's what one justice thought in 1944.

"Justice Murphy, dissenting.

This exclusion of "all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien," from the Pacific Coast area on a plea of military necessity in the absence of martial law ought not to be approved. Such exclusion goes over "the very brink of constitutional power" and falls into the ugly abyss of racism."

"I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States."
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/65.htm

[Greji]

.. a big nose, a big peter and so on...

What are you talking about BB? You can't buy publicity that good. They need to put more of that profiling information out!

I'm already using a separate call director for groupie appointments!

[dimwit]

Hey Dimwit, do you have a scan or link to the plane spotting book?

I am looking for it now, unfortunately I have way too many books spread all over the place.

[Big Booger]

What are you talking about BB? You can't buy publicity that good. They need to put more of that profiling information out!

I'm already using a separate call director for groupie appointments!

Boothe-kun,
We must empathize with our short-peckered gaijin friends. When the ladies go out with them and get stuck with a stump rather than a rod.... sterotypes have done some damage...

[Greji]

Boothe-kun,
We must empathize with our short-peckered gaijin friends. When the ladies go out with them and get stuck with a stump rather than a rod.... sterotypes have done some damage...

I suppose we should feel for the lesser endowed, I think I will set aside a special time for that, like maybe on the third Thursday of next week.

They with their quaint little sayings of "it's not how much I got, it's the cute way I get on and off, that turns her on" never know!

Well, I suppose that's as good as rationalization for it as any. But, they're still in for a shock when we walk in swinging the real lumber and clear the joint.

[dimwit]

Hey Dimwit, do you have a scan or link to the plane spotting book?

Found it.

The correct name of the book is 'What's that Plane - How to Identify American and Jap Airplanes'. Penguin 1943 author -Walter Pitkin Jr.

Most of the Japanese airplane designations and technical data are incorrect.

To give you an idea of the tone of it from the page on the S-00 or Zero

Evidence of the low value which fascists place on human life is found in the Zero plane of the Jap Navy...Frequently the flimsy Jap plane then catches fire or falls apart, and the pilot is killed. Plenty more Japs!

http://paperbarn.www1.50megs.com/Paperbacks/paperbackpub2.html#AmerPen

Look under American Penguin for the reference.

[emperor]

was half-thinking of sticking this in random nihonjin pics
Photos: Japanese Internment in World War II

[Adhesive]

Now what I really need is a guide on spotting S. Koreans.