How To: Spot a Jap

[nivi]

Here's a part of a 1942 U.S war dept issued propaganda/educational comic booklet for China, which I found failry intersting.


http://www.ep.tc/howtospotajap/howto01.html




I do apologize if I offended someone with the title.

 

[Azale]

I found it very useful and informative!

It actually...well, I expected a few more racial slurs and some jokes thrown in. I was a bit surprised.

 

[.Shane.]

Yeah, at first I was taken aback by your title. Maybe put quotes around it? Nice fine.

 

[Japanrocks12]

another bunch of examples of naivety, but I guess that should be expected

 

[GenMarshall]

"Cant even pronounce the L" What do you expect with the consonent that can be used as eather an R or an L. Plus the Japanese "R" is almost like the Spanish R but it's not thrilled.

Boy, how bad racism has gotten back then. Now the reverse happens when we now respect the Japanese and make the (Mainland Communist) Chinese look bad. Time (or is it Life) did the same thing by portraying the Japanese in a negative light and the Chinese in a positive light.

 

[Japanrocks12]

I think, with regards to American history, (and this is sorta off on a tangent), that the Chinese immigrants suffered from more racism than their Japanese counterparts. Of course, this can't and shouldn't be quantified, but the Chinese Exclusion Act standing for nearly sixty years compared to the more modest Gentleman's Agreement shows this. However, anti-Japanese hysteria was an unfortunate consequence of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which of course rears its ugly head in documents such as the one shown in the OP.

 

[civverguy]

I doubt they will pronounce the words right let alone understand anything the other person says.

 

[ohcrapitsnico]

Your title really riled me up so you should change it. However upon inspecting it.. I thought it was slightly amusing at the idea of it. This is sad that that they pick fun and insult Japanese, I'm half japanese/chinese so I'm put on the spot here...

 

[ParkCungHee]

"Cant even pronounce the L" What do you expect with the consonent that can be used as eather an R or an L. Plus the Japanese "R" is almost like the Spanish R but it's not thrilled.

The Japanese used the same trick. If you couldn't say
"Ba, bi, bu, be, bo" you were assumed to be a spy.
Or, during the great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, if you were unable to say "Ga Gi Gu Ge Go" they assumed you were poisoning wells and killed you.

 

[ohcrapitsnico]

The Japanese used the same trick. If you couldn't say
"Ba, bi, bu, be, bo" you were assumed to be a spy.
Or, during the great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, if you were unable to say "Ga Gi Gu Ge Go" they assumed you were poisoning wells and killed you.

I think its quite easy to say, no where near as dificult as chinese intonations.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I think its quite easy to say, no where near as dificult as chinese intonations.

Not if you're Korean
In Korean G and K are "merged" like L and R are in Japanese, as well as D and T and B and P.

 

[Azale]

Your title really riled me up so you should change it. However upon inspecting it.. I thought it was slightly amusing at the idea of it. This is sad that that they pick fun and insult Japanese, I'm half japanese/chinese so I'm put on the spot here...

Umm...I think it was seriously used by the US military and civilians. Who knows if it actually was helpful, I doubt it for some reason.

Boy, how bad racism has gotten back then. Now the reverse happens when we now respect the Japanese and make the (Mainland Communist) Chinese look bad. Time (or is it Life) did the same thing by portraying the Japanese in a negative light and the Chinese in a positive light.

We make the Chinese look bad? How? I don't see "How to Spot a . .. .. .. .. ." in the newspapers...we are actually alot less harsh on the Chinese than we could be. Our insults are limited to "Communism = bad". Hardly racist

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

The use of the "L" and "R" sounds is a [wiki]shibboleth[/wiki] and is a fairly time-honored counterespionage tool.

 

[aronnax]

Now I know how to find a Jap! War propanganda is funny

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

This wasn't just (or even primarily) propaganda, it is more practical.

 

[Sanctum]

Asians on a whole are a lot more racist then the west, that book is probably pretty tame.

 

[ohcrapitsnico]

Asians on a whole are a lot more racist then the west, that book is probably pretty tame.

That's quite a statement there, you mind actually giving any proof??

 

[puglover]

Boy, how bad racism has gotten back then. Now the reverse happens when we now respect the Japanese and make the (Mainland Communist) Chinese look bad. Time (or is it Life) did the same thing by portraying the Japanese in a negative light and the Chinese in a positive light.

That link isn't an example of racism. It's a practical distinction between ethnicities. It's like saying you're racist for saying someone's skin is a certain color.

 

[GenMarshall]

That link isn't an example of racism. It's a practical distinction between ethnicities. It's like saying you're racist for saying someone's skin is a certain color.

So potrayals of caractures of certan races is not racism? I'd guess by that logic the black face performance is not racism. .

 

[civverguy]

It says that the Chinese are more American than the Japanese in that book. I guess Americans believe that not American= bad.