On this day in 1948… (January 18)

This post is part of a continuing series on the Censored Newspaper Articles (CNAs).

On January 18, 1948, Kyodo Tsushin submitted an article to the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD) with the headline, 火のような日本故国への情愛 : ハワイ日系市民の世論調査” [Hawaiian Citizens of Japanese Descent Reveal Burning Love for Japan in Opinion Survey].  Portions of the article were marked with “Delete” by the censor (Prange Call No. 48-loc-0243).

“The hope and the interest 360,000 residents in Hawaii of Japanese descent are showing toward Japan are beyond imagination.”  With this starting sentence, the article reports that the New Years issue of the Hawaii Times surveyed 110 Hawaii residents of Japanese descent.  43 people answered that the resumption of private foreign trade was the brightest news from the previous year (1947).

While the article is about the survey results, the censor was concerned with the article’s closing sentence, as well as a portion of the title.  The Japanese handwritten manuscript reveals that, “火のような日本故国への情愛,” was deleted from the title.  The last sentence was also deleted. It reads:

…いずれも故国日本に強い情愛をみせている [All replies show how deeply attached, indeed, these Hawaiian citizens of Japanese descent were to their mother country].

This article has been digitized. In addition to being available in digital form at the University of Maryland, it is also available onsite at the National Diet Library of Japan (NDL) through NDL’s Digital Collection.

Featured Publication: Bibliography of Japanese Children’s Literature, 1945-1999

The UMD Libraries have recently acquired the Bibliography of Japanese Children’s Literature, 1945-1999 (日本児童文学文献目錄 1945-1999).  It is now available in the East Asia Japanese Reference book section in McKeldin Library (onsite use only).

According to the publisher’s website (Nichigai Asoshiētsu/日外アソシエーツ), this reference book provides an index of 20,332 books, magazine/journal articles, and book reviews of Japanese and world literature for children published from 1945 through 1999.

Happy New Year 2020!

Happy New Year from the staff of the Prange Collection!

The Prange Collection will re-open on Thursday, January 2, 2020.

 

Closed for the Holidays (2019)

The Prange Collection will be closed from Monday, December 23 through Wednesday, January 1, 2020, for the winter holidays.

Happy Holidays!

Yonen Ehon, 12/1/1948 (Prange Call No. Y295)

Yonen Ehon, 12/1/1948 (Prange Call No. Y295)

Featured magazines published in Akita Prefecture

This post is Part XIV in a continuing series on a portion of the Prange magazine collection that is now available in digital form onsite at the National Diet Library of Japan (NDL). (See the series in Featured Magazines.) 

In this post, we are featuring magazines published in Akita Prefecture.

•  電鐘. [6巻(1947年7・8月)-10巻(1948年5月)]. (Call No. D-195)

Densho/電鐘 is a newsletter published by Kokutetsu Akita Kanribu/國鐡秋田管理部.  The Prange Collection has five issues covering the period July/August 1947 through May 1948.

The May 1948 special issue celebrates the magazine’s one-year anniversary.  In that issue, the editor expressed regret that few employees showed interest in submitting pieces to include in the magazine.  In fact, the issue contains a variety of items, from a technical report about a radio wiring system to its labor union.  You can also see that the quality of paper and printing had dramatically improved for the May 1948 special issue.

• 働民. [1巻6号(1946年9月)-4巻5号通巻34号(1949年6月)]. (Call No. D-273)

Kokutesu Akita Kannai Rodo Kumiai/國鐡秋田管内労働組合 published Domin/働民, a monthly newsletter.  With an average length of 30 pages, it is a well-made newsletter covering a variety of topics.

In the September 1946 issue, two passages are marked as “Disapproval” by the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD), as follows:

自分の作った原好爆弾に自分が恐れをなして此の処置に處置に窮している。原子力管理委員会

[A CCD translation on the document states, “They are at a loss what to do with the Atomic bomb which they themselves have invented.  – The Control Committee of the Atomic Energy.”]  The CCD censor indicates that this passage should be deleted due to its criticism of the Allied Powers.

The second action was on a general report on people’s lives in Akita.  In one section, it states:

「兵隊さんならではお嫁に行かぬ」とまで云った若き女性群は今はサラリと忘れてアメリカ兵とのアベック姿。

[A CCD translation on the document states, “The group of young women who have once proclaimed that they would never be married to anyone except soldiers, are now walking with GIs on the streets completely forgetting their former utterance.]  CCD censor determines that this statement would “invite resentment of Occupation Forces” and was, therefore, disapproved.

Of the ten issues held by the Prange Collection, three issues were censored (September 1946, February 1947, and October 1947).

Featured education book: “Shakai to seikatsu”

In September 2015, we began digitizing the education books in the Prange Collection.  We’ll share interesting educational materials with you as the scanning project progresses.  A list of posts in this series can be found here.   

Shakai to seikatsu (Tokyo: Gakudo Ryogi Sosho Kankokai, 1948) (Prange Call No. 437-0035)

Today we’re featuring “Shakai to seikatsu/社會と生活” [Society and Life] (Prange Call No. 437-0035).  Published in July 1948, Shakai to seikatsu covered a variety of topics that directly related to people’s lives, such as the Japanese cabinet system, GHQ’s organizational structure, traffic, and school lunches.

According to the editor, the authors wrote this book in order to “educate the younger generation of elementary and middle school students on how a society works. With that knowledge, they could move forward to create a healthy nation based on democratic principles.”

Two pages were devoted to Washington Heights, an “American town” that was constructed as dependents housing for GHQ’s military and civilian staff.  The images were originally published in the Sun Pictorial Daily/サン写真新聞. The original article is in our online exhibition.

437-0035

437-0035

437-0035

Although there is no indication that censorship action was taken, “Info” was written on some of the pages by a Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD) censor.

Thanksgiving holidays (2019)

Yonen Ehon, 1948-12-01 (Prange Call No. Y295)

The Prange Collection will be closed from Thursday, November 28 through Sunday, December 1 for the Thanksgiving holidays.

Have a great Thanksgiving!