'Tokyo Rose/Orphan Ann' World War II Japanese Radio Propaganda

Tokyo Rose(Sign In): Hello you fighting orphans in the Pacific. Hows tricks? This is 'After Her Weekend Ann' moving back on the air, strictly under union hours. Reception okay? Why, it better be, because this is All-Requests night. And Ive got a pretty nice program for my favorite little family, the wandering boneheads of the Pacific Islands. The first request is made by none other than the boss. And guess what? He wants Bonnie Baker in "My Resistance is Low". My, what taste you have, sir, she says.

Tokyo Rose(Sign Off):Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's all for now enemies, but there'll be more the same tomorrow night.Until then, this is Orphan Ann, your number one enemy, reminding you GI -- always to be good! Goodbye now.

Tokyo Rose(Sign In): Greetings, everybody! This is your No. 1 enemy, your favorite playmate, Orphan Ann on Radio Tokyo--the little sunbeam whose throat you'd like to cut! Get ready again for a vicious assault on your morale, 75 minutes of music and news for our friends--I mean, our enemies!--in the South Pacific. [Well how are my little darlings, my little (unintelligible)... it poisons the whole system. What you need is a good day, I mean song]. Just relax, all set? Okay, here's the first blow at your morale, here's him singing and singing, "Hey, Pop, I Don't Want to Go to Work." Thanks for listening.

Tokyo Rose(Sign Off):That's all for now enemies,but there'll be more the same tomorrow night.Until then, this is Orphan Ann, your number one enemy, reminding you GI -- always to be good! Goodbye now.

Tokyo Rose or Orphan Ann, Sign In and Sign Off broadcast radio samples.

Tokyo Rose (alternate spelling Tokio Rose) was a generic name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of approximately a dozen English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. Their intent was to disrupt the morale of Allied forces listening to the broadcast near the Japanese mainland. (source internet)

http://www.gutenberg-e.org/pfau/chapter5.html
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/rose/rose.htm
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_toguri_iva.htm

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Iva Toguri D'Aquino
• Tokyo Rose
• Orphan Ann
• World War 2
• Radio
• Propaganda
• Imperial Japan

[averagehomosapien]

I think she says "This is After her weekend Ann moving back on the air". She referred to herself as Orphan Annie.

[emmthreejonny]

@averagehomosapien - Thanks.

[shaggybreeks]

My father was a Pacific vet. Once I asked him about "Tokyo Rose". After about a minute, he stopped laughing enough to tell me: First, there was no one "Tokyo Rose", and second, the GI's loved her.

It was Japan's intent for "her" to undermine American morale, but they chose the wrong woman (Eva Toguri) for the job. She was 100% American to the end. This is a great video, and it's obvious how she played up her knowledge of American humor to good results, while fooling her bosses.

[apmcmanis]

Fully accurate. Except there was more than one Tokyo Rose. It wasn't always the same woman. And Iva, the woman you speak of, went to UCLA. A I'm guessing simple google search explains all of this but some folks would rather make idiotic comments.

PS: No one should have their ass raped. Very painful

[ginko27]

While there were several different "Tokyo roses", the one who openly addmitted to being the "one and only Tokyo Rose", was an Jap-American named Ivia. She was in Japan when the war started and she got stuck. The Jap police had her under house arrest 24-7 because they thought she was an American spy. She said they were talking about killing her until a military official told her if she just read words over the radio, she wouldn't be considered a spy. She was given a full pardoned by Carter in '77

[flemwad]

@xander7ful I think she says ..."dopes tonight, full of beer and belligerence...."  love it when she says...your number one enemy lol

[xander7ful]

@Jaabyourface Exactly. It sounds as if she just said the minimum of what her bosses wanted her to say, just to get by. It sounds more playful than hostile.

[xander7ful]

@flemwad She says, "Well, how are my darling little dopes tonight?" Then something unintelligible. Then, "I know you still hate us, but don't let that... (unintelligible)...it poisons the whole system."

[flemwad]

at 1.27 (the unintelligible bit) I am sure she says 'little dopes tonight'

[yuppyguitar1]

@Jaabyourface How wouldn't associating a sweet female voice with the people you're supposed to be murdering be a morale killer? Unless you're some robot or human without a soul.

[Voxpopuli1861]

Pardon my ignorance of 1940's music. Is the music played all pre-12/7/41?

[Dtwaine]

What a bitch... I mean a traitor.

[shananagans5]

@Jaabyourface This particular "Tokyo Rose" was an American that got stuck in Japan at the start of WWII. She was basically forced to do a program and intentionally mispronounced things to be funny and mock the people forcing her to do the show. She was eventually tried for treason and convicted but was later found to be not guilty and even got a presidential pardon. Basically, she wasn't trying very hard to demoralize our troops. Iva Toguri SP? look her up, its very interesting.