Japanese Committee on Trade and Information
The Jikyoku Iinkai (時局委員会, Jikyoku Iinkai, literally the “Committee for the Current State of Affairs”) or Japanese Committee on Trade and Information, was a Japanese-run propaganda organization that was active in the United States between 1937 and 1940.
Many of its former members and paid propagandists were tried and imprisoned in the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Founding of the Jikyoku Iinkai
The Jikyoku Iinkai was established on September 26 1937 by the Japanese consulate in San Francisco with the close cooperation of local Japanese businessmen.[1][2] Located at 549 Market Street,[3] it was created soon after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War with the objective of influencing public opinion in the United States towards Japan and against China.[4] Its publicly stated purpose was to promote the "traditional friendship" between the USA and Japan.[3]
Operations
A secret cable sent by the Japanese consulate to the Foreign Affairs Ministry notes that the Jikyoku Iinkai was the main organization responsible for the "creation of propaganda and information for the United States".[5] It was headed by K. Takahashi, a local manager of Nippon Yusen Kaisha, until March 15 1940, and from then on by Mitsubishi executive S. Takeuchi, with one Tsutomu Obana, secretary of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco, serving also as the Jikyoku Iinkai's secretary.[6]
Following the passage of the Foreign Agents Registration Act in 1938, the Jikyoku Iinkai registered as an agency controlled by Japanese nationals, though when registering Tsutomu Obana had concealed that the organization was directly funded and guided by the government of Japan.[7][8] The Jikyoku Iinkai spent at least $175,000 over the course of its existence to promote pro-Japanese causes.[9][10] Among the individuals the organization funded were Frederick Vincent Williams, who was paid $300 monthly to make pro-Japanese articles, speeches, and radio broadcasts,[11] David Warren Ryder, whose wrote a series of pamphlets entitled "Far Eastern Affairs", and Ralph Townsend, who also printed pamphlets with the Jikyoku Iinkai's support.[12][13]
Termination of the organization and aftermath
As the FBI stepped up their surveillance of foreign agents the Japanese consulate became increasingly concerned about exposure of the organization's covert activities.[5] The Jikyoku Iinkai was therefore disbanded on August 22 1940.[6][2]
However a federal investigation into Japanese propaganda which was launched in November 1941 discovered the work that the Jikyoku Iinkai had undertaken from 1937 to 1940,[14][15] and on 28 January 1942 the United States government indicted Townsend, Ryder, and Williams, for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, as well as Obana for filing false and incomplete statements on behalf of the organization.[9][4] Townsend and Ryder were accused of acting as foreign agents without registering, and while Williams had registered, he was charged with making false declarations and concealing information when registering.[16] Obana and Townsend pled guilty, though Townsend denied that he was acting on behalf of Japan. Ryder and Williams professed their innocence and likewise claimed ignorance about the extent to which the Japanese government had controlled the Jikyoku Iinkai,[17] but both were convicted in June.[12] All four were given prison sentences.[12] The United States government also indicted Takahashi and Takeuchi, and named two Japanese consuls as co-conspirators, but they had all already left the country before the indictment was laid down.[9][4]
References
- ^ United States Office of Government Reports, "Foreign Agent Indictments," Information Digest, January 28 1942, 6.
- ^ a b "6 Americans, Japanese Indicted In Grand Jury Propaganda Probe," Utica NY Daily Press, January 29, 1942
- ^ a b "20 Sign As Agents Of Foreign Groups," New York Times, November 30, 1938
- ^ a b c Dillard Stokes, "Scribner's Writer Seized As Jap Agent," Washington Post, January 29, 1942
- ^ a b Peter O'Connor, “General Introduction,” in Japanese Propaganda: Selected Readings, Series 2, Volume 1, ed. Peter O'Connor (Tokyo: Edition Synapse, 2005), 35
- ^ a b "Six Indicted For Distributing Pro-Jap 'News'," Racine Journal Times, 28 January 1942.
- ^ "Federal Jury Indicts Japanese and Americans on Spy Charges," Christian Science Monitor, January 28, 1942.
- ^ Dillard Stokes, "Axis Inquiry Now Seeking Aid of Army," Washington Post, May 16, 1942
- ^ a b c "Six Are Indicted As Japan's Agents," New York Times, January 29, 1942
- ^ Dillard Stokes, "Evidence Traces Million Yen From Tokyo To Agency U.S. Retailing Jap Propaganda," Washington Post, May 14, 1942
- ^ "106 Register As Foreign Agents Here," Washington Post, October 11, 1938
- ^ a b c Dillard Stokes, "Jap Agents Given Jail Terms, Lecture," Washington Post, June 6, 1942
- ^ Sydney Greenbie, "Ryder-Williams Trial Unwinds Japanese Intrigue," Christian Science Monitor, June 3, 1942.
- ^ "Six Indicted For Distributing Pro-Jap 'News'," Racine Journal Times, 28 January 1942.
- ^ "Three Americans Held as Jap Agents After Skillful Sleuthing by G-Men," Port Arthur News, 9 February 1942
- ^ Special Committee on Un-American Activities, Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States (Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1943), 214.
- ^ Dillard Stokes, "Justice Goldsborough Clashes With Jap Agents' Counsel," Washington Post, May 27, 1942
Bibliography
- Barak Kushner, The Thought War: Japanese Imperial Propaganda (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006)