Not So Homicidal Housewives

The November 1944 issue of "Housewife's Friend"

Impetuous fool that I am, I quickly acquired copies of the November 1944 and December 1945 issues of Housewife’s Friend, in order to compare them to the foaming-at-the-mouth crazy December 1944 issue that I discussed a couple of entries back. The difference between the back-to-back issues from the winter of 1944 are striking. Needless to say, the November issue is also chock full of propaganda, but that was true of everything published in Japan, at least after the Battle of Midway. But where the December issue drips with vitriol and hatred, the November issue is solemn and sober.

The frontispiece is an illustration of a woman solemnly handing her son the military-issue sword that belonged to her husband, who has died in battle. (That’s Dad’s photo in the background.) The young man is getting ready to go off to battle himself. Pretty standard stuff as war propaganda goes.

A mother gives her late husband's sword to her son

The issue includes a paean to Admiral Togo, photos of female students contributing to the war effort, detailed instructions on how to make protective clothing in preparation for air raids, tips on getting to your bomb shelter quickly and efficiently, and a serialized war novel.

"Survivor" of alleged attack on passenger boat

The closest thing to the vitriol in the whole issue is the story of a young woman whose passenger boat, filled with Japanese refugees from an unnamed island, was (allegedly) attacked and sunk by an American submarine, killing most of the men, women, and children aboard. The story is ostensibly written by the young woman herself, but judging by the unusually high literary quality, I’m assuming it was actually written by a professional writer, and probably a novelist. The young woman, who miraculously survives the attack, vows to become a “demon of revenge” in response to this cowardly and cruel attack on unarmed civilians fleeing for the lives.

One of the more interesting pieces is a short, unattributed piece arguing that the only way to win the war is to go on the offensive. The first sentence is striking for its grudging nod to the enemy: “The Americans and British, who were weak when they were on the defensive, became an enemy not to be underestimated when they went on the offensive.” The exhortation, though, ultimately relies on divine intervention. “The Russo-Japanese War was won by ‘human bullets.’ The victory against the Americans and British will be one of bodily assault. And in the end it will be a victory of the Japanese spirit. We die to live. There is no god of victory who would not take the side of such an all-out charge.”

Back cover, illustrating well-equipped bomb shelter

The back cover of the magazine is an illustration of a well-equipped bomb shelter, again filled with practical advice. The back cover also helps clear up something that had been puzzling me. I had wondered in my earlier post who could afford these magazines, but the bottom of the back cover exhorts readers to share the magazine with as many people as possible, and even includes a row of boxes for people to put their family stamp in before passing it along to the next reader. This row of boxes is familiar to anyone who has lived in Japan, since it is still used in passing around notices and newsletters of potential interest to neighborhood residents. Note, though, that only the first box contains a stamp (which has faded beyond legibility). Either the second reader was a slacker, or the first reader ended up never passing it along. Either way, it helps explain why this particular copy is in such good shape.

So I’m wondering, what happened between October 6 (when this issue went to the printer) and November 6 (when the “Kill the Americans!” issue presumably went to the printer)? Well, I did a bit of research. That was actually quite an eventful month in the Pacific War. On October 11, the U.S. conducted air raids on Okinawa that took the Japanese completely by surprise. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 23 – 26), the allies won a decisive victory, sinking the Yamato-class Musashi in the process. But perhaps most significantly, the first planned and successful kamikaze attack took place in that same battle, on October 25, sinking the U.S.S. St. Lo. Although the battle effectively wiped out Japan’s fleet (with the notable exception of the Yamato), the Navy loudly hailed the sinking of the St. Lo and the “success” of it’s new (and effectively last) weapon, the suicide air attack.

The question is, would the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the kamikaze attacks have influenced the content of the December issue of Housewife’s Friend? That depends on exactly when that issue went to press, and without access to the original (which, as I explained in the earlier post, is extremely rare), I have no way of knowing for sure. If it followed the schedule of the November issue, it would have been printed November 6, which would not leave much time for the Battle of Leyte to affect the content. But if it was even a few days later, it may have. That may actually account for the sloppy writing and bizarre pieces (such as the alleged American plan for the aftermath of the war) that seemed to have been pulled out of thin air. Although I’ve read only the excerpts Hayakwa quotes, that writing stands in stark contrast to the careful, solid writing in this November issue. It may be that the editors had a December issue ready to go, and literally stopped the presses to hastily put together a new issue reflecting the turn in the tide of the war. Things had been going badly enough since the Battle of Midway, in 1942, but now, Japan was left nothing but fighter planes, and very little fuel–very little of anything, in fact–to fight off the approaching allied fleet. They literally had only their “human bullets” (encased into hastily-built flying coffins) to fight with.

The editor in chief of Housewife’s Friend, Yasuo Hongoh, is something of a legend, and made a comeback as editor-in-chief when the Occupation ended in 1952. It’s hard to believe that an editor of his caliber could be responsible for the notorious December 1944 issue. I wonder if the issue wasn’t hijacked by government bureaucrats, who packed in all the venom and hatred they could in a desperate effort to inspire the public. I wonder if anyone alive knows the answer.

Next time I’ll introduce the December 1945 issue, which is surreal in a completely different way. In the meantime, you can check out the galleries I’ve made of the November 1944 and December 1945 issues.