What is propaganda? Propaganda is the usage of specific information to influence public opinion or to gain public support for a cause. It emphasizes bits of information that support a position and de-emphasizes or excludes those that do not. Misleading statements or outright lies may be included. Advertising and missionary activity are within the broad definition of propaganda, but the term is usually used in politics. Propaganda is a particular way of presenting a message, whether true or false it will always be blatantly biased in favor of the point the publisher of the propaganda wishes to make. It is primarily used in delivering political messages and similar techniques are used in the advertising of products. One way to induce people to kill other people is to dehumanize "the enemy." And one of the ways to do this is through propaganda. This is a device that propagates information that is often biased or misleading, and is used to promote a political cause or point of view. The consumption of war is made possible through its use

Japanese Propaganda Radio and film, however, may have been the most effective means of reaching its audience simply by virtue of its medium.  New technology, such as radio and motion pictures, were capable of sending information over a much greater scale.  Moving pictures and audible words and music brought to life what was only still and static in a book or poster.  In 1942, the Academy Award for best documentary went to Frank Capra’s Why We Fight, which was the first of a series of war documentaries he made under the commission of the U.S. military.  Not to be outdone, the Japanese had their own cinematic propaganda.  Chocolate and Soldiers and The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi, two very popular Japanese wartime films, were effective as propaganda tools for Japanese audiences.  Anthropologist Ruth Benedict once exclaimed, “Japanese films have a propaganda courage which Americans films have usually lacked” (Dower 35).  Japanese movies were not afraid to show weakness and hardship that were associated with war.  Japanese films showed a lot of sacrifice more so than American films in order to create a more humanistic and endearing empathy for the characters. The Japanese propaganda campaign was not only directed toward the United States but also towards Asian countries whom they sought to conquer.  During the time that the Japanese began studying about the culture and customs of their Western counterparts, America was going through a period of territorial expansion that saw its borders extend to the Pacific but much to the expense of Native Americans. The time period during which Japan became increasingly more interested in Western culture was during the time that America was going through that expansion phase.  In many ways, Japan took on many of the ideas and methods of American expansionism, and, consciously or subconsciously, incorporated them into their own methods of conquest throughout Asia.      The media and propaganda were powerful and often silent weapons that targeted human emotions and psyches, and often caused people to feel and think things that they otherwise would not if not exposed to it.  Politics and military actions can only do so much, but if they are driven by human emotions and impulses, they are driven further.  And propaganda was that driving forces of human emotion during World War II.

Throughout the war and the years leading up to it, Japan maintained that its campaign through Asia was virtuous and that their Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere would, in the long run, do good for all of Asia under their guidance.  Seeing what Western countries were doing to Asia—the French presence in Southeast Asia, the British in Hong Kong and Singapore, and the United States in the Philippines—Japan sought to “liberate East Asia from white invasion and oppression” (Dower 25).  In 1942, the Japanese government published a booklet entitled The Greater East Asia War and Ourselves (Dai Toa Senso to Warera) describing how the relationship between Asian countries would be like that of a “branch family” (283).     Japan promoted the idea that under their leadership, East Asian would come to know greater economic prosperity free from Western influence and independent of Western economic bureaucracy.  Japan’s “Outline of Economic Policies for the Southern Areas” describes Japan’s plans “to assist the economic expansion of the Japanese people in the southern areas on the bases of overall national planning, and to advance economic changes within the Co-Prosperity Sphere” (287).  However, underneath all the rhetoric of a “Greater East Asia” lay hidden agendas as well.

 Of course Japanese propaganda art did not neglect to target the enemy.  In a manner similar to what American did by depicting the Japanese as subhuman apes, the Japanese countered with their own depiction of Americans (and the British as well) as hairy, demonic mongrels.  Figures 8 and 9 demonstrate such imagery.  In the first, a demonic figure with skulls around its neck wears the visage of President Roosevelt.  Similarly in Figure 9, President Roosevelt is shown with the hands and feet of a monster with a single horn protruding from his head.  He sits atop the "Grieving Statue of Liberty," the title of the picture.  She grieves because in the President's one hand, he waives the banner of democracy while in the other he tenaciously grips the stick of dictatorship.  Hanging from the crown of the statue is a striking worker, and a lackadaisical Navy sailor having a good time with the ladies.  The sullen face of the statue reflects the despicable state that the United States is in.  It shows that America is not as strong as she presents herself to be and that its own folly will result in its ultimate demise.  They were not such a formidable enemy that Japan could not defeat.  The United States was weak and vulnerable

                        

On September 20 1943, the KALIBAPI- under the leadership of its director general, Benigno Aquino Sr. held a party convention to elect 54 members of the National Assembly. The Assembly was actually made up of 108 members; but half of this number was composed of incumbent governors and city mayors. Jose P. Laurel was elected as president of the second republic (the first republic was Aguinldo's Malolos Republic) and both Benigno Aquino Sr. & Ramon Avancena as a vice-presidents. The new republic was inaugurated on October 14 1943 on the front steps of the legislative building in Manila. The Philippine flag was hoisted as the national anthem was played. Meanwhile, the Japanese started using propaganda to gain the trust and confidence of Filipinos who refused to cooperate with them. They hung giant posters and distribute their materials that contains such slogans as "the Philippines belong to the Filipinos." they also used newspapers, movies, and others to publicize the same idea. Promoting Japanese propaganda was one of the main objectives of the KALIBAPI, but still Japanese failed to gain the trust of the Filipinos.