1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,720 Okay, Chelsea, what do you got for us? 2 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:03,000 I'm just gonna say the title. 3 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,760 I don't care if it ruins it for you or not, 4 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:05,840 it's gonna help me out. 5 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:10,100 How deadly bird flu sparked explosive outbreaks in 2022 6 00:00:10,100 --> 00:00:12,240 and why it matters for global health. 7 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,760 So if you're not aware of anything going on in the world 8 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:16,600 right now or in your local area, 9 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,440 or one or the other, it extends to both. 10 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:20,720 Throughout the last decade, 11 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,800 the global spread of bird flu has been a growing concern 12 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,320 in Canada, around the world, not just Canada. 13 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,040 It is a global pandemic at this point, it's crazy. 14 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,680 But most farms managed to avoid outbreaks. 15 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:33,960 The situation changed in 2022. 16 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:36,160 So we're now out of 2022. 17 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:37,360 Where is this article from? 18 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,040 December 17, 2022, so not that long ago. 19 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:41,840 This year, a highly contagious strain 20 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,400 of avian influenza tore across the country, 21 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,920 hitting close to 270 farms and production facilities, 22 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,200 sparking concern over poultry shortages 23 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,240 and exposing workers from coast to coast 24 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,080 to a potential deadly pathogen. 25 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,320 So far, roughly 4.7 million domestic birds 26 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:58,440 have caught the virus. 27 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,080 That's not counting untold numbers of wild birds falling ill, 28 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,080 whose numbers are far tougher to track. 29 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:06,800 Well, I would describe the scope as explosive 30 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:08,960 and sort of all-encompassing, end quotes, 31 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:12,440 at Angela Rasmussen, a virologist with the vaccine 32 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:14,400 and infectious disease organization 33 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,880 at the University of Saskatchewan. 34 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:18,160 So you know it's a good one. 35 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:19,400 Quote, I mean, it really does. 36 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:21,680 If it's about farming, they know they're fast. 37 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:22,840 It's true. 38 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,320 Quote, it really is a huge problem globally 39 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:27,520 and it's here in Canada, end quote. 40 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,840 And it's a brewing crisis on two fronts, 41 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:31,680 both the global bird populations 42 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:33,480 and potentially to human health. 43 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,080 This highly infectious form of influenza virus 44 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,960 eventually evolves to better transmit between people 45 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:40,160 in the decades ahead. 46 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:42,000 Eventually, it could mutate itself 47 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:43,800 such that it would gain the capacity 48 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,720 and capability to transmit from poultry to humans. 49 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:49,280 Says Dr. Shian Sharif, a professor 50 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,360 of the Ontario Veterinary College 51 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,200 at the University of Gelf in Southern Ontario. 52 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,920 And unfortunately, this sort of worst case scenario 53 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:58,520 that we don't want to happen. 54 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:03,640 Since 2003, a particularly deadly H5N1 avian influenza strain 55 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:05,760 has led to higher number of deaths in poultry 56 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:07,680 and wild burns around much of the world, 57 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,400 including Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. 58 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,600 In 2014, Canada had its first detection 59 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,280 of what's known as a highly pathogenic form 60 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:18,960 of avian influenza virus linked to poultry 61 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:20,640 at a farm in British Columbia. 62 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:22,680 A dozen farms and production facilities 63 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:24,560 wound up dealing with cases that year 64 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:26,960 according to data provided to CBC News 65 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,760 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 66 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:31,960 FYI, this is a CBC article. 67 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,680 I'm really good at citing sources midway through. 68 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:36,440 It is very Canada oriented. 69 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:37,360 It is, yeah. 70 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,040 So I'm just gonna finish this, let me just see. 71 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,680 So far from what I heard, like just in the US, 72 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:44,520 billions of birds have been called 73 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,400 to make sure that this doesn't spread any further. 74 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,160 And it's actually spread to wild bird populations as well. 75 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:51,760 Like apparently it's taking its toll 76 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:53,640 on like eagles and falcons. 77 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:54,960 Oh my God, that's terrifying. 78 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:56,840 So it's a long article. 79 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:58,600 I just wanna jump quickly 80 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,320 because that's very Canadian-esque. 81 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:04,440 And I just wanna jump quickly to a France. 82 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:06,000 It's not in French, thank God, 83 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,240 because we're just like bordering fluent and not. 84 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:11,800 So I'm just gonna read it in English. 85 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:13,680 It's france24.com. 86 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:18,360 And their article is from January 13, 2023. 87 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,520 And its title's largest global bird flu outbreak 88 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,920 in history shows no sign of slowing. 89 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:25,560 So I just wanted to take a little bit. 90 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,000 There's not a complete other side of the world, 91 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,280 but different than North America. 92 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:31,240 And this one says, 93 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,880 a highly contagious and lethal strain of bird flu 94 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,320 has killed millions of wild and farmed bird life 95 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:37,360 in the past year. 96 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,200 As global infections show little sign of slowing down, 97 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,680 scientists, wildlife protectors and legislators 98 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,400 are looking for a new solution to a global pandemic. 99 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:47,440 A lethal bird flu outbreak 100 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,280 that has been circling the globe since 2021, 101 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:51,840 peaked in Japan this week 102 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,880 as an agriculture ministry official said on Tuesday, 103 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,400 the country plans to cull more than 10 million chickens 104 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,720 at risk of exposure to the virus. 105 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,600 Flu is a common illness among wild birds, 106 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,560 yet the H5N1 strain now sweeping Japan 107 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:08,480 is uniquely contagious and deadly. 108 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,600 It poses such a high risk to farm birds, 109 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:12,040 such as chickens and turkeys, 110 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:13,760 that a single infection on a farm 111 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:15,840 condemns the entire flock to be killed. 112 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,240 As outbreaks in Japan have reached a record high, 113 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,440 the cull is the largest ever planned for the yearly flu season 114 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,360 that runs from October to May. 115 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,120 Around the globe, record breaking death tolls 116 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,360 due to the virus are becoming the norm. 117 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:30,320 In the US, more states than ever 118 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,840 before have reported instances of bird flu 119 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:37,120 with an all-time high of nearly 58 million poultry affected 120 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:39,760 as of January, 2023. 121 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,720 Meanwhile, Europe is in the midst of its worst ever spat, 122 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,320 spate, bat, of bird flu infections 123 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,600 with 25,000 outbreaks on farms, 124 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:52,280 stretching across 37 countries from October, 2021 125 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:53,920 to September, 2022. 126 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,160 Some 50 million birds have been culled across the continent, 127 00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:59,760 although the vast majority of poultry infections 128 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:00,880 occurred in France. 129 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,920 So yeah, next quote, dead birds everywhere. 130 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:06,240 I just wanted to put that 131 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,680 because the Canadian one was mostly focusing on Canada. 132 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,080 This one is focusing more on what's going on. 133 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:14,720 There is a lot to it. 134 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,120 I've been hearing about it every now and then, 135 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:18,520 and then when I hear about it, 136 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:20,680 it's just it's not passed to humans 137 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:22,520 so long as you're cooking your meat. 138 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,200 So there's no real worry for us. 139 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:26,720 And I don't eat chicken, so. 140 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:27,560 No, exactly. 141 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:28,680 So you wouldn't have noticed that. 142 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,680 Just last week when I was at the grocery store, 143 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:31,800 we were looking for chicken 144 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,080 and the entire chicken section was empty. 145 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:35,400 Like it was bizarre. 146 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:37,280 The only thing left there was some halal chicken. 147 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:38,440 So we got halal. 148 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:40,640 Not really a fan of how they kill that animal, 149 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:42,360 but that's all that was there. 150 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,040 And it's definitely being seen both in chicken prices 151 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:47,800 as well as eggs. 152 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,560 So you're gonna see egg prices are skyrocketing right now. 153 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:52,080 I've been noticing that there has, 154 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:53,200 because I do eat eggs, 155 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,320 that I've been noticing that they've been going up 156 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,000 and are hard to get. 157 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,880 And I do just want to read this part. 158 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:02,720 There's a ton of wild birds also dying. 159 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,320 In the autumn, fall-barn barnacle, 160 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,160 east, which migrate south 161 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,960 from their arctic breeding ground also started dying. 162 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:11,240 I'm jumping in here. 163 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:13,040 Obviously, halfway through the, 164 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,200 but I just wanted this set has to do with the wild birds 165 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:17,040 that are dying. 166 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,200 Numbers were going up by the tens, then hundreds, 167 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:21,560 then more than 1600 were confirmed dead, 168 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:23,600 says Claire Smith, policy officer 169 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,720 for UK bird protection charity, the RSPB. 170 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:28,840 I'm giving you not a lot of context here. 171 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:31,400 I just jumped right into the middle of the article. 172 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,840 By spring, the organization estimated a third 173 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:35,600 of the total population had died. 174 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,760 Esamun, Great Skuas, Gnets, Gals, Geese, 175 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,000 and even Eagles continued through the summer 176 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,200 by then impacting both migratory and domestic species. 177 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:45,400 I didn't know this. 178 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,280 By July, the Scottish government had closed off access 179 00:06:48,280 --> 00:06:49,840 to some seabird islands. 180 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:51,720 There were just dead birds everywhere. 181 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:53,360 Oh my God. 182 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:54,200 Well, that's fun. 183 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:55,040 Yeah. 184 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:56,800 Oh, dead, yeah. 185 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,880 And then just the more interactions humans have 186 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,560 with sick birds, the higher likelihood 187 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:03,800 that it does spread to humans. 188 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,120 And you know how we handle pandemics, just glowingly. 189 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:08,080 Yeah, we've, yeah. 190 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:10,760 If you want to read more, obviously, like I said, 191 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:14,640 I read like a quarter to half of one, like one quarter, 192 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:16,960 and then jumped in halfway to the other one. 193 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:18,760 We'll post them up on the episode notes 194 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:20,360 if you're interested to learn more, 195 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:22,640 because obviously there's a lot more than we're hearing 196 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:25,040 and just, you know, a recap of the news. 197 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:26,760 When they're talking about bird flu, 198 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,200 probably something to keep your eye on as well as Japan. 199 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,400 And with that, let's get onto the bigger 200 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:33,920 and brighter Japanese shady nets. 201 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:35,560 Yeah, let's do that. 202 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:40,560 From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us 203 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:43,760 on a journey to the fringe. 204 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:48,760 Hello, and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, 205 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:53,000 where sometimes we do back-to-back episodes. 206 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,400 We don't always have time to come up with catchy phrases, 207 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:57,080 so you get what you get. 208 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,680 We are your hosts for those keeping track at home, 209 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,360 same as the hosts of the last episodes, Taylor and Chelsea. 210 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,840 Here today to talk with you 211 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:08,840 about Japanese post-World War II history 212 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:10,640 with the little-known parts. 213 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,040 Now, last episode, we went over the kind of overarching 214 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:15,560 Cole's notes of what happened 215 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,600 during the post-war era in Japan. 216 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:18,840 Today, we're gonna talk about 217 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:20,400 some of the lesser-known stuff. 218 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:22,160 I think I just need to get into it 219 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:24,920 because there are a lot of things I need to talk about. 220 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:26,400 Okay, and I just think it's funny 221 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:28,280 that now we're doing the lesser-known stuff 222 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:29,960 because I didn't know any of this stuff 223 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:31,760 we found out in the last episode. 224 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:33,520 Yeah. 225 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:35,360 Okay, let's learn some new stuff. 226 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:36,200 But it's important. 227 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:37,680 So first and foremost, 228 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:41,320 do you remember when Kennan came to Japan and said, 229 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:43,880 like, oh, you guys are giving them too much good stuff? 230 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:45,120 We need to cut back. 231 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,200 We need to do a course change and do austerity. 232 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:49,840 Well, that actually, that period of time 233 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:51,320 is known as the reverse course. 234 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:52,680 Okay, that makes sense. 235 00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:54,920 I didn't call it that just because there's other things 236 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,760 that happen in there that are the real reverse course. 237 00:08:57,760 --> 00:08:59,520 And I'm just gonna get right into it 238 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:00,920 why it's called the reverse course. 239 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:02,760 The CIA and US military intelligence 240 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:06,640 played a pivotal role in the 1947 reverse course policy shift 241 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:08,840 and the subsequent end of the purge policy 242 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:10,960 concerning classified war criminals. 243 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:13,040 In conjunction with the Japan lobby 244 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,320 and American corporate interests, 245 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,120 US American intelligence engaged in pressure campaigns 246 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,080 to reverse Douglas MacArthur's policies 247 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,960 about the Zybottsus and civil service officials 248 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:24,760 purged during the US occupation. 249 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:27,840 The KGB in several documents accused the CIA 250 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:29,840 and SCAP of staging attacks 251 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,360 on Japanese infrastructure, including Matsukawa derailment 252 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,800 in order to justify these policy changes. 253 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:37,960 Do you remember those three-chain incidents 254 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:39,000 during the red purge? 255 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,880 I was just gonna say, I think I remember those. 256 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:43,040 Yeah, so the KGB is like, 257 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:44,920 I'm pretty sure the CIA staged that. 258 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:45,880 Oh, okay. 259 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:46,720 Right off the bat. 260 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:48,560 I don't get back to that one, so let's just remember. 261 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:50,400 That one was likely done by the Yakuza. 262 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:51,600 Okay, okay, because I was like, 263 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,040 I was pretty sure that seemed like it would be Japan. 264 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:56,480 And basically all of the train incidents 265 00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:58,600 were probably done by the Yakuza. 266 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,640 Well, no way to prove it, but they were probably false. 267 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:02,480 Okay. 268 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:03,320 And yeah, that's just, 269 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,120 I could only do that part in passing 270 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,640 because I have 14 pages of notes I gotta get to. 271 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:09,920 Domastically, the agency pressured 272 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:11,760 the State Department and military 273 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:13,680 by authoring a report titled, quote, 274 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:15,640 strategic importance of Japan, quote, 275 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:17,800 arguing that control over Japan was invaluable 276 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:19,640 as a stabilizing force in Asia, 277 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:21,200 that agency being the CIA. 278 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:23,280 The report warned that a hypothetical 279 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:24,920 Soviet alignment of Japan, 280 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,120 which it warned was likely with the loss of Southeast Asia, 281 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:29,920 would, quote, tip the balance of the Cold War, 282 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:31,760 end quote, in favor of the USSR. 283 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,200 The report urged the State Department to make a shift 284 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,440 from, quote, monopoly breaking, unquote, 285 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:38,480 policies towards an approach 286 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,280 incentivizing the development of, quote, 287 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:42,680 large financing and trading concerns, unquote. 288 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:44,320 As part of the reverse course, 289 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,440 thousands of conservatives and nationalist wartime leaders 290 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,000 were depurged and allowed to reenter politics 291 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:51,400 and government ministries. 292 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:52,600 In the industrial sector, 293 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:54,760 plans for further antitrust actions 294 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,800 against the remaining old Zybatzu were scrapped. 295 00:10:57,800 --> 00:10:59,440 Those vertical monopolies, 296 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:00,760 turns out they didn't get rid of all of them. 297 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:03,600 And some earlier antitrust policies were partially undone. 298 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,520 MacArthur had originally planned to break up 325 299 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:09,320 Japanese companies as Zybatzu. 300 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:10,760 How many do you think he got to, Chelsea? 301 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:12,480 Well, I wouldn't have thought in the first place 302 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,840 there was so many, but I'm gonna go with one or two. 303 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:17,160 He broke up 11. 304 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,400 So, look at him go. 305 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:21,840 Okay, so now I'm impressed. 306 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,400 I set myself off to be impressed. 307 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,400 It's the plight of the pessimist. 308 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:29,360 Exactly. 309 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:31,320 Expect the negative and you'll never be disappointed. 310 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:33,040 Exactly, exactly. 311 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:34,960 So here we are. 312 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:36,680 And in the realm of self-defense, 313 00:11:36,680 --> 00:11:39,720 the United States began pressuring Japan immediately 314 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,920 to eliminate Article 9 and remilitarize. 315 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:47,600 To this end, SCAP established the National Police Reserve, 316 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:50,920 the NPR in 1950 and the Coastal Safety Force, 317 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:52,640 the CSF in 1952. 318 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:54,800 And they later became the ground in maritime branches 319 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:56,720 the Japanese self-defense force. 320 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:58,920 So basically, Japan gets around. 321 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,400 They don't have a military by having a defense force. 322 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:04,280 Ah, yes, classic. 323 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:06,800 SCAP also attempted to weaken the labor unions 324 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:08,040 they have recently empowered, 325 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:09,680 most notably issuing edicts, 326 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:12,400 stripping public sector workers of the right civil strike. 327 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:13,360 We did know that one. 328 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,320 The biggest part we're talking about now 329 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,320 with the reverse course are the people 330 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,560 who got let out of military prison, 331 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:22,120 the Class A war criminals. 332 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,360 There are three names that are really important. 333 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,520 So yeah, they just said of those people 334 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:27,360 that weren't killed, 335 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:28,920 like they did a good job killing some of them. 336 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:29,760 At one point they're just like, 337 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:31,160 no, these people actually seem important. 338 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:32,000 Let's keep them around. 339 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:33,880 So it really was a reverse. 340 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:36,400 Yes, it was a true reverse course. 341 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:37,240 That's okay. 342 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:38,760 Of the Class A war criminals 343 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:40,920 we're gonna focus on in this episode. 344 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:43,040 There are three names you might recognize 345 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:44,920 two of them from the last episode. 346 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:49,600 Kishi Nabusuke, Prime Minister of Japan in 1960. 347 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,680 Yoshio Kadama and Ryochi Sesekawa. 348 00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:54,680 The other guys sounds familiar too. 349 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:57,040 Ryochi actually doesn't come up a lot, 350 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:58,920 but yeah, Yoshio Kadama, 351 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:00,680 he did come up in the last episode. 352 00:13:00,680 --> 00:13:03,280 Just briefly though, I will cover him further. 353 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:04,680 But I'm gonna give you a background 354 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:06,720 on who Kishi is, Kishi Nabusuke. 355 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:08,920 So he has been described as the mastermind 356 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:10,520 behind the industrial development 357 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,480 of Japan's puppet state of Manchuria or Manchukuo. 358 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:15,240 Kishi had first come to the attention 359 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,120 of the Kwong Tong Army officers 360 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:18,960 as a rising star in the Ministry of Commerce 361 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,200 and industry who openly touted the policies 362 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:23,240 of Nazi Germany and called for policies 363 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:25,160 of industrial rationalization 364 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:27,200 to eliminate capitalist competition 365 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:28,600 in support of state goals, 366 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,680 ideas that accorded with the army's idea 367 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:32,000 of national defense state. 368 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,160 In 1935, Kishi was appointed Manchukuo's 369 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,840 Deputy Minister of Industrial Development. 370 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,840 Kishi was given complete control of Manchukuo's economy 371 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:43,720 by the military with the authority to do whatever he liked 372 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,480 just as long as industrial growth increased. 373 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,560 In 1936, Kishi was one of the first drafters 374 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:51,720 of Manchukuo's first five year plan. 375 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,800 He studied all over, he even studied a little bit in Russia 376 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:56,680 and he really liked the idea of their five year 377 00:13:56,680 --> 00:13:57,520 industrial plan. 378 00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:59,200 So he came up with five year industrial plans 379 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:00,040 for Manchuria. 380 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,120 Manchukuo's five year plan was intended 381 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:03,920 to dramatically boost heavy industry 382 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,040 in order to vastly increase production of coal, 383 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,680 steel electricity and weapons for military purposes. 384 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:10,160 In order to enact the new plan, 385 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:12,800 Kishi persuaded the military to allow private capital 386 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,520 into Manchukuo, successfully arguing that the military's 387 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:17,360 policy of having state owned corporations 388 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,080 leading Manchukuo's is costing the Japanese state 389 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:21,040 too much money. 390 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,600 One of the new public private corporations founded 391 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:25,720 to assist in carrying out the five year plan 392 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,480 was Manchuria Industrial Development Company, 393 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,240 established in 1937, which attracted a staggering 394 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:34,120 5.2 billion yen in private investment, 395 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,760 making it by far the largest capital project 396 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:38,640 in the entire Japanese empire. 397 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:40,920 By comparison, the total annual budget 398 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,760 of Japan's national government was 2.5 billion, 399 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:46,280 so over double the annual budget. 400 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:49,440 The man handpicked by Kishi to lead the MIDC, 401 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:51,120 that's that company that we just said, 402 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,360 was his distant relative in old first high school 403 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,040 class eight, Nissan Group founder, 404 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:56,880 Ayukawa Yashisuke. 405 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:58,080 Oh no. 406 00:14:58,080 --> 00:14:59,160 And as part of the deal, 407 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,240 the Nissan Group's entire operations 408 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,200 were supposed to be transferred over to Manchuria 409 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,400 to form the basis of the new MIDC. 410 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,760 The system that Kishi pioneered in Manchuria 411 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:09,240 of a state guided economy, 412 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:10,760 where corporations made their investment 413 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:12,360 on government orders later served 414 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,160 as a model for Japan's post 1945 development 415 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,440 and subsequently that of South Korea and China as well. 416 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,880 In 1937, Kishi signed a decree calling for the use 417 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,840 of slave labor to be conscripted both in Manchukuo 418 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:24,920 and in Northern China, 419 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,240 stating that in these times of emergency, 420 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:28,800 such as wars with China, 421 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:30,360 which we technically were in, 422 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:32,280 industry needed to grow at all costs 423 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:33,880 while guaranteeing healthy profits 424 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:35,920 for state and private investors. 425 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,760 Starting in 1938 and continuing to 1945, 426 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:41,480 about 1 million Chinese were taken every year 427 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:43,080 to work as slaves in Manchukuo. 428 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:44,920 The harsh conditions of Manchukuo 429 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,480 were well illustrated by the Fushun coal mine, 430 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,400 which at any given moment had about 40,000 men 431 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:51,720 working as miners, 432 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,520 of whom about 25,000 had to be replaced every year 433 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:58,080 as their predecessors had died due to poor working conditions 434 00:15:58,080 --> 00:15:59,560 and low living standards. 435 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,720 So over half of the entire slave crew 436 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:04,040 had to be replaced every year 437 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:06,400 because they died of horrible conditions. 438 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,240 So is this now what they're doing with the large population? 439 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,120 No, that's what they're doing with the Chinese population, 440 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:12,240 like exclusively the Chinese population. 441 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,520 Oh my God, what did I miss there? 442 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:15,360 Geez. 443 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:17,840 They took a million slaves like from around China 444 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:19,520 and brought them into Manchuria to work 445 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:21,920 and they all basically died after the Mundaia. 446 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:25,040 Oh my, yeah, okay. 447 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:26,880 Yeah, Kishi showed little interest 448 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:28,880 in upholding the rule of law in Manchukuo. 449 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,520 Kishi expressed views typical of his fellow colonial bureaucrats 450 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,280 when he disparagingly referred to the Chinese people 451 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:37,080 as, quote, lawless bandits 452 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,600 who were incapable of governing themselves. 453 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:41,120 According to Kishi's subordinates, 454 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,440 he saw little point in following legal 455 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:44,680 or judicial procedure 456 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:48,240 because he felt the Chinese were more akin to dogs and humans 457 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:50,480 and would only understand brute force. 458 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,640 According to Driscoll, Kishi always used the term Manchukuo 459 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:54,920 instead of Manchukuo, 460 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,000 which reflected his viewpoint that Manchukuo 461 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:58,160 was not actually a state, 462 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,480 but rather just a region rich in resources 463 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,640 and 34 million people to be used for Japan's benefit. 464 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,120 In his later years, Kishi recalled how inhuman treatment 465 00:17:07,120 --> 00:17:09,640 of Chinese people became naturalized 466 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,240 among the Japanese colonial elite, 467 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:13,920 turning human beings into, quote, mechanical instruments 468 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:16,800 of imperial army, non-human automatons, 469 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,320 absolutely obedient to the Japanese masters. 470 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:21,600 It's not actually stated whether in this quote, 471 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:23,320 he thinks it's a good thing or a bad thing. 472 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:24,160 Way to go to Japan. 473 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,440 Like it's reflecting on it, but that's all I know. 474 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:28,520 Like he's saying, oh yeah, 475 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,080 we really dehumanize those people. 476 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:31,720 And that's bad, right? 477 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:32,560 Who knows? 478 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:34,640 Just for clarification, we've backtracked 479 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,800 from where we ended off on the last episode, right? 480 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:38,880 This is back at the start 481 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:40,800 and that's why I had to cover Manchuria 482 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:42,240 at the beginning of the last episode. 483 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,680 He was in charge of Manchuria once they took it over. 484 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:46,160 Okay, I felt like I knew that, 485 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:47,760 but I just needed to clarify. 486 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:49,120 Yeah, no, that's fine. 487 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:50,880 Sorry, I probably should say. 488 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:52,560 There was like two, you did say, 489 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:54,200 but I just was clarifying here. 490 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:56,600 So there's kind of like two different things 491 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:58,040 happening at once. 492 00:17:58,040 --> 00:17:58,880 There kind of is. 493 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:00,120 And I do just need to say, 494 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:02,920 this is why I needed to cover Manchuria 495 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:05,680 in our last episode because of this guy. 496 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:06,520 Yeah, okay. 497 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:08,800 Manchukuo was a place where Manchu's Chinese, 498 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:10,400 Japanese, Koreans and Mongols 499 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,080 would all come together to live harmoniously 500 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:14,040 in Pan-Asian peace. 501 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,280 Prosperity and brotherhood meant little to Kishi. 502 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:17,960 Kishi didn't give a shit about that. 503 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,440 Kishi only associated with other Japanese 504 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:21,840 during his time in Manchuquo 505 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:23,840 and did not mix socially with Chinese 506 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:25,280 or other ethnic groups. 507 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,880 Instead, Kishi's dinner companions were fellow bureaucrats, 508 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:29,840 businessmen, seeking government contracts, 509 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,320 army officers and Yakuza gangsters. 510 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:33,160 Nice. 511 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,000 The presence of the latter was due 512 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,600 to Kishi's involvement in the opium trade. 513 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:39,640 The Manchuquo state opium monopoly 514 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,040 needed to be distributed to move its products 515 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:44,560 around the world, which in turn required contacts 516 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:46,880 within the underworld in the form of the Yakuza. 517 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:48,960 Additionally, Kishi used Yakuza thugs 518 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,320 to terrorize Chinese workers in Manchuquo's factories 519 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,880 into submission and ensure that there were no strikes 520 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:56,600 caused by the long hours, low pay 521 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:58,000 and poor working conditions. 522 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,480 Because the Kwantung army expected to settle Manchuquo 523 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:02,680 with millions of Japanese 524 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:05,000 solved the problem of overpopulation in Japan. 525 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:06,840 After the Manchurian incident, 526 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:08,720 the army generals had sought to curtail 527 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:10,560 on Chinese migration to Manchuquo. 528 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,520 However, Kishi reversed this policy in 1935, 529 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:15,080 arguing successfully to the generals 530 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,240 that the Yakuza would keep the Chinese workers in line 531 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,680 and that to grow Manchuquo's industries 532 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,720 required cheap Chinese labor to be exploited. 533 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:24,560 So he's the one who said, 534 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:26,040 no, we're not actually gonna settle this. 535 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:28,360 We're just gonna use it as a slave call. 536 00:19:28,360 --> 00:19:31,400 At the same time, Kishi repeatedly expressed disain 537 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:33,960 for Chinese people as impure and unclean. 538 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:36,840 One of Kishi's closest friends and business partners, 539 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,200 the Yakuza gangster Yoshio Kadama, 540 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:42,000 summed up his bosses thinking about the Chinese as follows. 541 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,760 Quote, we Japanese are like pure water in a bucket, 542 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:46,280 different from the Chinese who are like 543 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:47,680 the filthy Yangza river. 544 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,600 But be careful, even the slightest amount of shit 545 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,280 gets into your bucket, we become fully polluted. 546 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,200 Since all the toilets in China empty into the Yangza, 547 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,080 the Chinese are soiled forever. 548 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,160 We, however, must maintain our purity. 549 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:01,960 That's how Kishi thinks of the Chinese. 550 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:03,160 Yeah, I was just gonna say, 551 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:04,920 that's a very nice poetic thought. 552 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:06,840 And as a self-described quote, 553 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,400 playboy of the Eastern world, end quote. 554 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,120 Kishi was known during his four years in Manchukuo 555 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:14,640 for his lavish spending amid much drinking, 556 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:16,000 gambling, and womanizing. 557 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,080 Kishi spent almost all of his time in Manchukuo's capital, 558 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,560 Qingqing, modern Changchun, China, 559 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,080 with the exception of monthly trips to Daliang 560 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,560 on the world-famous Asia Express Railroad Line, 561 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:28,720 where he indulged in his passion for women 562 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:30,920 in alcohol and sex-drenched weekends. 563 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,640 This is literally right from the Wikipedia page. 564 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:36,960 When not visiting the brothels of Manchuria, 565 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:39,120 Kishi was demanding sex from the waitresses 566 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:41,880 who served him at the expensive restaurants he patronized. 567 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,040 When he was locked up in Sugumo Prison in 1946, 568 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:45,960 awaiting his trial, 569 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:47,960 he reminisced about his Manchukuo years. 570 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,320 Quote, I came so much, it was hard to clean it all up. 571 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:52,280 End quote. 572 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,320 Yeah, according to Driscoll, quote, 573 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,200 photographs and written descriptions of Kishi 574 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,080 during this period never failed to depict 575 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,640 a giddy exuberance, laughing and joking, 576 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:03,520 while doling out money during the day 577 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:06,080 and looking forward to drinking and fornicating at night. 578 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:06,920 End quote. 579 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:08,600 And the Japanese government loves 580 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:10,800 what Kishi's doing in here so much 581 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:13,440 that in 1940, Kishi enters the cabinet 582 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:14,800 as a minister of commerce 583 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,120 under a new prime minister, Hideki Tojo, 584 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:19,920 less than one year later in October of 1941. 585 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,080 Kishi and General Tojo worked closely together in Manchuria 586 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,320 and Tojo regarded Kishi as his protege. 587 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:27,640 On December 1st, 1941, 588 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,240 Kishi voted in the cabinet for war 589 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:31,920 with the United States and Britain 590 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,080 and co-signed the declaration of war 591 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,480 issued on December 7th, 1941. 592 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,160 That's his history prior to getting put in jail 593 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:40,000 for war crimes. 594 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:41,920 He is a Class A war criminal. 595 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,720 I mean, it's not unfounded. 596 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:46,760 He goes on to become prime minister. 597 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,160 Ha ha ha ha ha ha. 598 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,560 Japan is full of surprises. 599 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,160 For me at least, I mean, this is all history. 600 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:55,080 Not new surprises. 601 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,040 Also, his brother ends up becoming prime minister 602 00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,520 and his grandson ends up becoming prime minister. 603 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:00,600 Good job Japan. 604 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:02,000 Next up, Yoshio Kadama. 605 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,440 Yoshio Kadama maintained a long-running relationship 606 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,000 with the Central Intelligence Agency 607 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,000 in the Japanese right. 608 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,840 Kodama first became relevant in an administrative role 609 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:11,200 due to his established connections 610 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,440 with the Imperial Japanese Navy High Command. 611 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,280 One of the people involved in MacArthur's team, 612 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,320 Willoughby, was in contact with Kodama 613 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,080 during his imprisonment, persuading him to write his memoir 614 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,720 called I Was Defeated, published through a CIA proprietary. 615 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:26,160 After serving a year in prison, 616 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,280 US authorities decided to end legal proceedings against him 617 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,080 and subsequently released him in late 1948 618 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:35,800 with his early release attributed to the G2's interest in him. 619 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:37,920 It is speculated that Kodama struck a deal 620 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:41,000 with intelligence officials in the G2 who secured his release 621 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,560 and US officials were allegedly interested 622 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:45,080 in Kodama's immense wealth 623 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,520 and his expansive intelligence network in China, 624 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,040 which G2 viewed as a valuable asset, 625 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:52,800 particularly for the upcoming operation Takamatsu, 626 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,200 which is basically just clandestine activity. 627 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,360 Cizo Arisue, in particular, head of the Kato Agency, 628 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,040 enlisted him in building an intelligence network 629 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:03,760 in North Korea and Manchuria. 630 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:05,760 He famously, as we just talked about, 631 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,360 was head of the opium trade in Manchuria. 632 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:12,600 He also set up a racket to basically plunder all of China. 633 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,400 He had agents all over China 634 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,120 and they stole all the artifacts and all the jewels 635 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:18,840 and all the gold and all the diamonds 636 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:20,480 and basically brought it all to Japan. 637 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,960 When he was arrested, he's allegedly one of, 638 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,720 if not the richest people in Japan 639 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:29,360 and he trusted all of his money and all of his goods 640 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:31,760 to the head of the Yakuza, 641 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,320 as well as a lot of his stuff is left 642 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,520 at the Imperial Royal Palace while he's in prison. 643 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,840 Like he's basically a billionaire at this time. 644 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,880 Remind me, he comes out of prison as a war criminal 645 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,760 and then becomes Prime Minister. 646 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:47,920 No, no, this is Yoshio Kodama. 647 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:49,360 So Kishi becomes Prime Minister. 648 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:52,040 Yoshio Kodama becomes a fixer for the LDP. 649 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:55,200 He's the guy, while the Anpo protests are going on, 650 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,280 Kishi went to Kodama and said, 651 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,200 hey, do you have some people we could get 652 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,080 to put this protest down? 653 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,640 And he says, yeah, I got right wing extremists 654 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,920 and Yakuza members. 655 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,400 And he spends all the money getting the Yakuza 656 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:09,520 to show up to these protests 657 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:11,160 and beat the shit out of protesters. 658 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,400 Oh my God. 659 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,600 I'm really glad we're doing this. 660 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:18,840 So Yoshio Kodama also, 661 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,080 is just a story that the CIA, 662 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:22,160 I call it the tungsten story. 663 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,080 And a bid with the CIA to enrich himself 664 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,120 participated in the scheme to smuggle tungsten 665 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:28,840 to US defense companies in exchange for CIA money. 666 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,240 The activities of his Kodama agency 667 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,760 had been built up during the Second Sino-Japanese War 668 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:35,760 by the Kempeitai, being heavily involved 669 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:36,680 in the opiate trade. 670 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:38,880 Kodama himself was involved in the IJA 671 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,400 tungsten smuggling ring as early as 1932. 672 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,880 Eugene Doomin, who was part of the Japan lobby 673 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:45,640 and who quit the agency in 1945 674 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,000 to support the reverse course, 675 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,960 engineered a plan to smuggle $10 million 676 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:50,680 with a military grade tungsten. 677 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:52,840 From the stores of Japanese military 678 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,960 and Chinese sources to Pentagon defense contractors. 679 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:57,720 So this guy is stealing tungsten 680 00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,120 from the Japanese government 681 00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:01,680 to give to the US military. 682 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,000 At the behest of the CIA, 683 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:04,320 Kodama's network was involved 684 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,720 with the physical process of actively moving the material 685 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:08,280 with the CIA underwriting the plots, 686 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,400 plying some $2.8 million to facilitate the operation. 687 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,480 The plot, however, ultimately fails 688 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,920 due to the tungsten being too low grade 689 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,360 and causing Doomin to blackmail the agency 690 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:20,920 over repayment by threatening to reveal the agency 691 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:22,760 that abducted two Japanese communists 692 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:25,760 and was actively involved in East Asian narcotics trade. 693 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:27,880 So Kodama ends up getting to keep the money. 694 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:28,720 Oh my God. 695 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,360 And during the 1960s, Ampo protests, 696 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:34,800 Nabusuke Kishi ordered his friend Yoshio Kodama 697 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:36,600 to put together a force of Yakuza 698 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,800 to protect US president Dwight Eisenhower 699 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,040 during his visit to Japan. 700 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,840 Kodama used some hidden money in the mass mobilization 701 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,560 to pay for the required manpower. 702 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:45,440 The State Department 703 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,840 and the US Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II 704 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,360 were actively involved in planning the mass mobilization 705 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:54,360 evidenced by MacArthur's cable to Harrius Truman Building, 706 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:57,760 which details Kodama's plan to deploy tens of thousands 707 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,640 of Yakuza on the streets to greet Eisenhower 708 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:01,880 in his planned visit. 709 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:03,520 Okay, so this is connected. 710 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:04,360 Yes. 711 00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:06,680 So he's not as innocent as, 712 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,920 I didn't think he was innocent, but... 713 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,000 No, MacArthur II kind of seems like an absolute asshole. 714 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,000 Yeah, and we're getting a better, clearer idea of what's... 715 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:15,840 Okay. 716 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:17,600 Yeah, and this is why I did the background first. 717 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:18,760 Yes, of course. 718 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,240 So can you imagine Eisenhower showing up in Japan 719 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,640 the first visit there since pre-World War II? 720 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,760 And all there is to greet him is Yakuza Prime members. 721 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:28,920 He didn't show up though, right? 722 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:29,920 No, he didn't end up going. 723 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:30,840 They canceled it. 724 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:31,680 Right, right. 725 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:33,840 But like he had set up for tens of thousands 726 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,400 of Yakuza members to stop any unrest 727 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,800 that could happen around Eisenhower if he was to show up. 728 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,120 I don't know if I'd feel terrified or safe. 729 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:45,560 Yeah, the LDP sent multiple emissaries to support the plan 730 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:49,120 meeting with heads of pretty much all of the huge right-wing 731 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:50,920 extremist groups as well as the Yakuza. 732 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,600 And these were grouped all under the All Japan Council 733 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,280 of Patriotic Organization, the Zenikagi, 734 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,280 which was composed primarily of right-wing veterans 735 00:26:58,280 --> 00:26:59,120 and gangsters. 736 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:00,800 Despite the pressure and the encouragement of MacArthur 737 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:02,560 and the State Department to let the visit go ahead, 738 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:04,760 the LDP ultimately decided to cancel the visit 739 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,960 and to avoid a repeat of the Hagerty incident, 740 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,160 which they probably made the right move. 741 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,320 I feel like they really did. 742 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:12,800 Someone was thinking clearly. 743 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,080 And according to historian Sterling Seagrave, 744 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:18,000 Yoshio Kadama remained on the CIA payroll 745 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,120 until the presidency of Ronald Reagan 746 00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:22,600 and Kodama's death in 1984. 747 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:24,840 So he gets paid that entire time. 748 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:26,920 I was worried he wasn't going to. 749 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:29,000 Like we don't know everything that he got paid for 750 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:29,880 or everything he did. 751 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:31,960 We just know some of the things that were released. 752 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:32,800 Like that's it. 753 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,360 Well, I mean, I'm glad to hear you said he's paid. 754 00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:38,320 This is not the last time we're gonna talk 755 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:39,960 about Yoshio Kadama in this episode. 756 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:41,440 It is the last time for now, 757 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,880 but there's a more interesting story that comes up later 758 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:45,040 that you're going to be very happy 759 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:45,960 that I don't skip. 760 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:46,800 Okay, good. 761 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,200 And we're just elaborating on the war crimes 762 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,080 in which they were released. 763 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:52,960 Yes, by the CIA. 764 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:54,320 These are released CIA. 765 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:55,160 Great. 766 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,800 So, and then we're just gonna talk about the LDP in general. 767 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:01,560 Although I guess a political party 768 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,320 can't be a war criminal. 769 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,640 They can sure be involved with war criminals. 770 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:06,720 They sure can. 771 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:08,320 Nick Kaeper, author of the book, 772 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:09,360 Japan at the Crossroads, 773 00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:11,080 Conflict and Compromise After Ampo, 774 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:12,640 argues that Nabusuke Kishi, 775 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:13,840 at the advice and encouragement 776 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:15,320 of the Central Intelligence Agency, 777 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:16,560 orchestrated the formation 778 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,880 of the Liberal Democratic Party in 1955. 779 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,400 This party continuously held power from 1955 to present day, 780 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:23,520 except for a short while 781 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:25,920 when it was replaced by a new minority government. 782 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,360 LDP leadership was drawn from the elite 783 00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:31,400 who had seen Japan through the defeat and occupation. 784 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,160 It attracted former bureaucrats, local politicians, 785 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:35,560 businessmen, journalists, 786 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:36,920 and other professionals, farmers, 787 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:38,320 and university graduates. 788 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:43,080 And the CIA absolutely pushed money into the LDP. 789 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:43,920 Of course they did. 790 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:45,640 They would give them millions 791 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,040 to make sure that the US looks good. 792 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:50,080 Millions. 793 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,160 And nobody knows when that cuts off either. 794 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:53,560 Like they might still be getting money. 795 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:54,720 Nobody knows for sure. 796 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,360 It's probably still going. 797 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,520 And the person that they got to set up the LDP 798 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:00,240 is not just Nabusuke Kishi. 799 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:01,440 It is Yoshio Kadama. 800 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,000 Yoshio Kadama is constantly in the background 801 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,040 as the fixer for the LDP. 802 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,680 Because of his like very obvious attachment to the Yakuza, 803 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,120 he can't be a politician or prime minister, 804 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:15,080 but he basically runs the party the entire time he's alive. 805 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,800 I mean, that's like Kennedy's and the mafia. 806 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:19,760 Sure. 807 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:21,080 Not quite, but sure. 808 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:22,680 Not quite, but kind of. 809 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:24,200 Next up, other propaganda activities. 810 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,640 The CIA was involved in a multi-decade campaign 811 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,920 to strengthen the image of the United States in Japan 812 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:31,560 and promote the Japanese right. 813 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,360 In 1954, the CIA sponsored the creation 814 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:36,000 of a central intelligence agency, 815 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:40,720 meant to sway news reporting from Jiji Press and Kyoto News. 816 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:42,560 The CIA established a program called 817 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:45,160 the Psychological Strategy Plan for Japan. 818 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,800 The goal of the plan was the manipulation of Japanese media 819 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,200 into supporting the pro-US anti-communist 820 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,560 and pro-rearmament position to sway Japanese public opinion. 821 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:55,240 The United States Information Service 822 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,840 also confidentially financed the production 823 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,520 of Japanese media, pouring $184 million 824 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,320 into a program codenamed Panel D Japan. 825 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:08,400 The CIA and USIS also targeted the Japanese intelligence 826 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,000 media establishing magazines like Jiu. 827 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,400 One of the CIA's greatest media assets 828 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,640 was the Japanese media mogul Matsutaro Soriki. 829 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,080 Matsutaro owned the influential publication 830 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:20,360 Yomiori Shimbun. 831 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,280 Matsutaro established Japan's first private television 832 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:24,760 network, Mipon Television. 833 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:26,880 NTV would become a centerpiece 834 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,280 of US psychological operations in Japan. 835 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,880 Matsutaro operated under the CIA codename Podam 836 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:34,800 and Pojakpot One. 837 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,960 Operations by Pojakpot One included a program 838 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:39,920 to acquire 10 color TV receivers, 839 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:41,160 which were shipped to Japan. 840 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,800 The objective of this operation was to broadcast propaganda 841 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,240 for the LDP ahead of the 1958 general election 842 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:51,320 and demonstrate US advancements in consumer electronics. 843 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:52,880 However, the sets arrived too late 844 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,640 to be used in the 1958 election and the program wasn't. 845 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,560 Soriki also participated in a media campaign 846 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:00,320 to promote nuclear power in Japan. 847 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:02,840 His media organization established in the exhibition 848 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:04,840 to promote the benefits of nuclear power, 849 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,800 termed Adams for peace after Eisenhower's speech 850 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,000 at the UN General Assembly in 1953. 851 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,280 And the operation was obviously fully endorsed 852 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:14,720 and supported by the CIA, probably paid for as well. 853 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,040 So the CIA are fully why Japan relies so heavily 854 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:20,680 on nuclear power, which I mean, take it or leave it. 855 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:22,280 There are good and bad involved with that, 856 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,320 but if Japan would have been left to its own devices, 857 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:27,640 I guarantee you a country that had two nuclear bombs 858 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,520 dropped on it would not nuclearize its power. 859 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,600 Because they really don't like nuclear weapons. 860 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:34,440 Yeah, okay. 861 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:37,440 Like they saw, oh, and I don't even talk about this. 862 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:39,080 Do you know the nuclear testing 863 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:40,720 that happens at Bikini Atoll? 864 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:42,320 Okay, well, it's in the middle of the ocean. 865 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:44,040 You would see that famous mushroom cloud 866 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:45,840 that happens in the middle of the ocean. 867 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:47,120 Yeah, cause it sounds familiar. 868 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:47,960 Yeah. 869 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:49,840 That actually leads to fallout on a fishing boat 870 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,320 and all the fish that were caught and canned 871 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,360 and dispersed throughout Japan. 872 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,560 And it actually, it's a huge scandal 873 00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:58,080 that I'm not even gonna cover, 874 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:02,000 but nuclear fallout is a huge worry in Japan 875 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,640 for most of the 1950s onwards. 876 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:05,680 The reason, okay. 877 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:06,520 Why are they doing this? 878 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:09,480 Well, one of the reasons is the Okinawa Military Base, 879 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,280 which Japan heavily opposes. 880 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:16,200 From 1955 to 2013, I believe was the stat I read. 881 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:17,200 I didn't write this down. 882 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:21,600 There have been over 200,000 criminal actions 883 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:23,600 done to Japanese individuals 884 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:25,840 by people at the military base in Okinawa. 885 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:30,280 200,000 crimes committed by military personnel in 60 years. 886 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:31,480 And they never get tried there. 887 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,240 They get tried in the US if they want to. 888 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,000 But like anywhere from like assaults to murder. 889 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:39,040 No, it's bad. 890 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:40,720 Like it's been all over the map. 891 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:41,640 That's bad. 892 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,640 And the reason I laugh is because Japan is not the one 893 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,280 to be accusing people of admitting things 894 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:49,600 and getting away with it. 895 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:51,720 Is there a pretty bad themselves? 896 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:53,040 Let's talk about Okinawa. 897 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,400 The CIA's influence in Okinawa became relevant 898 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,400 as it repeatedly attempted to influence 899 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:58,920 the course of elections on the island. 900 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:00,720 The American Friends Service Committee 901 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,640 accused the US of financing the LDP on the island 902 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,360 to the tune of $1.8 million. 903 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:08,840 This was corroborated by a secret action plan 904 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:10,560 declassified in 1997. 905 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,600 Detail and covert agency plans to influence elections 906 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,480 in the Ryukyus via the secret funding the LDP 907 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:19,240 in response to an escalation of protests over reversion. 908 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,040 More recently, after the end of the US military operation 909 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:23,240 in Okinawa prefecture, 910 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,280 the CIA continued attempts to sway Okinawa public opinion. 911 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:28,680 In a document obtained via a Freedom of Information Act 912 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,280 request, the CIA laid out a manual advising US officials 913 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:34,600 on how to shape Okinawa public opinion. 914 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:38,800 The CIA advised US officials to manipulate Okinawa pacifists 915 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,720 opinion by stating the military's role 916 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:42,880 in humanitarian and disaster relief. 917 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:45,600 This agency also advised that US officials 918 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,440 not mention military deterrence 919 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:50,480 as a reason for the continued military presence on the island 920 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:52,560 and deny any role of US servicemen 921 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:54,640 in discrimination against Okinawans. 922 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,600 The AFSC also accused the CIA of organizing the toppling 923 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,320 of Yukio Hatoyama's government in large part 924 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,600 due to its opposition to the construction 925 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,360 of the US military installations on Hanoko Bay. 926 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:08,560 Next up, Project Artichoke. 927 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:10,960 And by the way, one thing I have to bring up 928 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,200 just because it vaguely fits in here, 929 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:14,560 I didn't have time to do it though. 930 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:15,760 Do you remember the Kempeitai, 931 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,680 the Japanese military police? 932 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:18,640 Yes. 933 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:20,480 Yeah, they came up in your episode, 934 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:21,480 didn't come up in mine. 935 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:23,840 You would think that they were Class A war criminals. 936 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:26,480 I could not find a single name attached to Kempeitai. 937 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,480 All I know is that they set up clandestine cells 938 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,840 called Kikan, basically the US just said, 939 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:33,000 yeah, we're gonna keep these. 940 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,720 So they might have gotten rid of some of the Kempeitai, 941 00:34:35,720 --> 00:34:38,760 but they did not get rid of their infrastructure at all. 942 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:39,760 Cool, okay. 943 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:41,440 Which brings me to Project Bluebird 944 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:42,440 and Project Artichoke. 945 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,920 Project Bluebird is a division of Project Artichoke 946 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:46,920 and it was a mind control operation 947 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,480 involving testing of human subjects with drugs 948 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:51,440 meant to induce hypnosis for the purpose 949 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:52,800 of enhanced interrogation. 950 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,240 At the start of Project Bluebird, 951 00:34:54,240 --> 00:34:56,920 a team traveled to Japan in July of 1950 952 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,240 to test out the techniques on human subjects. 953 00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:01,960 The subjects used were suspected double agents. 954 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,720 During the operation, the security office of the agency 955 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:06,200 ordered the operatives to conceal 956 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:07,520 and not disclose the reason 957 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:09,360 for their residence and employment in Japan. 958 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,840 Using a cover explaining they were part of a polygraph work. 959 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,280 In October of 1950, the program was expanded 960 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,120 to include North Korean prisoners of war 961 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:18,840 with 25 subjects being selected and chosen for the role. 962 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:20,800 The safe house used to perform the operation 963 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:22,840 was located in Etzugi, Kanagawa. 964 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,120 The experiments were intended to induce amnesia 965 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,120 by the injection of drugs such as sodium amadol 966 00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:29,680 and other barbiturates. 967 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,480 The team judged the experiments in 1950 as a success, 968 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:35,400 causing the agency to expand and continue the program 969 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:36,920 across Europe and Southeast Asia. 970 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,360 So yay, using drugs to interrogate people. 971 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:41,240 That's where it was pioneered was in Japan. 972 00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:42,080 Really? 973 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,720 Kevley talked about Project Artichoke before or Bluebird? 974 00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:45,800 I don't think we have. 975 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:48,280 It must have been behind the bastards that I heard it. 976 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,440 Yeah, and actually there are a few episodes 977 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,360 of behind the bastards that are very pertinent to this. 978 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:55,240 This actually leads to the Canon organ, 979 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:57,360 which is, I'm just gonna read it. 980 00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:59,520 News reports and declassified CIA documents 981 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:01,040 have repeatedly mentioned the existence 982 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,240 of Canon organ staffed by 30 persons. 983 00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:05,680 The organization is also known as the Canon Agency 984 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:06,640 or the Zed Unit. 985 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:10,160 The agency was formed according to former member Han Topong 986 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:11,560 by the Counterintelligence Corp. 987 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:13,200 and was under the purview of the G2. 988 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:15,400 Topong stated that the intelligence gathering portion 989 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,240 of the organ answered to Alan Dulles or Alan Delay. 990 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:20,600 Lieutenant Colonel Jack Cannon led the agency. 991 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:22,480 The organization's headquarters was located 992 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:24,280 at the Hongo House in Tokyo. 993 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:26,600 It worked in conjunction with the Kato Agency. 994 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,200 A clique consisting of five former Imperial 995 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,520 Japanese Army officers, the Canon organ's primary focus 996 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:34,960 was gathering intelligence from Communist China. 997 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,280 So it basically set up its own CIA cell in Japan. 998 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:41,160 This also read the Kajiwataru incident. 999 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:42,360 Another incident? 1000 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:43,680 Yeah, another incident. 1001 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:46,080 They have a lot of incidents. 1002 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,320 The CIA was implicated in the abduction of Kajiwataru, 1003 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:50,680 a left-wing novelist. 1004 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,680 Wataru had worked as a reeducator 1005 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,160 concerning Japanese prisoners of war in Chongqing 1006 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,840 due to his persecution under the Showa Statism. 1007 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,960 Kaji alleged that he was abducted by US military 1008 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,520 intelligence officers in the Kanagawa neighborhood 1009 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:07,240 of Kuganuma and then confined in a facility to Yokohama 1010 00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:09,480 on the night of November 25th, 1951. 1011 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,360 He was then extensively interrogated, 1012 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:13,720 accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union 1013 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:15,280 and was pressured to become a double agent 1014 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:16,280 for the US intelligence. 1015 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:18,720 Kaji was physically tortured and interrogated 1016 00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:19,880 over the next few days. 1017 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,480 After Kaji was repeatedly physically abused 1018 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,720 by the Canon Agency, he attempted suicide 1019 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:26,800 by drinking a bottle of household cleaner. 1020 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:28,960 Before his suicide attempt, he wrote a testament 1021 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:30,880 to his friend Uchiyama Kanzo, 1022 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:32,360 a bookstore owner in Shanghai. 1023 00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,520 At the time, Kaji was suffering from chronic tuberculosis 1024 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:36,880 and was giving medical treatment 1025 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:38,960 to assist in his recovery from a suicide attempt. 1026 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:40,880 Kaji was then moved to a second safe house 1027 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:42,040 in the Shibuya Ward. 1028 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:45,400 Then he was moved to Chugasaki and then to Okinawa. 1029 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:47,120 That's the Wataru incident. 1030 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:49,480 I just wanted to say it because it's terrible. 1031 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:51,080 Like that's some of the terrible things they're doing. 1032 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:53,280 And I think we're gonna have to cut this here 1033 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:55,760 because we have more to go, a lot more to go. 1034 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,280 And this is still the short version of this. 1035 00:37:58,280 --> 00:37:59,760 I've been Taylor here with Chelsea. 1036 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:01,000 You'll get more of it next week. 1037 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:02,040 Thank you all for listening. 1038 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:02,880 See you next week. 1039 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:03,700 What? 1040 00:38:03,700 --> 00:38:04,520 Just say bye. 1041 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:05,360 Oh, bye. 1042 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:09,280 Thank you for listening to Journey to the Fringe. 1043 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:11,560 If you have liked what you have listened to, 1044 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,440 please like, share, subscribe, or follow, 1045 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:18,480 depending on what venue you are listening to us through. 1046 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:22,120 Also, please, if possible, leave a five-star review 1047 00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:24,600 as that really helps us in the algorithms. 1048 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:26,520 Should you wish to interact with us, 1049 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,720 please check us out on your social media of choice. 1050 00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:31,160 I bet you we are there. 1051 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,480 And if you really wanna communicate with us 1052 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:35,520 and give us ideas for new episodes 1053 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:38,040 or tell us that we're wrong and terrible, either way, 1054 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:42,760 please send us an email at journeytothefringe at gmail.com. 1055 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,080 For now, I'll see you in the next episode. 1056 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:52,080 Bye.