Tokyo Rose Totally Explained

Everything about Tokyo Rose totally explained

Tokyo Rose (alternate spelling Tokio Rose) was a generic name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of approximately twenty English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The name is most strongly associated with Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who broadcast under the pseudonym "Orphan Ann" during the 15-20 minute D.J. segment of the 75-minute "The Zero Hour" program on Radio Tokyo (NHK). Other women who, separately or together, may have warranted the title include American Ruth Hayakawa (who substituted for Iva on weekends) and Canadian June Suyama ("The Nightingale of Nanking"), who also broadcast on Radio Tokyo, and Myrtle Lipton ("Little Margie"), who broadcast from Japan-controlled Radio Manila.

Tokyo Mose

As "Tokyo Mose" during and after World War II, Walter Kaner aired on US Army Radio, answering Tokyo Rose’s broadcasts. In Japan, his "Moshi, Moshi Ano-ne" theme song, sung to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down," was so popular with Japanese children and GIs alike that Stars and Stripes, the Army newspaper, called it "the Japanese occupation theme song." Elsa Maxwell's column and radio show in 1946 referred to Kaner as "the breath of home to unknown thousands of our young men when they were lonely."

Depiction in film and media

Tokyo Rose has been the subject of two movies and four documentaries:

1946: Tokyo Rose, film; directed by Lew Landers; Blake Edwards played Joe Bridger.
1969: The Story of "Tokyo Rose", CBS-TV and WGN radio documentary written and produced by Bill Kurtis.
1976: Tokyo Rose, CBS-TV documentary segment on 60 Minutes by Morley Safer, produced by Imrel Harvath.
1995: U.S.A. vs. "Tokyo Rose", self-produced documentary by Antonio A. Montanari Jr., distributed by Cinema Guild.
1995: Tokyo Rose: Victim of Propaganda, A&E Biography documentary, hosted by Peter Graves, available on VHS (AAE-14023).
2008: Tokyo Rose, film; in development with Darkwoods Productions, the only entity granted life story rights by Iva Toguri, Frank Darabont to direct. Christopher Hampton, is the screenwriter for Tokyo Rose.

In 2004, actor George Takei announced he was working on a film entitled Tokyo Rose, American Patriot, about Toguri's activities during the war.
   A scene in the 2006 movie Flags of Our Fathers has American servicemen listening to a radio broadcast in the style generally attributed to "Tokyo Rose" but ascribed to "Orphan Ann" to give greater credence to widespread but now historically discredited popular accounts from that time. Tokyo Rose is also the name of an emo/pop band hailing from New Jersey. Tokyo Rose is a 1989 album by Van Dyke Parks.
   Canadian group Idle Eyes had a hit in 1985 in Canada with the song "Tokyo Rose" from their self-titled debut from WEA Music Canada.
   The first band to register the name Tokyo Rose

in 1981 was formed by Derek Buckham and Val Ophield in the summer of 1980. They are still together and producing British rock music.

Footnotes

Further Information

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