She originally only wanted to spend her ordinary life, but fate played a joke with her, and the outbreak of the Pacific War deviated her life from the predetermined track.
She went from being a layman to being the dream lover of american soldiers, and at the same time earned a resounding name - Tokyo Rose. It also made these American soldiers firm in a belief: to fight in Tokyo and see its face.
U.S. Army with Toguri Ikuko
She is Toguri Ikuko, a Japanese-American, born in Los Angeles in 1916, and as a first-generation Japanese immigrant, her parents opened a grocery store to make ends meet.
As she progressed, she grew up and studied zoology at university, hoping to become a doctor one day.
However, her dream was shattered in 1941.
This year, Toguri's mother fell seriously ill, but the misfortune was not alone, and her aunt who was far away in Japan also fell ill, so she went to Japan to visit her mother. What is even more cruel, however, is that her fate was also completely rewritten during this journey.
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in the United States, and the Pacific War broke out. This day will always be remembered by history, and it will also make Toguri Ikuko unforgettable. Because just before the outbreak of war, she was planning to return to the United States.
And from the moment the war broke out, she couldn't go anywhere, and she had just turned 25 that year.
Pacific War
In Japan, which was in the war, rations were all rations, and although she was bleeding japanese blood, she was not eligible for supplies because she was a U.S. citizen, and she was persuaded to become a Japanese citizen during the period, but she refused, and she firmly believed that she was an American.
Forced to be helpless, she began to look around for a job, but she was not familiar with life, and she basically did not speak Japanese, and there was no suitable job at all. Until a year later, she spent all her money and was poor, but unexpectedly got a job. And it was this job that made Japan lift a stone and drop itself in the foot.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan, which has always attached great importance to psychological tactics, launched a program of "strategic radio". Because Toguri was born in the United States and was able to speak authentic American English, she managed to become a midnight announcer.
Toguri Ikuko in the broadcast
Japan's original idea was this: accompanied by American country songs and pop music, coupled with sweet and sweet, soulful and seductive voices, these American soldiers were not guarded, thinking of their wives and children in their hometowns, and then tired of war. Achieve the goal of surrendering soldiers without fighting.
However, the Japanese still did not understand the "Art of War" of Sun Tzu, and they forgot the most important point: the nature of men.
These American soldiers, instead of homesick, fell madly in love with the show, allowing them to find a breakthrough in their emotions that had nowhere to release. When they came back from the battle every day, the most enjoyable moment was lying in bed and hearing to hear Toguri Yuko sweetly broadcast, which became their greatest spiritual comfort.
Thus, as stated at the beginning of the article, these American soldiers gave their dream lover a resounding name: Tokyo Rose. And he strengthened his belief that he must capture Tokyo and see what she looks like.
American soldiers in World War II
It was not until August 15, 1945, when Japan surrendered unconditionally, that Toguri Seemed to see hope of returning home, but her misfortune had only just begun.
As U.S. troops entered Japan, the American media and journalists flocked to them, all wondering who the "Tokyo Rose" was, and Toguri, seduced by huge sums of money, admitted everything. It was not later declassified that it was revealed that the Tokyo Roses were a group of more than a dozen women, and Toguri Ikuko was only one of them, but she was the only one to admit it.
At first, she enjoyed the general treatment of "celebrity", going to participate in events everywhere, and American soldiers even signed and took photos with her. However, the good times lasted less than a month before she was arrested by U.S. troops in Japan. The reason is to help Japan as an American to break the morale of the US military.
Although she did not become a Japanese citizen during the most difficult times, at this moment, she was placed on the heaviest charge of treason in her homeland.
Toguri Yuko in prison
She was imprisoned in Japan for a year, and after her release from prison, he always wanted to return to the United States, but he never achieved it. It was not until two years later, in 1948, that she finally returned to the United States, but instead of being free, she was re-arrested and extradited back to the United States.
This time, she was taken to court in the United States, and although she could not hear any treasonous remarks in the collected broadcast tapes, the United States sentenced her to 10 years in prison for "false" treason.
During this period, it is said that a considerable number of American soldiers wrote to them, asking for their acquittal, claiming that it was the voice of "Tokyo Rose" that allowed them to spend their most lonely and helpless years.
Later, Toguri was released early in 1955 due to her good performance. But the joke of fate has not stopped. She was stripped of her U.S. citizenship and deported.
Although her lawyer helped her stay in the United States, she became a "black household".
Be interviewed
But she has been running around to prove her innocence. It was not until 1977 that U.S. President Ford finally issued an amnesty for her. She was 61 years old.
Ironically, however, after the amnesty decree was issued, overnight, she became an indomitable "patriotic hero" who fought in her own unique way. Who would have thought that in a liberal and democratic United States, from "traitors" to "patriotic heroes", there is only one amnesty in between.
Eventually, Toguri died in Chicago in 2006 at the age of 90.
An amnesty decree can change a person's identity, honor, and social status overnight, but nothing can make a 61-year-old return to the way he was when he was 25 years old.
The war years were so cruel, the fate of ordinary people was like leaves falling in the river, and no one knew where they would drift.
Perhaps, the greatest gift brought to us by peacetime is that as long as we work hard enough, we can control our lives to the greatest extent!
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