All-American radio propagandist for Imperial Japan

“Hey Bones, what do you do? It’s time for a vicious attack on morale. This is Bing Crosby.” During the Pacific Theater of World War II, American soldiers often found comfort in broadcasts like this from Japan. They credited the woman nicknamed “Tokyo Rose” with an on-air voice soothing and sweet but with a playful sting that demonstrated an impeccable understanding of American humor.

Oddly enough, this was not a brave operator sending out pro-American broadcasts from behind the enemy. This was official Japanese propaganda aimed at lowering the morale of the allies. Instead, it has the opposite effect.

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a bouquet of roses

Technically, Tokyo Rose does not exist. There was no single female radio personality outside Japan who addressed Allied soldiers in English. one number Women worked in broadcasting in Imperial Japan zero hours, on Radio Tokyo, but none of them participated in Hanaji.

“Tokyo Rose” is a nickname entirely created by American servicemen, although some insist it was the announcer’s way of introducing himself. Many also claim that in between her playful jabs, she also tells them frustrating things, such as how their wives cheated on them. The insults weren’t there either – at least not in the broadcast of the woman who helped create the concept of Tokyo Rose. Her name is Iva Toguri d’Aquino.

The story of the worst vacation ever

The daughter of Japanese immigrants, Iva Toguri D’Aquino was born Ikuko Toguri in Los Angeles in 1916. “Iva” is the name she adopted in high school. Raised Methodist, she loved swing music, played college tennis, joined the Girl Scouts and was born on the Fourth of July. The only way she’ll become more American is if she can bake an apple pie that calls vultures to the windowsill.

After graduating from UCLA, she traveled to Japan in 1941 to visit a sick relative, arriving just months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. There, Toguri was labeled an enemy alien and denied the ration card. Yet whatever food or medicine she managed to scrounge for, she shared it with American prisoners of war she knew. That’s just the kind of person she is.

Everything is on delivery

In 1943, due to desperation and coercion from the Japanese authorities, Toguri began working on Radio Tokyo zero hours Along with other prisoners of war, scripts designed to demoralize American troops were written and read. She used nicknames such as “Orphan Annie” or “Annie.” In 1945, she married Portuguese-Japanese Felipe D’Aquino and became Iva Toguri d’Aquino. Again, she never calls herself “Tokyo Rose.” However, she did take the opportunity to mock Japanese propaganda.

In the scripts they oversaw, the Japanese authorities only noted abusive words like “bones” (one of Toguri’s favorites) and summaries from the front lines of the horrific conditions so they could broadcast them. “Ann” sprinkled the sarcasm until they started to endearingly. On paper, she was attacking Americans, but audiences delighted in her fluent slang and deadpan sarcasm and investigated zero hours willing.

Ann also appealed to the soldiers’ frustrations with military life, often saying what they were thinking. When she talks about bad Army food and having to sleep in the trenches, the reaction is: “Preach, sister!” zero hours In a sense, it was a release valve for the soldiers’ frustrations and, according to later FBI reports, actually boosted their spirits.

How Toguri got dirty

Toguri made very little money from it this zero hours She was reportedly able to share her abilities with American prisoners of war. Combined with her clear mockery of wartime propaganda, something only an All-American patriot could achieve, this should have earned her a red carpet reception after the war. Instead, it got her arrested.

After being tricked into giving the name “Tokyo Rose” in what she thought was a give-and-take interview, she was arrested for treason in Yokohama. The U.S. government investigated her transcripts zero hours The broadcast shows nothing. There was no taunting, no military secrets leaked, no treason at all.

A gossip columnist had tried to make Toguri return to the United States and saw an opportunity to sell some columns at the expense of other people’s lives. Radio host Walter Winchell electrified the public about Toguri, leading to her second arrest. This was a piece of embattled “evidence” that was later proven to be false. At the time, though, it worked: Toguri spent six years in prison, was fined $10,000, and had her U.S. citizenship stripped.

Radio hosts Walter Winchell (left) and Toguri D’Aquino interviewed by an American reporter, September 1945 | Wikimedia/Nara

the long road to justice

In 1956, nearly 20 years after Toguri was released from prison, the truth about her involvement in the war was revealed. Key witnesses have retracted their previous testimony, experts have testified to her innocence, and real journalists have been calling for justice. It is generally believed that some English-speaking Japanese propagandists There may be imitating “Orphan Annie” due to her popularity, they There may be Talked about unfaithful wives and boasted about our ships being sunk by the Japanese navy. Iva Toguri has nothing to do with this.

Finally, in 1977, President Gerald Ford granted Toguri an unconditional pardon and restored her citizenship. She remains the only American citizen to have her treason conviction overturned. The woman they called “Tokyo Rose” lived out the rest of her life quietly and happily in Chicago, eventually signing permanently on September 26, 2006 at the age of 90.

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Updated on October 8, 2025