Striving to fill voids in Hiroshima, Chugoku Shimbun and the press code ― Diving into the materials, Part 2: Taboo on reporting of “censorship”
Jul. 3, 2024
On September 19, 1945, shortly after the occupation of Japan had begun, the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ) announced its press code, a policy involving the censorship of such publications as newspapers and books, as well as broadcasts, movies, theatrical performances, the traditional comedic rakugo, and picture-story shows.
Media and other reporting on the censorship itself was also prohibited. Although the censorship was imposed under the pretext of the democratization of Japan, it represented a violation of freedom of speech and the press. Censorship is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution and also is in violation of the Japan Constitution, which was enacted later.
However, news articles referring to censorship can be found here and there, contrary to the GHQ’s wishes.
Earliest article was about theatrical performance ban
Many censored articles from the Chugoku Shimbun and the Yukan Hiroshima, which was a news organization affiliated with the Chugoku Shimbun, are preserved at the University of Maryland’s Gordon W. Prange Collection. The earliest article that failed to make it past the censorship process and was deemed to be in violation of the press code appeared in the August 21, 1946, edition of Yukan Hiroshima. It reported on the ban that had been placed on kabuki theatrical performances.
An “Informal Memorandum” concerning censorship of the publication dated September 25, 1946, was sent to Ichiro Uchida, then editor-in-chief of the Yukan Hiroshima, by George Solovskoy, an infantry captain who worked for the GHQ’s third branch of the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD) in Fukuoka and was the person in charge of materials published in Hiroshima Prefecture.
The memorandum emphasized that although it was assumed all publishers understood that no concrete traces of censorship must remain, some points might not be clearly understood. The order demanded that newspapers be free of all traces of censorship, including the blotting of words with ink or the unnatural deletion of sentences, not to mention any reference to censorship in the reporting.
The memorandum then reminded the paper that publication of any articles revealing the censors and their work situation would not be allowed without first receiving permission from the CCD.
The Chugoku Shimbun also confirmed many instances of the newspaper’s articles failing to pass censorship and not being published.
Even articles in culture section did not pass
On the second page of the September 8, 1946, edition of the Chugoku Shimbun, for example, a section entitled “the limited dictionary of abbreviations” explained “CIO,” an abbreviation standing for the Congress of Industrial Organizations, one of the two largest labor federations in the United States. As an oft-confused example, the article introduced “CIE,” the Civil Information and Education Section of the GHQ, with the description that the CIE was an organization that “collects information about Japanese society, including school education, and censors newspapers, films, and broadcasts.” The phrasing became subject to censorship.
Another censored article that was rejected was in the “Culture section” on the second page of the newspaper’s October 9, 1946, edition. It involved information on the release of new records for a number of record companies. A line had been drawn under a sentence in the article that read, “Sales of rokyoku (in English, ‘narrative singing accompanied by shamisen music’) have been sluggish likely due to the trend of the times as well as to record companies’ withholding of new releases because of censorship.”
An article with the headline “Order made to cancel fashion show with 65 seconds of nudity” appearing in the May 28, 1948, edition of the newspaper was also rejected because of a quoted excuse given by the theater manager, who was arrested on the spot on suspicion of public indecency — “The show’s contents are being censored.”
Traces that reveal attempts to eliminate the word “censorship” regardless of the content of the articles certainly speak volumes about the severity of controls placed on free speech at that time.
(Originally published on July 3, 2024)
Media and other reporting on the censorship itself was also prohibited. Although the censorship was imposed under the pretext of the democratization of Japan, it represented a violation of freedom of speech and the press. Censorship is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution and also is in violation of the Japan Constitution, which was enacted later.
However, news articles referring to censorship can be found here and there, contrary to the GHQ’s wishes.
Earliest article was about theatrical performance ban
Many censored articles from the Chugoku Shimbun and the Yukan Hiroshima, which was a news organization affiliated with the Chugoku Shimbun, are preserved at the University of Maryland’s Gordon W. Prange Collection. The earliest article that failed to make it past the censorship process and was deemed to be in violation of the press code appeared in the August 21, 1946, edition of Yukan Hiroshima. It reported on the ban that had been placed on kabuki theatrical performances.
An “Informal Memorandum” concerning censorship of the publication dated September 25, 1946, was sent to Ichiro Uchida, then editor-in-chief of the Yukan Hiroshima, by George Solovskoy, an infantry captain who worked for the GHQ’s third branch of the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD) in Fukuoka and was the person in charge of materials published in Hiroshima Prefecture.
The memorandum emphasized that although it was assumed all publishers understood that no concrete traces of censorship must remain, some points might not be clearly understood. The order demanded that newspapers be free of all traces of censorship, including the blotting of words with ink or the unnatural deletion of sentences, not to mention any reference to censorship in the reporting.
The memorandum then reminded the paper that publication of any articles revealing the censors and their work situation would not be allowed without first receiving permission from the CCD.
The Chugoku Shimbun also confirmed many instances of the newspaper’s articles failing to pass censorship and not being published.
Even articles in culture section did not pass
On the second page of the September 8, 1946, edition of the Chugoku Shimbun, for example, a section entitled “the limited dictionary of abbreviations” explained “CIO,” an abbreviation standing for the Congress of Industrial Organizations, one of the two largest labor federations in the United States. As an oft-confused example, the article introduced “CIE,” the Civil Information and Education Section of the GHQ, with the description that the CIE was an organization that “collects information about Japanese society, including school education, and censors newspapers, films, and broadcasts.” The phrasing became subject to censorship.
Another censored article that was rejected was in the “Culture section” on the second page of the newspaper’s October 9, 1946, edition. It involved information on the release of new records for a number of record companies. A line had been drawn under a sentence in the article that read, “Sales of rokyoku (in English, ‘narrative singing accompanied by shamisen music’) have been sluggish likely due to the trend of the times as well as to record companies’ withholding of new releases because of censorship.”
An article with the headline “Order made to cancel fashion show with 65 seconds of nudity” appearing in the May 28, 1948, edition of the newspaper was also rejected because of a quoted excuse given by the theater manager, who was arrested on the spot on suspicion of public indecency — “The show’s contents are being censored.”
Traces that reveal attempts to eliminate the word “censorship” regardless of the content of the articles certainly speak volumes about the severity of controls placed on free speech at that time.
(Originally published on July 3, 2024)
