Book Burning

A Japanese word "焚書" means throwing books into the fire. I looked for the direct English translation in my dictionary, but in vain. Nazi Germany, of course, did it and the U.S. also did it just after the Greater East Asian War. At least 7000 kinds of books that were inconvenient to the U.S. were burnt. The number of those books are reportedly to be more than tens of millions across the country. I don't think that justice is on their side.
By the way, China is now implementing this bird-brained policy in Uighur, but a book written in the Uighur language was secretly taken out of Uighur through Hong Kong, and got translated into Japanese. The original title is "Iz", which encourages the Uighur people to become independent. I read it and knew what has been happening in modern times.

(Vocabulary)
book burning  焚書
Nazi Germany  ナチスドイツ
implement 〈計画・政策・法律など〉 を実行する, 実施する, 履行する
bird-brained  ばかな, まぬけな
 

Breaking the Seal on the GHQ Burned Books (Reprint)

The GHQ, the command center of the American occupation forces in Japan, make a great deal about "freedom of speech" on the surface, but all reportage and publications were subjected to a thorough prepublication censorship. Even private letters were unsealed and read due to this censorship.
The GHQ's control of the expression of people's views did not stop there. They undertook a book burning on a scale that one can't help but compare it to the infamous book burnings of the Nazis. Under the name of "propaganda publications," a total of 7,769 works published before the war were confiscated for "burning." In this essay, Prof. Nishio Kanji shines a light on exactly what types of books were seized, and exactly how were they taken.
In short, the truth of the shock that the policy of the GHQ was the obliteration of Japanese history and thought is here proclaimed to the world.
* Summary:　http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/68_S2.pdf
  Full text:　http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/68_S4.pdf
  Author profile: http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_2/52_S2.pdf

(Vocabulary)
reprint 〔他の出版物｛しゅっぱんぶつ｝の記事｛きじ｝などの〕転載｛てんさい｝
make a great deal of progress  大きく進歩｛しんぽ｝する
reportage  ルポルタージュ 報道
censorship  検閲
sb can't help (doing) sth;  sb can't help but do sth)  ＜人＞が＜…＞なのは［＜…＞するのは］どうしようもない
I can't help the way I feel about you. 君への思いをどうすることもできない．
infamous  悪名高い [＋infamous for]
confiscate  (罰として) …を押収する, 没収する
shock [C] (経済状況・暮らし・慣習などを脅かす) 突然の変化, ショック
obliteration(特に書き言葉) (爆弾・あらしなどによる) 壊滅
obliterate
(爆弾・あらしなどが) …を壊滅する
(特に書き言葉) 〈記憶・感情など〉 を消し去る, 取り去る
(文) …を覆い隠す obliterate sth from view ＜…＞を覆って見えなくする
proclaim [他](フォーマル)  …を公然と述べる, 公言する

日本を占領したアメリカを中心とする連合軍（GHQ）は、建て前では言論の自由をとなえていましたが、報道・出版の徹底的な事前検閲を行いました。書信の開封による検閲まで行っていました。GHQの言論統制はこれにとどまりませんでした。ナチスが行った悪名高い「焚書」とは比較にならない大規模な焚書をも行いました。「宣伝用刊行物没収」という名のもとに、何と７７６９点の戦争前に刊行された書籍を没収し「焚書」したのです。GHQの占領政策は日本の歴史・思想を抹殺することを目指していたという衝撃の事実が今や世界に公表されるわけです。

 

 

 

Comments

[KUMO]

NO, not at all.

Thank you for your comment, and what do you mean by 9DIGTP?

[Cialis]

9DIGTP Thank you for the material. Do you mind if I posted it in her blog, of course, with reference to your site?