Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates radio broadcasting in Japanese-occupied Singapore. Using materials on broadcasting and its programming, this shows the significant limitations of radio broadcasting there, contrary to the expectations of the military authorities.

Paper long abstract:

For Imperial Japan, radio broadcasting has played many political roles, such as cultural integration with the colonies, propaganda and national integration within Japan. This paper investigates the realities and limitations of radio broadcasting in Japanese-occupied Singapore during the Second World War. Much research has been conducted on radio broadcasting in the Japanese colonies and occupied territories, such as Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria. These studies have identified that radio broadcasts in the colonies were mainly in Japanese and primarily targeted the Japanese population in each region. As the Second Sino–Japanese War intensified, the Japanese language education programme expanded. Additionally, radio, as an ideological apparatus of the state, was expected to function as a medium for the indoctrination of time and discipline. Drawing on these previous studies, this paper clarifies the state of radio broadcasting in the multilingual and multi-ethnic context of wartime Singapore.

This paper analyses primary sources related to broadcasting and its programming. First, the broadcasting policy in Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia is examined. Although the primary objective of the occupation of Southeast Asia was to acquire resources, Japan also conducted aggressive propaganda to gain the cooperation of the local population. I attempt to clarify the nature of broadcasting developed for Southeast Asia, a multi-ethnic and multilingual area, using official documents and primary sources from broadcasting stations. Second, this paper sheds light on the characteristics of radio programmes, drawing on evidence from newspapers published in Singapore. The primary concern here is to investigate how broadcasting was conducted in Singapore, a ‘plural society’ that had been formed during the British colonial period, to gain the cooperation of its various ethnic groups. Finally, focusing on the nature of radio as a medium for Japanese language education, the characteristics of the radio lessons in Japanese language will be analysed. From the analyses above, I show that radio broadcasting in Singapore had significant limitations that were not expected by Tokyo or the Japanese military administration in Singapore.