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Paper short abstract

This paper uses media archaeology to reconstruct a fragmentary history of 'New Philippines News,' a Japanese newsreel series in wartime Philippines (1943–1945). Drawing on surviving reels and paratexts, it examines the series as imperial propaganda with subtle anti-Japanese narratives.

Paper long abstract

During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines (1942–1945), newsreels or news films (nyūsu eiga / ニュース映画) were principal forms of film propaganda. Designed not only to provide war updates but also to influence occupied populations, these films promoted images of Japanese life, military power, and imperial ideology. Newsreel series such as ‘Daitoa News’ and ‘Nippon News’ were strategically circulated in the Philippines, projecting narratives of anti-American sentiment, Japanese culture and military campaigns, and Filipino–Japanese collaboration. One year into the occupation, a local newsreel series titled ‘New Philippines News’ was produced, reportedly made from a Filipino point of view with Filipinos involved in the production. Screened until 1945, the series reported news in English for Filipino audiences, covering developments in Japan and other occupied territories while emphasizing everyday wartime normalcy and collaboration under Japanese rule. Many copies of ‘New Philippines News’ were destroyed during the Japanese retreat in 1945, rendering the series fragmentary and difficult to study. In addition, Japanese wartime newsreels, particularly those produced and circulated in Southeast Asia, remain understudied, further compounded by issues of media obsolescence and archival loss. Addressing this gap, the current study constructs a fragmentary film history of ‘New Philippines News’ through a media archaeological approach, or the study of historical media through surviving fragments, material remains, and paratextual traces. Drawing on ‘New Philippines News’ remnants, including extant digitized reels, an American-seized and reedited version, and paratextual materials such as advertisements and posters, the study examines how the newsreel series functioned during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and highlights its promiscuity, revealing how it operated as Japanese propaganda while simultaneously carrying subtle anti-Japanese narratives. In doing so, the study foregrounds the use of newsreels in studying Japanese history in wartime Philippines through media archaeology, contributing to the wider scholarship on Japan’s historical wartime presence in Southeast Asia.