September 8, 1945, an unusual day for 29-year-old Toriri Yuko. As a Japanese-American in Japan, Toriri Yuko originally thought that she could return to the United States after the war was over. But it turns out that everything is just her beautiful fantasy.
On the contrary, what she waited for was an arrest. Because, she is the only " Tokyo Rose " that has recognized her identity so far after the war.
The story still has to start from 1916.
July 4, 1916, US Independence Day , Toriri Yuko was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. Her parents were the first generation of Japanese immigrants who run a local grocery store.
1941, Yuko Toriri's aunt in Japan became ill, and her mother, who was also sick, could not go there, so Yuko Toriri agreed to her mother and went to Japan to visit her aunt.
This trip completely changed the fate of Toriri Yuko's life.
The House of Ritsuko stayed in Japan until this winter. When she was about to return to China, a major event happened:
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in the United States, and the Pacific War broke out. When the last ship heading to the United States left the port, Toriru Yuko found that she could not return to the United States.
—
For Yuko Toriri, who was only 25 years old at the time, this winter when she was stranded in Japan in 1941 was particularly cold.
Because of the war, Japan implemented the " rationing system " and the rations that everyone gets every month are of the specified amount. Toriri Yuko is not qualified to receive this ration because she is a US nationality and the ration is only for Japanese citizens.
That day, a strange man came to Yuko Torika's residence. The man gave Yuko Torika a suggestion: as long as you give up your American nationality and become a Japanese citizen, you can get a food ration card.
This is indeed a great temptation for Yuko Toriri, but she still made her own choice - not to give up her American nationality, she thinks she is an American.
Later, Yuzi Toru learned that the man was a Japanese secret policeman . After receiving a rejected reply, Japanese authorities included Yuko Toriri on the list of prohibiting the issuance of ration cards.
There is no food ration, so Yuko Toriri can only use the money she brought from the United States to buy daily necessities on the black market in Japan. By early 1943, she found that she had used up all her money.
In early 1943, Yuko Toriri, who had "exhausted ammunition and food", finally found a job. This job is working as a typist at Tokyo Radio Station. Because Toriri Yuko's English is good, she will modify many errors in the English broadcast manuscript. Why does
have English broadcast? Because Japan attaches great importance to psychological warfare during war periods.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Tokyo Radio used 24 channels to broadcast foreign broadcasts, including Chinese, French, etc., but the most important thing was English broadcasts, because Japan hoped to dismantle their main opponent, the Americans through various psychological offensives.
Starting from November 1943, a sweet voice of a female anchor began to appear on a radio program called "Zero Point" on Tokyo Radio. The female anchor called herself "Orphan An" on the show and called herself the "dearest enemy" of the US military. And her real name is Toriri Yuko.
What exactly does Li Yuzi play in this program called "Zero Point"? In addition to broadcasting wartime news provided by the Japanese side, Zero Point will play some American pop music and country ballads.
Because the program "Zero O'clock" is broadcast late at night, during this period, it is the time when many American soldiers stationed in the Pacific stop fighting and feel homesick.
Therefore, the Japanese hope to use this type of broadcast to maximize the war-weariness of American soldiers and disintegrate their fighting spirit.
However, the result seems to be the opposite: Tokuri Yuko's pure American pronunciation, humorous hosting style, and carefully selected American music made all American soldiers who have listened to this radio fall in love with the show in a crazy way.
No one cares about the fake news she is broadcasting, everyone just wants to hear her voice and then close their eyes and enjoy it in the American music she plays.
A American soldier who once served as a gun officer on a US warship said in an interview after the war: "At that time, everyone especially liked to listen to Tokyo Rose's radio, especially listening to a female voice speaking authentic American on the radio. It was really a special romantic."
I don't know when, but American soldiers gave the group of female announcers, including Toriri Yuko, a unified title: "Tokyo Rose". Many American soldiers recalled after the war: to fight to Tokyo and see what the "Tokyo Rose" looks like, which is one of the main driving forces for their battle.
——
On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender and the war ended. But the turning point of Toriri Yuko's fate has just begun.
The American reporter at that time listed two Japanese objects that he wanted to interview most: Japanese Emperor , "Tokyo Rose".
On September 1, 1945, American journalists Clarkery and Harry Brenchi met Yuko Toriri at Tokyo Imperial Hotel . There, the two reporters interviewed Toriri Yuko for nearly 4 hours.
After the interview, Yuko Toriri signed the 17-page interview record and signed the document to prove that I am "Tokyo Rose".
cannot be verified. What was the reason that prompted Yuko Toriri to accept this interview at that time.
On the one hand, there must be material factors - two American journalists are willing to provide this interview with a $2,000 interview fee (the purchasing power is about $30,000 now).
On the other hand, it may be that Toriri Yuko thought at the time that it was no big deal to admit that he was the "Tokyo Rose".
It is this interview that pushed Yuko Toriri into the abyss of fate.
Two days later, Yuko Toriri's interview was published in the newspaper, attracting unprecedented attention.
Because although "Tokyo Rose" is considered to be a broadcast team of about 12 women, it is only Tokuri Yuko who is willing to admit that she is one of them.
At the beginning, Toriri Yuko in Japan was treated as a "celebrity" - she was invited to attend events everywhere, and wherever she went, American soldiers stationed in Japan rushed to ask her to sign. But less than a month later, she was arrested.
According to Japanese writer Sassu , the Japanese authorities arrested Yuko Toriri at that time, and the charge was "treason" - because she refused to give up her American nationality and became Japanese nationality during the war.
. Some other information shows that the arrest of Yuko Toriri was the US authorities in Japan at that time, and the reason was also "treason" - because she helped the Japanese broadcast the broadcast to disintegrate the fighting spirit of American soldiers as an American.
No matter what, Toriri Yuko was imprisoned in Japan's Suga Prison for a year and was released on October 25, 1946.
——
The release of Toriri Yuko couldn't wait to apply to the US Consulate of Yokohama to return to the United States as soon as she was released from prison. But at that time, her husband, Duoqiye (Japanese and Portuguese mixed race), advised her to wait a little longer.
In early 1948, Yuko Toriri's child was born. However, the baby boy died at the moment of birth. The huge blow made Toriri Yuko hope to return to the United States like never before.
But Yuko Toriri may not know that for a long time, the United States has set off an unprecedented anti-Japanese climax in the United States for a long time. Japanese Americans in the United States suffered many unfair treatments, even driven out of their homes, confiscated their property, and ordered to concentrate on living in a designated remote and closed camp. Li Yuzi's mother died of illness in the camp.
So, although the war has ended for three years, the news that Tokuri Yuko hopes to return to China has reached the United States, which has brought her into a greater crisis - Walter Winchell, the most influential columnist and announcer in the United States at that time, strongly called for: The government should severely punish this "traitor"!
In September 1948, Toriri Yuko finally fulfilled her wish to return to the United States, but she did not return home freely, but was arrested again and extradited back to China by boat.
On September 25, 1948, Yuko Toriki arrived in San Francisco, USA by boat. As soon as she got off the boat, she was greeted not by her family and friends, but by an agent from the FBI . Toriri Yuko was taken to court again.
In court, Toriri Yuko firmly refused to admit that she had committed treason. She thought she was just an announcer of a radio station. She even pointed out that she tried to play various relaxed and soothing music to relieve tension in the US military and used some " pun " to encourage rather than blow the morale of her own American compatriots. Wayne Collins, the lawyer of Li Yuzi, almost obliged to defend her. The trial of Li Yuzi's case lasted for one year. It is said that during this period, many US soldiers also called for the acquittal of Toriru Yuko, claiming to be the "Tokyo Rose", accompanied them through the loneliest and hardest years.
But no matter what, on October 7, 1949, the San Francisco Federal District Court sentenced Yuko Tori's treason case: Yuko Tori was convicted of treason, automatically lost her US citizenship, fined $10,000, and sentenced to 10 years in imprisonment .
Because of good performance, Toriri Yuko served 6 years and 2 months in prison and was released in 1955. But bad luck still didn't let her go. After Li Yuzi was released from prison, she received an expulsion order, which ordered her to leave the United States.
Although with the help of lawyer Collins, Yuko Toriri successfully rejected the deportation order, she was unable to restore her American citizenship - she became a person without nationality.
This situation lasted until January 1977.
At that time, Wayne Collins, the defense lawyer of Toriko Yuko, had passed away. His son Wayne Collins, Jr., was still persistent in defending her, and finally achieved results - the United States' Gerald Ford , and finally issued a pardon order to Toriko Yuko. Toriri Yuko finally recovered her long-awaited American nationality.
She said: "I will always stick to my innocence - pardon is a measure to prove my innocent." At this time, she was already 61 years old.
Just after Tori Yuko received a pardon, it seemed that overnight, American public opinion changed its direction: everyone suddenly admitted that Tori Yuko used clever puns to suggest and comfort the audience, and even fought against Japan with one person, and was patriotic in a unique way. The image of Toriri Yuko seems to have changed from a "traitor" to a "patriotic hero".
The retired American veteran Davidz Neil Dell even proposed to erect a monument for Torii Yuko. The inscription reads: "Salute to Torii Yuko's loyalty and courage. Her patriotism has never changed." But these voices will no longer change Torii Yuko's fate.
In his later years, Tori Yuko runs a gift shop specializing in selling oriental gifts in Chicago , and died quietly on September 26, 2006 at the age of 90.
—
If Yuko Toriri was able to board a steamship back to the United States in 1941, then her life would probably be as a doctor, and she would be calm. But her fate was that year when she suddenly turned a corner.
broadcast for the Japanese, becoming the dream lover of American soldiers, accused of treason, becoming a patriot, losing nationality, and being pardoned. This series of changes happened to a woman, and what she did at the beginning was just to go back to Japan to visit her aunt.
To be honest, I don’t really believe that when Tori Yuko is broadcasting, I don’t know what kind of work I am doing.But as a girl with black hair and yellow skin, she was born in the United States. She wanted to return to the United States during the war, but she had no choice but to stay in Japan... How many rights do a small person like Toriri Yuko have to choose independently in the environment at that time?
In fact, it is not just Toriri Yuko. In the context of a specific era, who do we have the ability to control our own destiny?
What do you think about Huli Yuzi’s experience? Welcome to leave your footprints.
Follow me @Qingfeng Historical Pavilion, I will tell you the historical story.
