The Second World War and the 'quiet colony of Sierra Leone'

During the Second World War, the Japanese subjected the populations of their occupied territories to an extensive propaganda barrage about the racial benefits of their purported New Order. This chapter elucidates several key characteristics and effects of Japanese wartime propaganda activities through an examination of the conquerors use of printed media in occupied British Asia. It focuses mainly on developments in occupied Hong Kong, while citing the examples of Malaya and Singapore as supplementary case studies. The chapter discusses the ways in which the Japanese attempted to harness the support of local communities for the occupying regime by drawing attention to the racial inequalities of British colonial rule in written propaganda. It also examines the ways in which the Japanese attempted to solicit the assistance of disaffected local residents in attempts at disseminating wartime propaganda.