The Evidence of Information Department Documents and Other Sources
August 2004
The period from the Manchurian Incident in 1931, when Japan accelerated controls on speech, through the February 26th Incident in 1936 to the end of the war in1945 is called the Dark Ages of the Japanese media. Few knows there were still some media that conducted public opinion surveys in those ages, namely Bungeishunju magazine and Mainichi Newspapers (then Osaka Mainichi Shimbun and Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun.)
Furthermore, Japan's Information Department, the very agency that imposed controls on speech, also conducted public opinion surveys. It was revealed by a record reporting the result of “public opinion and media use surveys” in the “report on the broadcasting guideline of the Great East Asian War.”
It is hard to expect a dispassionate formation of public opinion at the time because people were forced to believe in the news on “ever advancing Japanese army” or the spirit of loyalty and sacrifice to the nation. However, examining the three opinion surveys with the historical backdrop in mind somehow illuminates people's true feelings back then.
The surveys imply the Japanese psyche during the Pacific War: people recognized the capacity of U.S. military power and prepared themselves for a long war, they were cool enough not to be easily pumped up by the government-led “all-out-mobilization-of-spirit movement” or “the new scheme movement,” they had touchy feelings toward the neighborhood association system that advocated severe collective responsibility. The surveys also tell us that they were against a bill that tried to limit suffrage to householders. These responses of the people convey messages that we should not overlook, telling us citizens' sound critical spirits were preserved even under the gag rule.