TOKYOROSE
Tokyo Rose
(July 4, 1916–)
American Collaborator
A
World War II prop-
aganda icon—and
one of the earliest
female disc jockeys—Iva
Toguri d’Aquino gained
notoriety by taunting
American servicemen over
the airwaves. Her reputa-
tion as “Tokyo Rose” led
to her arrest, conviction,
and imprisonment for
treason—but also to ulti-
mate vindication.
Iva Ikuko Toguri was
born in the Compton dis-
trict of Los Angeles on
July 4, 1916, the daughter
of Japanese immigrants.
Like many first-genera-
tion Japanese Americans
(or nisei), Toguri em-
braced the American
dream by dint of hard
work, and she attended
UCLA as a zoology major. Having acquired a
bachelor’s degree, she aspired to study medi-
cine but fate intervened. In the summer of
1941, as Japan and the United States began in-
exorably drifting toward war, Toguri’s mother
learned that her sister, a Japanese national,
had become ill. Unable to visit Japan because
of her own illness, she sent Iva as the family
representative. Toguri sailed on July 5, 1941,
armed only with a certificate vowing that she
was leaving the United States temporarily.
She did not apply for a formal passport, view-
ing it as unnecessary for such a short trip. In
Japan, Toguri paid respects to her sick aunt
but, not understanding the language, felt
alienated and out of place. After the outbreak
of the Pacific War on December 7, 1941, she
was unable to secure a passport back to the
United States because her citizenship could
not be proven. In Septem-
ber 1942, she appealed to
the Swiss legation for
evacuation but was de-
nied for lack of money.
She thus became ma-
rooned in a hostile land
(the Japanese mistrusted
her completely) and with-
out a source of income.
Because she could not
speak the language in
spite of her appearance,
the Japanese regarded
her as something of an
enemy. Worse, Toguri
was repeatedly visited
and questioned by the
Kempei Tei (secret po-
lice), which tried coerc-
ing her into renouncing
her American citizenship.
Her life, they promised,
would improve if she did.
But repeatedly and stubbornly, Toguri refused
to comply.
By 1943, the need for a source of income
had become critical, and Toguri initially ac-
cepted work as a part-time typist at NHK, the
Japanese Broadcasting Corporation. Her flu-
ency in English did not go unnoticed for long.
She also became acquainted with several Al-
lied prisoners of war who were ostensibly
working for the Japanese as radio broadcast-
ers. Foremost among these was Australian
Maj. Charles Cousens of Sydney, a former
radio personality. He had become entrusted
by the Japanese with composing radio pro-
grams for propaganda purposes, all the while
covertly slipping anti-Japanese statements
past his unwitting hosts. Accordingly, by the
fall of 1943, Toguri had become one of eight
English-speaking Japanese Americans chosenTokyo Rose
Bettmann/Corbis