Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:19:34.997Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lt. Shigenobu Mochizuki and the New Philippine Cultural Institute

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Motoe Terami-Wada
Motoe Terami-Wada
Affiliation:
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper illustrates the Japanese cultural policy towards the Philippines through the example of the New Philippine Cultural Institute, an educational institution created by the Japanese military to inculcate the Filipino youth with patriotism and to nurture the future leaders of the “New Philippines”. This organization developed later into a volunteer army which showed determination to fight against the returning U.S. forces.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 27 , Special Issue 1: The Japanese Occupation in Southeast Asia , March 1996 , pp. 104 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 This estimation is based on my research of the People's Court Papers housed at the archives section of the main library of the University of the Philippine. I went through some 2,400 out of the total of about 4,000 cases of people accused of being Japanese collaborators. Hartendorp also estimates that the figure was not more than 5,000. See Hartendorp, A.V.H., The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines (Manila: Bookmark, 1967), p. 610Google Scholar n. 5.

2 Interview with Jeremias Adia on 20 Apr. 1985 in Cabuyao, Laguna. He was the secretary of Benigno Ramos, the founder and leader of the Ganap.

3 I have written a separate article on the Makapili. See Motoe Terami, “Nihongun ni Yume wo Kaketa Firipin-jin” [The Filipinos who Pinned Hopes on the Japanese Military], in Nihon Senryoka no Firipin [The Philippines under the Japanese Occupation] (title tentative), ed. Setsuho Dcehata (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, forthcoming).

4 On Bisig Bakal ng Tagala and also the New Leaders Association and its founder Aurelio Alvero, please refer to Grant K. Goodman, “Filipino ‘Intellectual Collaboration’ with Japan: The Case of Aurelio Alvero”, in this issue of the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.

5 For the formation and activities of the Propaganda Corps, see Terami-Wada, Motoe, “The Japanese Propaganda Corps in the Philippines: Laying the Foundation”, in Japanese Cultural Policies in Southeast Asia during World War 2, ed. Goodman, Grant K. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991), pp. 173–211Google Scholar.

6 Hitomi, Junsuke, “Hito Sensen ni Okeru Mochizuki Shigenobu kun” [Mr. Shigenobu Mochizuki on the Philippine War Front], in Hito no Kunibashira [The Pillars of the Nation in the Philippines], ed. Mochizuki, Shigeo (Nagano: privately published, 1980), p. 75Google Scholar.

7 Ibid.

8 Shigenobu Mochizuki, “Hihei Horyo kyoiku Shizai” [Material of Filipino P.O.W.'s Education], in Hito no Kunibashira, ed. Mochizuki, pp. 233–50.

9 Ibid.

10 Camp Stotsenberg was later renamed Camp Del Pilar by the Japanese head of the camps, Masakatsu Hamamoto. Interview with Masakatsu Hamamoto on 23 Jul. 1992. Also see Nihon no Firipin senryoki ni kansuru shiryo chosa foramu (ed.), Nihon no Firipin Senryo [Japanese Occupation i n the Philippines] (Tokyo: Ryukei Shosa, 1994), p. 78Google Scholar.

11 Ibid.

12 The Filipino lecturers included Leon Guinto, who was Mayor of Manila, the Assistant Commissioner of the Department of the Interior, and the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce. See Tribune, 16 Sep. 1942, 19 Sep. 1942 and 5 Jan. 1943.

13 Tribune, 3 Sep. 1942.

14 For the numbers released, see Tribune, 31 Aug. and 3 Sep. 1942. Since there were no announcements of names of POWs to be released on the newspapers after Apr. 1943, it is assumed that most of them had been freed by then.

15 On how they persuaded the military authority, see Hitomi, “Hito sensen ni okeru”, in Hito no Kunibashira, ed. Mochizuki, pp. 77–78, 80.

16 Tribune, 18 May 1943.

17 Tribune, 29 May and 18 Aug. 1943. Just 62 managed to graduate as we shall see later.

18 Tribune, 14 Jun. 1943.

19 Kume, Iwao (ed.), Pillars: New Philippine Cultural Institute Souvenir Book, 1943 (Tagaytay: New Philippine Cultural Institute, 1943), p. 25Google Scholar.

20 Ibid., p. 27.

21 Ibid., p. 11.

22 For the Way of the Warrior and the Way of the Farmer, see Mochizuki (ed.), Hito no Kunibashira, pp. 89–105.

23 For details on the daily curriculum, see Kume (ed.), Pillars, pp. 23–44. On Mochizuki's philosophy, see Terami-Wada, Motoe, “A Japanese Educator in the Philippines”, Kabar Seberang 21 (1991): 69–81Google Scholar.

24 En Asami, “Shinsei Hito no Shidosha” [Leaders of the New Philippines], in Hito no Kunibashira, ed. Mochizuki, p. 207.

25 Mochizuki (ed.), Hito no Kunibashira, p. 88.

26 Koho Fujimoto, “Hito no Kunibashira”, in Hito no Kunibashira, ed. Mochizuki, pp. 202–208.

27 See App. A.

28 Generoso R. Quimpo, “New Fire for Dead Coals”, in Hito no Kunibashira, ed. Mochizuki, p. 151.

29 V. Coloso Cruz, “Prospect and Retrospect”, in Pillars, ed. Kume, p. 50.

30 Interview with Tomas Gomez in Manila on 3 Sep. 1992.

31 Such comments are seen, for instance, in Ozaki, Shiro, Jinsei Gekijo: Rishu-hen [Theatre of Life] (Tokyo: Shincho-sha, 1954)Google Scholar, Terasita, Tatsuo, Sampagita saku Sensen de [War Front Where Sampaguitas Bloom] (Tokyo: Dorimu Shuppan, 1967)Google Scholar, Kon, Hidemi, Sanchu How [Wandering Around in the Mountains] (Tokyo: Chuko Shinsho, 1978)Google Scholar. All were novelists and poets who were drafted into the Department of Information. Also, interview with Junsuke Hitomi in Kyoto on 2 Jul. 1982.

32 Kume (ed.), Pillars, pp. 25–26.

33 Ibid., p. 32.

34 Ibid., p. 37.

35 Ibid., p. 54.

36 Ibid., pp. 42–43.

37 Genoroso R. Quimpo, “New Fire for Dead Coals”, p. 152.

38 Kume (ed), Pillars, pp. 7, 33.

39 Mochizuki (ed,), Hito no Kunibashira, pp. 145–47.

40 Interviews with Vicente Coloso Cruz, Tomas Gomez and Abraham Campo in Manila on 16 Feb. 1982, 17 Aug. and 3 Sep. 1992 respectively.

41 Asami, “Shinsei Hito no Shido-sha”, in Hito no Kunibashira, ed. Mochizuki, p. 209.

42 Shigenobu Mochizuki, “Seisen Ichinen o Kaerimite” [Reflecting Upon the Holy War After One Year], originally appeared in Minami Jujisei [Southern Cross], Dec. 1942, and is quoted in Hito no Kunibashira, ed. Mochizuki, pp. 251–53.

43 Shigenobu Mochizuki, “Hito ni okeru kyoka keimo undo no jissai yoryo to sono shido genri narabi ni gutai an” [The Practical Points of Education and Enlightenment Movement in the Philippines and its Guidance Principle and Concrete Plan]. This document was mimeographed and distributed by the Thirty-First Garrison under the title “Hito no Jihei to Sono Taisaku” [Evils of the Time in the Philippines and its Countermeasure] (Jul. 1944), 9-Itaku-26, Boei Kenkyusho, Tokyo, Japan.

44 Tribune, 27 May 1944.

45 Ibid.

46 For more details, see App. A.

47 For the activities of the trainees, see Tribune, 23 and 28 Sep. 1943.

48 “Editorial”, Pillar (Dec. 1943). The contributors of this magazine included, besides the graduates and instructors of the Institute, Arturo M. Tolentino, Lope K. Santos, Aurelio Alvero, Felipe P. de Leon and Hernando R. Ocampo.

49 Kenzaburo Hamano, “Deo ‘Hito Kensetsu Yoko’ o Yomite” [Reading His Posthumous Manuscript “The Outline of Building the Philippines”], in Hito no Kunibashira, ed. Mochizuki, p. 201. On Mochizuki's death, see Tribune, 28 May 1944.

50 Interview with Rokuro Nagashima, the head of the third batch of the Cultural Institute, in Tokyo on 7 Jun. 1993. The Institute seemed to have existed at least until the latter part of Dec. 1944, since Tribune, 20 Dec. 1944, reported on its existence.

51 Tribune, 4 Nov. 1944. However, it was Aurelio Alvero, a linguist, lawyer and Japanophile who was the brain behind and who drafted die articles of the Association which later developed into a volunteer army called Bisig Bakal ng Tagala, mentioned in the beginning of this essay.

52 Alvero file, People's Court Papers, University of the Philippines.

53 Seen in the “Information” of numerous files of criminal cases tried by the People's Court which can be found in the People's Court Papers.

54 For instance, Masakatsu Hamamoto became the actual head of the POW camp without proper appointment. Interview with Hamamoto.

55 For details, see Terami-Wada, Motoe, “Postwar Japanese Images in Liwayway Short Stories and Serialized Novels, 1946–1988”, in Panakon ng Hapon, ed. Barte, Gina (Manila: Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas, 1992), pp. 83–91Google Scholar.

56 Galauran's name was not found in the list of the first batch and Mochizuki was already dead at the beginning of the second group's education. There is no way of find out whether Galauran knew of Mochizuki because he, too, has passed away. It is possible that he was one of the POWs who went through the two-week education programme.

57 On Galauran's pre-war novels, see Terami-Wada, Motoe, “Japanese Images of Prewar Filipinos”, Solidarity 130 (1991): 26–32Google Scholar.