Poster 'Nippon Mengoeasai Laoetan' (Japan controls the seas), Djawa Baroe, Java (1 June 1943)
Halftone reproduction of a vertical poster: three lines of outlined block capitals, 'NIPPON MENGOEASAI LAOETAN', over a photograph of aircraft and a column of warships, a sailor and gun barrels at right and a rising-sun naval ensign at lower left with a Japanese date line. A bottom line in Malay-Indonesian says the Allied fleet gets no more mercy. The tell of bandwagon is the slogan as settled fact, with momentum and massed ships offered as the proof.
- Date
- June 1, 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Japanese military administration of Java (Gunseikanbu), Propaganda Department (Sendenbu), in the magazine Djawa Baroe; artist not recorded
- Region
- East Asia
- Country
- Empire of Japan
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Showa Japan
- Leader
- Hideki Tojo
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Bandwagon
- Leader
- Hideki Tōjō
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (scan of Djawa Baroe magazine), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Commons PD-Japan, PD-1996; anonymous 1943 magazine page)
Djawa Baroe (Sendenbu, Jakarta), June 1, 1943; scan via Wikimedia Commons. Anonymous Japanese work, out of copyright in Japan by 1 Jan 1996, so not URAA-restored.
Text on the object
NIPPON MENGOEASAI LAOETAN 皇紀二六〇三年 海軍記念日 NIPPON KAIGOENKI ARMADA SEKOETOE TAK DIBERI AMPOEN LAG[I]!
JAPAN CONTROLS THE SEAS Imperial year 2603 Navy Memorial Day NIPPON KAIGOENKI [romanisation as printed; Japanese 'Nippon Kaigun-ki' would be 'Japan naval ensign'] The Allied fleet is given no more mercy!
Read from a 500 px rendering of an 880 by 1450 px scan. The final letter of the bottom line is cut by the page edge and bracketed. The two Japanese lines beside the ensign are small and were read with some uncertainty; the romanised caption under the ensign is reproduced as it appears. 'Mengoeasai' is the older Indonesian spelling of 'menguasai' (to control); 'Sekoetoe' of 'sekutu' (the Allies). Translation is a literal machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader.
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