--- title: Your Enemy the Jap (Official Navy Poster) url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/your-enemy-the-jap-navy-1944/ description: A hand-lettered information sheet shows a grinning, bayonet-wielding soldier with a star on his helmet beside outlines of aircraft and warships, with… section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) **Content note:** Ethnic slur in title and text; caricatured Japanese soldier and workers with exaggerated features. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [![Your Enemy the Jap (Official Navy Poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/your-enemy-the-jap-navy-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/your-enemy-the-jap-navy-1944.jpg) # Your Enemy the Jap (Official Navy Poster) A hand-lettered information sheet shows a grinning, bayonet-wielding soldier with a star on his helmet beside outlines of aircraft and warships, with boxed figures: planes produced 'faster than we can destroy them', 4,000,000 men under arms, 5 million workers on 12 to 16 hour days and '400,000,000 enslaved people'. Statistics appear without sources, dates or comparison with U.S. output. ## Text on the object Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` YOUR ENEMY the JAP Despite our air victories, the Japs are producing planes FASTER than we can destroy them. The QUALITY of their planes is IMPROVING! Japan still has a powerful fleet — 10 to 13 BIG BATTLESHIPS, 10 OR MORE LARGE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, many small carriers, hundreds of other warships. The Jap is a fanatical fighter. His motto is "WIN OR DIE." There are 4,000,000 of him under arms, with 2,000,000 more ready if needed. WE HAVE NOT YET MET THE MAIN BODY OF THIS HUGE TOUGH ARMY! Before the war the average Jap ate a pound of rice a day. Today his ration gives him only 11 [fraction illegible]/8 ounces. Nevertheless Jap workers are producing more than ever before. Japan's war production strength is OUT OF ALL PROPORTION to her industrial strength! 5 MILLION JAP WORKERS ARE TOTALLY MOBILIZED FOR WAR. MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WORK FROM 12 TO 16 HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. IN ADDITION TO THESE, JAPAN CONTROLS 400,000,000 ENSLAVED PEOPLE. OFFICIAL NAVY POSTER, INDUSTRIAL INCENTIVE DIVISION, JAP-80M ``` Hand lettering is partly stylised; the ration figure and the battleship count ('13' with a decorative numeral) are the least certain readings. Signature 'Hotchkiss USNR' and the GPO imprint (1944-O-615176) are at the foot. [← 'Yesterday's enemy is today's friend' (US leaflet 18-J-1 to Japanese troops)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/yesterday-enemies-today-friends-leaflet-1944/) [Radio Manila Tagalog talk 'look up for American planes' and the 'reorientation' campaign, as monitored by the OSS (1944) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ph-radio-manila-tagalog-americans-planes-oss-digest-1944/) ## Using the same techniques - [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking) - [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd. - [The Virginia Argus, "Letter to Mazzei" and rebuttal, 16 September 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/virginia-argus-letter-to-mazzei-1800/) (United States · Sep 16, 1800 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [The Examiner, No. 608, 22 August 1819, 'Disturbances at Manchester' (Peterloo)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/examiner-disturbances-at-manchester-1819/) (United Kingdom · Aug 22, 1819 · Card stacking) - [Punch, 'Laurels at Ningpo' column on the First Opium War, 1842](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/punch-laurels-at-ningpo-1842/) (United Kingdom · 1842 · Card stacking). Content note: Period satirical prose describing the killing of Chinese soldiers at Ningpo in graphic terms, using period terms such as 'pig-tail' for Chinese people. - [La paz según el Perú – La paz según los chilenos (Peace According to Peru, Peace According to the Chileans)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-paz-segun-el-peru-el-banquillo-1880/) (Peru · Jun 12, 1880 · Card stacking) - [New York Journal and Advertiser, front page, 17 February 1898 ($50,000 reward, Maine 'work of an enemy')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ny-journal-maine-destroyed-enemy-1898/) (United States · Feb 17, 1898 · Card stacking)