‘The country is full of wishful thinkers’: Britain’s Information Research Department and its post-war propaganda operations in Japan, 1948–70

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines British propaganda efforts in post-war Japan, focusing on the scope of activities and limitations of the Foreign Office’s Information Research Department (IRD). Although the IRD built a wide network of recipients for its anti-communist material in Japan, it soon faced difficulties in conducting operations when the British embassy officials started to question its influence in Japanese society – since they believed it was a culture so unique that pro forma IRD materials were unsuitable. Assessing the tensions between London and Tokyo contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the seemingly monolithic propaganda policies of the IRD.