How To Tell Japs

World War I lasted for four years and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles marked the defeat of Germany. Adolf Hitler rose to power for his promise to rebuild Germany. His aggressive attitude initiates the Second World War when he arranged an unprovoked attack on Poland. While Germany reclaimed his land, Japan joined the Axis alliance with Germany and Italy in order to dominate Southeast Asia. The United States stay neutral in WWII until the attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 22, 1941, Life Magazine was published with headlines stating “HOW TO TELL JAPS FROM THE CHINESE”. This magazine distinguished the differences between the Japanese and the Chinese. The United States, exhausted and unwilling to lose any more soldiers, declared its neutrality in World War II. On December 7, 1941, Japan “sank all of the fleet’s battleships, killed more than 2,400 Americans, and almost crippled U.S. war-making capacity in the Pacific”, and as a result, the United States joined the Allies with Britain and the Soviet Union against the Axis power (Roark 671). After the incident, Americans

The Americans were not able to distinguish between the Japs and the Chinese, so they relied on the Life Magazine. The magazine addressed the concerns with the comparison of the facial features, ironically, the face of one man can’t represent the entire race. The comparison of the facial features also reveals the racist stereotypes. The magazine described the Chinese people as having “longer, narrower face”, “more frequent epicanthic fold” and “higher bridge” (How to Tell Japs 81). On the other hand, it claimed that Japanese people have a “broader, shorter face”, “less frequent epicanthic fold” and “flatter nose” (How to Tell Japs 81). The publisher of the Life Magazine defined the Chinese as ally yet examined the two nationalities as if they were some