harley davidson higashikurume

The Forgotten Art of Squatting

 

 

Get the real story of Tokyo Rose! Was she a traitor or hero? Despite what you may have heard, there's a deeper, stunning truth behind the legendary Tokyo Rose. Next week, we are releasing our much anticipated graphic novel Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour — the story of Iva Toguri, a Japanese American woman who was visiting her relatives in Tokyo shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Trapped in Japan, Iva refused to renounce her American citizenship. But she was forced to take a job with Radio Tokyo to host "Zero Hour," a propaganda broadcast aimed at demoralizing American troops — in the role of the infamous Tokyo Rose, "The Siren of the Pacific." The dramatic events recounted in this story include: Iva's arrest by the Americans, who eventually found that her actions were blameless Her emotional return to the United States and the racially-motivated public outcry that led to her rearrest and prosecution for treason The dishonest actions of prosecutors who coerced witnesses into providing false evidence against her The six years she spent in prison, and her eventual pardon by President Ford in 1977 Publishers Weekly says: "A firecracker of a subject helps propel this graphic biography of Iva Toguri D'Aquino and her incredible double life as Tokyo Rose... It's a well-researched history of an unjustly maligned woman and a crackling espionage adventure story, to boot." And BookRiot adds: "This is a fascinating piece of history with far-reaching implications about how Asian Americans are treated today." Just take a look at some of these panels:

In her powerful Foreword, legendary comic letterer Janice Chiang relates her own experience growing up as a first generation American born to Asian immigrant parents:

"As with Iva, we straddled two worlds and two cultures... The racism of our childhood years was not so subtle...we were subjected to racial slurs, people pulled up the sides of their eyelids to imitate Asian eyes, we were asked if we ate dogs and monkeys, people spoke pidgin English to us and laughed. The list goes on and on.

"Iva's strength was knowing her self worth and belief, that as an American citizen she had democratic rights... Faced with unforeseen challenges, Iva basically rolled with the punches, got up, and continued to move forward... In this process, she literally found and used her voice, her purpose, which was to help others."

This is absolutely not a title to pass up — so be sure to pre-order it today!

Tokyo vs Hokkaido