Animals

The most common characterizations of the Japanese were those of animals—rats, snakes, sea monsters, and skunks. These animalistic characterizations were used in a variety of media, from movie posters and military publications to comic books and hunting licenses.

Many of the “Jap Hunting Licenses”, for example, depicted the Japanese in animalistic fashion. The first image relies on the imagery of a snake to express that the Japanese were “slithering” creatures. What all of these licenses have in common is the goal of portraying the Japanese as animals deserving to be “hunted” by patriotic Americans.

On this comic book cover a U.S. Marine sets a monstrous Japanese octopus on fire with a flamethrower.

Similar to the comic book cover, this movie poster for “Menace of the Rising Sun” uses the image of a sea monster to suggest that the Japanes were “monsters” swarming the Pacific.

Again, the sea monster theme is used to depict Japan as a threat that tried to extend it reach out into the Pacific. In this example, the heroic imagery of a bald eagle representing the Unites States swoops down in opposition to the progress of the monster.

This is a mini-gallery of a variety of “Jap Hunting Licenses” that circulated throughout the United States during the war. The implication of these licenses is that anyone of Japanese descent should be considered a target and, like an animal, hunted down.

Another mini-gallery of hunting licenses. The exampes here explicitly use images of animals such as snakes and rats in their effort to characterize the Japanese as animals who should be hunted down.

On this poster the artist sent the message that “material conservation” could become a “Jap trap.”

This poster urged Americans to keep secrets and “don't talk” because “rats have big ears.”