2nd February 1945
February 2, 1945
The government still cannot make up its mind whether or not to bother issuing clothing-ration coupons this year, reports the Asahi. For months now it
Leon Ma. Guerrero
(March 24, 1915 — June 24, 1982). Lawyer, journalist and diplomat. Served in USAFFE (later, USFIP) in the press relations staff, then assigned to Corregidor; upon surrender of USFIP and release from internment, served as a technical assistant to Jorge B. Vargas in the Philippine Executive Commission, then resumed broadcasting (station PIAM) under the same pseudonym he had used prior to the Japanese Occupation: Ignacio Javier. He then joined the diplomatic service of the Second Republic of the Philippines, assigned to the Philippine embassy in Tokyo under Jorge B. Vargas, ambassador.
3rd February 1945
February 3, 1945
With the Americans at the gates of Manila the official Imperial Rule Assistance Association called a “Victory in the Philippines” rally at the Hibiya public
4th February 1945
February 4, 1945
A warning went out today for a possible big raid, Someone has figured it out that the Americans come every eight days and they came
5th February 1945
February 5, 1945
Kobe was raided yesterday by 100 B-29’s. She eight-day theory seems to be working. Manila’s fail was announced last night by San Francisco but the
6th February 1945
February 6, 1945
The evacuation program is still meeting with difficulties. The Mainichi reports today that some of the evacuees are even returning to the cities, either because
7th February 1945
February 7, 1945
The Japanese press has now been allowed to reveal that the United States army entered Manila on the 3rd and that fighting is now going
8th February 1945
February 8, 1945
A heavy snowfall did not help to cheer us up. All of us were in a bitter mood. Vargas has definitely rejected the proposition that,
9th February 1945
February 9, 1945
The Japanese are blaming the Americans for the destruction of Manila. A Domei dispatch carried by the Mainichi today quotes the spokesman of the Japanese
10th February 1945
February 10, 1945
The Japanese were buoyant this morning. All the vernaculars have headlined a delphic boast from Yamashita: “The enemy is in my stomach.” It is, I
11th February 1945
February 11, 1945
I heard today a more complete version of the recent incident in the diet concerning “divine aid” and “divine punishment”. The original reminder, it seems,
12th February 1945
February 12, 1945
A feeling of depression has overtaken the Japanese. Everyone expected Yamashita to do something big in honor of yesterday’s festival. Kigen-setsu, empire foundation day. But
13th February 1945
February 13, 1945
A German Jesuit complains that life is getting harder and more and more unexpected these days. One of his Japanese servants, he says, has now
14th February 1945
February 14, 1945
The cabinet yesterday fixed the 1945 national savings goal at 60 billion yen, a 15 per cent increase over last year’s quota.
15th February 1945
February 15, 1945
The Asahi warned that “we must expect the danger of the enemy fleet invading the coastal waters of our mainland with separate campaign objectives.” A
16th February 1945
February 16, 1945
An early alarm routed us out of bed. There were no planes overhead but the Japanese radio said that an American task force was attacking
17th February 1945
February 17, 1945
The air-raid alert is still on. Sights on the way to the embassy: schoolgirls in their quilted hoods giggling as they sunned themselves on the
18th February 1945
February 18, 1945
An invitation from a Japanese afforded us a glimpse of home life in wartime Japan. We never could have found the place by ourselves so
19th February 1945
February 19, 1945
The task force around Tokyo has definitely “sought refuge” in parts unknown, according to the vernaculars, and the Japanese staff finally showed up today at the
20th February 1945
February 20, 1945
The following story sounds a little fantastic but anyway it seems that when a Tokyo streetcar passed in front of the imperial palace and the
21st February 1945
February 21, 1945
One of the Filipinos in Tokyo, who has been whiling away his spare time working out a Tagalog translation of Kathleen Norris’ “Mother”, was questioned
22nd of February 1945
February 22, 1945
After all the build-up of Hirose as chief secretary of the Koiso cabinet, he has now been shuffled out. Yesterday the government underwent another reorganization
23rd February 1945
February 23, 1945
One of our interpreters, excusing himself for a day’s absence, said that the heavy snowfall had tied up the local line at his neighborhood for
24th February 1945
February 25, 1945
“The fighting situation is becoming ever more fierce,” warns the Tokyo Shimbun today. “The enemy has landed on Yiojimu, which may be said to be
25th February 1945
February 25, 1945
We were just leaving the apartment to go to Mass when the alert sounded. We decided to risk it but we had not even arrived
26th February 1945
February 26, 1945
Having slept through several alerts and alarms we woke up to find the apartment and the neighborhood without water, electricity or gas. Our own apartment
27th February 1945
February 27, 1945
Our neighbor the factory owner was down in the mouth today. His downtown office was burned down in the last raid. Three caretakers were supposed
28th February 1945
February 28, 1945
A Japanese told me today how many of his countrymen keep themselves tolerably warm in these days of rationed charcoal, gas, and electricity. They take
1st March 1945
March 1, 1945
When I went for a haircut to my neighborhood barbershop I found it turned into an improvised office of the local neighborhood association. A bomb
2nd March 1945
March 2, 1945
The wife of a Japanese diplomat complained to us that she had received orders to have her beloved police-dog killed. It seems all dogs in
3rd March 1945
March 3, 1945
I heard today of a contract of lease that indicates how even one year ago there were those who could read the signs of the