INTRODUCTION:

Hey there Frauleins and Browlines and thanks for tuning in to The World is My Burrito where I take a pop culture topic of my choice, unwrap it, review the ingredients for your tasting pleasure then wrap it up, pack it in. Now, lettuce begin. 

As always I am your host, Kory Torjussen and today I’m comin’ at you with Episode 5, continuing our Trail of Tezuka by covering one-fifth of Message to Adolf, a spy thriller, dramatized historical fiction which takes place in Germany and Japan in the 1930s and explores racism, coming of age, war, and more.

HOUSEKEEPING:

But first! Sorry it’s taken so long to get a new episode out. Had several unexpected projects come up, then spent a week and a half out of town, only to return immediately to work. But! I finally took the time to finish this and have accepted my crushing defeat beneath my workload. 

Due to unexpected circumstances this is going to be at least 2-parts. When I bought this book there was nothing to indicate it was 1 of 5 volumes until I reached the final page. Oh well. 

Let’s get to some important toppings. Like which day and age to put your brain

WORLD HISTORY:

and begins in the middle of the Olympics held in Berlin. There was plenty of racism to go around. This Olympic games was Hitler’s jumping off point to advertise Nazism (naatsizm), racial supremacy, and antisemitism. Because why make the meeting an e-mail when you can make it a sport? 

This story takes place just before WWII and sees it beyond its end. Today I’m going to focus on: the Jewish occupation of and immigration to Japan, as well as the Japanese view of Jews.

Jews began coming to Japan in the 1860s, back when Japan was open to trade. So port cities like Kobe (Kobe is going to be important to our story, Yokohama and others attracted Jewish Businessmen. In 1912 Kobe got its first Synagogue, creating a meager but firm establishment. The great Kanto earthquake comes around in 1923 and absolutely trashes much of Japan, notably port cities - where the Jews happened to reside. Kobe with it’s synagogue still standing, became a beacon for the Jewish population. The natives already liked their foreign residents and welcomed their new neighbors. 

Before WWII, Kobe offered Jews an escape from German oppression. Japan having so many ports also meant Jews could get even further if needed. Once WWII got into full swing, it became a haven for thousands of Jews and even established a second synagogue.

On to the Japanese impression of the Jews: While nothing I read contradicts anything else, anti-semitism in Japan seems to exist in weird bubbles controlled by local leaders or based upon what the Japanese thought the Jews could do for them in that exact moment. No matter the resource, there would be a paragraph about disliking Jews immediately followed by some type of pro-Jew policy or example of how they immensely helped the jews. The Japanese were REAL good at being systematically racist towards other Asians, so there was either some confusion or laziness when it came to hating Jews. Nothing ever reached the intensity of Ze Germans. 

So, Why would the Japanese like the Jews? Well, in 1904 when Japan was fighting Russia for territory in Asia in the Russo-Japanese War, they needed financial help. Many countries turned them down because they didn’t believe Japan could win. A Jewish banker in New York named Jacob Schiff saw an opportunity and loaned them the money needed. Against all odds, they won! The Japanese people figured Jews weren’t half bad.

There were even politicians who stuck it to the man by giving thousands of Jews visas just so they could escape oppression.

In a grey area and covering no distinct time period, some leaders thought Japan could benefit from Jewish economic and political power by just letting more Jews immigrate to Japan. Jews worldwide were still known to have power. Maybe if we attract immigrants, their people will want to invest more in Japan. Now as this lead into early WWII, another angle was that maybe the US would think this was pretty cool and not hold anything against Japan. 

Why wouldn’t the Japanese like the Jews? In short: you can’t side with German politics in the 30s-40s without being subjected to anti-Semitism. Japanese officials were inclined to become more anti-semitic when Japan signed the Anti-COMINTERN pact with Germany in August of ‘36; a pledge that Japan was against the Communist movement. In 1940 they signed the Tripartite Treaty, which further entwined Japan, Germany, and Italy. Neither of these are anti-semitic in nature but it’s hard to snuggle with Germany in bed without inevitably disliking the Jews.

In 1917 the Bolshevik Revolution happened. For some time following there was an international campaign saying Jews were at the core of that revolution. exploded in Japan as many blamed the Jews for being the nature of the revolution.

Well the Japanese had a decades-long fear shared by diplomats and civilians that any race with any type of established foreign political power could attempt a coup or Revolution and you can see where some Japanese could be persuaded to hate Jews. Pair this with the Japanese welcoming Jews in with the hope of profiting and you have some real confusing agendas. 

In 1937, Japanese diplomats in Paris wrote home and partially blamed Jews for supplying China with arms to fight back against the Japanese invasion. Apparently only Japan could play both sides, not the Jews.

It’s fascinating that, even though the Japanese were sided with Germany before and during WWII, they not only didn’t succumb to anti-semitism on a national level, but had whole communities for the Jews. The Japanese political infrastructure also didn’t allow German officials to oppress Jews.

It should be noted that the Japanese were not too keen on the whole Holocaust thing.  Japan was actually considered a safe haven from the Holocaust. It’s like the Germans came in saying, “Listen, ve have zis great plan for ze jews ja? Ve round zem up at aaaa summer camp vits a variety of community games! Afterwards zey are all tuckered out und sleep in a pile on ze lawn” and the Japanese were like “.... naaaaahhhhhh”. 

Another note on the negative: the Japanese didn’t seem to care much about what the Germans did to the Jews in Japan-occupied Shanghai. Again, super specific bubbles of racism or just lack of concern

Hokay, now 

POP CULTURE HISTORY:

“Message to Adolf” or “アドルフに告ぐ is a historical fiction that was serialized in Shukan Bunshun from January 6, 1983 - May 30, 1985

It is considered Tezuka’s final completed work as he died just under 4 years later. 

For this episode and only this episode I’m reading from volume 1 of 5 published in 1995 by Cadence Books Graphic Novel. Cadence is a trademark of VIZ Media, a name which should ring a bell. It’s 252 pages of content including chapter pages and has a nice 4 page intro by Fredrick L. Schodt. For whatever reason, they took liberties to rename the series Adolf, with each volume having a subtitle. This volume is subtitled: A Tale of the Twentieth Century.

This was also printed left to right American style, so the entire volume is flipped, meaning things like nazi Salutes are backwards.

Tezuka was a pacifist and did not like war. He was a peaceful kid to begin with, had shit experiences during the war, and as a teenager was even assaulted by US troops after the war was over. However, he wasn’t too shy about exploring these and other adult themes as this volume shows things like rape and light torture.

HOT TAKE:

Let’s crack open this jar of salsa because here’s my hot take:

This was a fun read. It’s fairly fast paced, intelligently jumps around some timelines while kinda forgetting about others, has an engaging story that kinda takes you on an introductory tour of the time and mindset, and provides a mostly believable setting. Introductory is a good word, because it’s not heavy with racism but I feel like that’s gonna come soon enough. There is yet another very awkward and sex scene. As with all things serialized, there are pacing issues.

Take that aluminum hat off your head and wrap it around this burrito if you don’t want it spoiled, because we’s about to dive in. You are fortunate though because there’s no way I can get specific on everything, leaving you with plenty of tiny nuggets of unspoiled story.

SYNOPSIS:

This book is two stories, split right down the middle. There’s a lot to cover and I’m gonna try to make it quick-like

The first half of the book follows a man named Sohei Togei, a somewhat well-known Japanese Journalist within the story. He’s several days into covering the Berlin Olympics when he gets a nervous call from his brother, Isao, who needs to see him the following day at a specific time to tell Sohei something very important that could lead to the downfall of the budding Nazi regime. 

The agreed upon time arrives and passes before Sohei is able to leave his position. He arrives late to an apartment in complete shambles but no brother. While looking around he notices something in the tree below his brother’s window…. Guess what? It’s his brother! 

The police arrive, remove the body, then tell Sohei where to meet. This is where the meat starts: Sohei goes to the station but they have no idea about any dead Japanese being found. A quick return to Sohei’s apartment finds him face-to-face with an entire family who have apparently been living there for several years. Through a listing in the local paper Sohei gets a tip about his brother’s whereabouts as well as a surprise visit from a mysterious woman named Rosa who has ties to the brother. 

Through his detective work he ends up finding his brother’s body, getting tortured by the Nazi party, working alongside Rosa who is a member of the Nazi party and claims that Isao, the brother, was a communist, attending a Nazi rally where Hitler speaks, visits a high ranking Nazi official’s house where he partially figures out why his brother was murdered, then discovers Rosa was the reason his brother ended up dead and he ended up tortured. He knocks her around a bit, gets more backstory about why she betrayed Isao, then for whatever reason, Sohei ends up sleeping with her, then runs off to Japan. As he leaves her building, she yeets herself out of the 4th story window. End chapter.

This is where the main story splits but I’m gonna insert a connecting story:

Six months prior to Sohei’s visit to Berlin, he was called to cover a murder a fictional Mt. Goten in Hyogo prefecture. There was a very popular Geisha named Kinuko who was found murdered by strangulation. She worked at an Inn in Arima and was popular among visiting officials and businessmen.

Next story:

We are now in the city of Kobe in Hyogo prefecture. A very small, young white kid is being chased and harassed by some Japanese. Another, older white kid jumps in to defend his junior. He gets the tar beat out of him but the older kids decide to leave when he refuses to cry or show any sign of being beaten. The older is named Adolf, a Jew who attends a Japanese school. The younger is…. Adolf, a German/Japanese mix who attends a Christian school with other German kids.

We end up learning that the Jewish Adolf is in Kobe to hide from oppression while the German Adolf’s father is a local diplomat. Mr. Kaufmann doesn’t want his son hanging with a Jew because duh. 

But of course that only helps these two bond.

Right after those two meet, we’re taken into the Kaufmann home where two Japanese detectives are waiting to interview the man of the house about a visit to an inn in Arima 6 months ago…. Hmmmmmm…. They mention Kinuko by name, but Kaufmann passes it off by saying he not only wasn’t there at that time, but that when he is, it’s to bring visiting high-ranking German officials.The detectives don’t buy it but get themselves kicked out. There’s nothing small-town officials can do to a German representative without concrete evidence.

Shortly after that meeting Kaufman’s his wife confesses that, some time ago, Kinuko called saying she couldn’t give something to him. Then said to forget about it and hung up. 

Through the remainder of the story on the boys’ end we’re taken on a 3-year trip through some young racism, a plot about the boys learning of documents proving that Hitler was a Jew existing somewhere in Japan, and includes the family drama that follows from parents learning they know this. Their story ends with Adolf Kaufmann being forcefully taken to Germany to join the Hitler Youth while Adolf Kamil remains in Japan

On the parents end, Mr. Kaufmann is in some shit because he didn’t intercept these same documents and because he definitely murdered that chick and the detectives and German consulate know it. Once he learns that his son knows of these Hitler Birthright he furiously tries to discover their whereabouts. Of course this leads him to terrorizing the local Jews his kid’s been colluding with. Japan gets some crazy bad weather like it do, which inevitably leads to Kaufman’s hospitalization and death. 

That is the end of Volume 1. Sohei and The families of the two Adolfs are left wide open.

LIKES:

Acetylene Lamp, who I mentioned in the Metropolis Anime episode, is the main Nazi face in Sohei’s story, and he’s finally playing the role he was mainly given: a malevolent villain. Not just a side character or a joke.

Hitler is only on 1-2 page in this volume but I really enjoy how he’s flavoured. He is the single most absurdly expressive character.

I’m pretty sure this is bloodier than Dororo. It wants you to think war is dumb and unnecesarily violent. It’s a nice change in pace.

Dislikes:

The sex scene. Part of my struggle with writing this episode was figuring out how to write this as well as time spent better understanding it. Though there is nothing concrete, its existence can be better understood by time and genre. It does have noir tones, so for the sake of shock value the random sex scene could have been to satiate that trope. And at this point in the 80s, James Bond was still hella popular and our protagonist is a journalist with detective tendencies. The existence of this scene could just be Tezuka feeling the need to write a shocking moment but not knowing how. 

If I were to posit something else: Rosa was Isao’s lover. With Sohei’s love for his brother and Rosa’s love for Isao cut short, maybe this scene was like a final goodbye. Rosa has now found some respite in life after betraying the person she cared for and the person that person cared for. Maybe this was both an apology and one final act of enjoying life before sealing her fate by committing suicide.

The Macguffin. As previously stated, Hitler was already accused of being a jew 3 years before this was set and 50 years before it was written. Also as stated, there have been studies since 1933. For such a dramatic story that I feel is pretty well organized in this volume, it’s both interesting and sad that such a thin thread connects them. On a logical level: For someone who participated in war he would understand that radicalism doesn’t usually care about evidence or truth once that ball gets rolling. Hitler could’ve thrown a Bar Mitzvah and nobody would’ve batted an eye.

On timelines, it’s difficult to tell the boys ages, so near the end when we’re told these two characters have been friends for 3 years now it’s kind of unsettling. They don’t look that different and I don’t recall any other noted time changes.

Negative reviews:

As always I checked out the ratings on Goodreads. The only 1-star review complained about historical inaccuracies. This book is listed as historical fiction. It’s not anyone’s fault you’re an idiot except yourself. One of the 2-star reviews was upset that the hitler salute, as well as a stated action in the book, were done with the wrong arm. This printing was flipped to be read from left to right, not the traditional manga way of right to left. Seems weird that they noticed it was inaccurate with surgeon-like precision but never bothered to look up why.

Several of the low reviews read like many people thought this was the end of the entire story even though it says on the last page that the story is continued. 

ACCOLADES AND TRIVIA:

Adolf won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1986 for general manga

Thought I’d heard that Adolf was very popular at one point in time, but from what I’ve found it really wasn’t. It peaked at around 1880 and was beaten out by such greats as Karl, Gunther, and Heinz even during Hitler’s rise to power.

Was Hitler Jewish?

Though there was some talk about this in 1933, Hitler was not Jewish. Spit testing was done on 39 of his family members and some did contain a rare chromosome called Haplogroup E1b1b1 that CAN be found in Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews among others but, in the end: still not a jew.

RECOMMENDED READING:

This was so interesting because it was like a Pendulum swinging in both directions at once.

I present the history because it’s fascinating to me, but always encourage you listeners to check it out on your own time because there’s always more to cover and it’s very possible I will miss something. 

Check out the Jewish Community Alliance website. They have a ton of info on the 

The foreward has nothing to do with this story but is written by Fredrick L. Schodt. If you liked it, if you’re a fan of Tezuka, or if you’re interested in the rise of cultural change in Japan brought about by robots, you should honestly check this guy’s work out. He’s partially the reason why I’m doing all of this.

Updates and shameless plugs:

This may have taken forever but I’ve still been submitting to Podcasters Assemble in their KongZillaThon.

I’m still trying to find the balance for this podcast and regular life. Problems assembling this episode and life in general kept me much further away from new content than I wanted. Personally, I need to find guaranteed shorter outlets.