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In Love With Your Enemy: Censored Western Songs from Wartime Japan is a selection of music I compiled several years ago after finding a list of Western songs banned by the Imperial Japanese government during the second world war. I found the list in the February 3rd 1943 issue of "Shashin Shuho", a weekly national magazine edited and published by the Cabinet Intelligence Department of Japan (basically a propaganda tool). Many of these songs had been covered by Japanese musicians and loved by Japanese audiences in the 1930s. They are sung in Japanese, but I am sure American listeners will recognize their familiar melodies.

These Japanese covers of the Western songs have often made me think about how people can refuse to dehumanize/demonize others who are strange, foreign, even enemies. I feel it's a theme that's more relevant now than ever, not just for one particular "side", but for all of us to reflect on.

So I am revisiting these songs on the radio as a special Giving Tuesday program on WGXC 90.7FM. This note may sound serious, but the songs are full of joy. Which is exactly why the Empire banned them, so I am sure you will enjoy them too. So please tune in, and help us raise enough money to keep our radio programming going for another year."

-- Mayuko Fujino

Mayuko Fujino is a host of "Beakuency", a bird-themed radio program that invites the local community to be inspired by the joy, beauty, and wisdom bird enthusiasts find in the nature of our neighborhoods. Every episode features an interview with local bird people, plus a freeform mix of sound made by birds and humans inspired by birds. For more information, please visit: beakuency.substack.com.