Kominhokokai

The Kōmin Hōkōkai (皇民奉公会, Imperial Subjects for Patriotic Services) was an organization founded on April 19, 1941, for the Japanization, or Kōminka, movement in Taiwan during the Japanese rule. The association was aimed at all island residents^[1] and its purpose was to carry out the “Kōminka movement” under the slogans "Taiwanese and Japanese as One Family" and "Mainland Japan and Taiwan as One Family" in response to the urgent international situation.^[2] Its nature was similar to that of the Association for the Support of Imperial Rule in Japan (大政翼贊會).^[3] At the same time, there was a sub-organization of IRAA called League of Mobilization [ja]^[4] in Korea, which was a Japanese colony like Taiwan.

Kōmin Hōkōkai 皇民奉公会
Leader	Kiyoshi Hasegawa
Founded	April 19, 1941 (1941-04-19)
Dissolved	June 17, 1945 (1945-06-17)
Headquarters	Government-General of Taiwan
Ideology	Statism Totalitarianism Japanization
Religion	State Shintō
National affiliation	Imperial Rule Assistance Association
Politics of Taiwan Political parties Elections

皇民奉公会
Hàn-jī	皇民奉公會
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Hông-bîn Hōng-kong-hōe
Tâi-lô	Hông-bîn Hōng-kong-huē

In January 1941, the Government-General of Taiwan decided on the name of the organization and appointed military, official, and civilian representatives to serve as the Preparatory Committee for Kōmin Hōkōka. The founding ceremony was held at the Governor General's Office on April 19 of that year.^[5]

After World War II, the Taiwan Provincial Administrative Executive Office (also known as the Chief Executive's Office) was established. The office was led by Chen Yi (陳儀), who was responsible for taking over the administrative organizations and promoting reconstruction. The Chief Executive's Office considered any involvement with the Kōmin Hōkōka to be illegal. Those who held public office were dismissed if this past involvement was revealed. After the end of the February 28 Incident in 1947, Chen Yi repeatedly pointed out that members of the Kōmin Hōkōkai were instigators behind the scenes. He cataloged and monitored individuals associated with the association, resulting in the exclusion of a large number of local talents in Taiwan from the public sector.^[6]

Scholar Hsu Hsueh-chi (許雪姬) speculated that the organization ended on June 17, 1945, leaving only the organization of the Volunteer Fighting Corps (later reorganized as the Volunteer Fighting Combat Teams).^[7]

Categories of Kōmin Hōkōkai work

The work of the Kōmin Hōkōkai is multi-faceted and can be broadly categorized into three types:

1. From top to bottom, strengthening the transmission of official information and leadership, such as issuing official publications and sending supervisors to various places for advocacy.^[8]
2. Strengthening the promotion of donations needed for devotion, labor (including conscription), materials, and funds.
3. Establish new norms for the workplace in wartime to improve efficiency.^[9]

There were two ways of propaganda by Kōmin Hōkōkai to convey the various norms of the time of war:

1. The publication of the journal 《新建設》 (lit. "New Construction") was centered on the assimilation policy, and the propaganda effect was strengthened by widely requesting readers to contribute.^[10]
2. Instructors moved to several places to carry out physical promotional activities.

See also

• Cultural assimilation
• League of Mobilization [ja], a sub-organization of the IRAA in Korea under Japanese rule.^[11]