[1] Devin Gordon, “Horror Show,” Newsweek (April 3, 2006), 61.

[2] Ibid., 61.

[3] David Edelstein, “Now Playing at Your Local Multiplex: Torture Porn—Why has America gone nuts for blood, guts, and sadism?” New York Movies (February 6, 2006) (accessed June 1, 2006).

[4] See selections from memoirs by people who participated in the movement and gathered to mourn Kobayashi Takiji in the Kobayashi Takiji Collection (Kobayashi Takijisho, by the Proletarian Literature and Arts Research League (Puroretaria bungaku-geijutsu kenkyu renmei), (February 20, 1999) (accessed May 20, 2006).

[5] From “US: Government creating ‘climate of torture’ “(May 3, 2006)

[6] Alfred W. McCoy, The Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror (Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company: New York, 2006), p. 7.

[7] Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 2003), 7. The phrase “moral monsters” is hers: “Not to be pained by these pictures [of war destruction], not to recoil from them, not to strive to abolish what causes this havoc, this carnage—these, for Woolf, would be the reactions of a moral monster.” P. 8.

[8] Louise Young, Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism (University of California Press, 1998), 57-58.

[9] Ibid., 74.

[10] Toby Keith, Unleashed (2002). Lyrics from his official website: (accessed August 1, 2006).

[11] Compare Alan Jackson's “Where were you when the world stopped turning?”: “I'm just a singer of simple songs / I'm not a real political man / I watch CNN but I'm not sure I could / Tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran.” Drive (2002). (accessed July 1, 2006).

[12] Kobayashi Takiji, “March 15, 1928,” translation is mine. Online Japanese version available at Shirakaba bungakukan, Takiji Laiburarii, This line is also cited in Norma Field's essay on “March 15:” “‘1928nen 3gatsu 15nichi’: Gomon kakumei nichijosei” ([“March 15, 1928”: Torture, revolution, and everydayness] in Gendai Shiso bukku gaido Kojiki kara Maruyama Masao made tokubetsu rinji zokan go [Revue de la pensée d'aujourd'hui; special issue, book guide from the Kojiki to Maruyama Masao]; June, 2005)

[13] Elise Tipton, Japanese Police State: Tokko in Interwar Japan (University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu, 1990), p. 23.

[14] Richard Mitchell, Thought Control in Prewar Japan (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976), p. 142, Table 1. Source: Higuchi Masara, “Sayoku Zensorekisha no Tenko Mondai ni Tsuite,” 3-5.

[15] translation based on Justin Jesty's translation, forthcoming in Literature for Revolution: An Anthology of Japanese Proletarian Writings, edited by Heather Bowen- Struyk and Norma Field

[16] translation by Justin Jesty

[17] “Spring 1932” was published in a truncated form in Kaizo in August 1932, and in a fuller form in Proletarian Literature in January and February 1933; “Moment by Moment” was rejected for publication by Chuo koron because of its content was not published until 1951, after Yuriko's death and the end of the US Occupation. Eguchi Kan, “‘Spring 1932’ and ‘Moment by Moment’ “(“1932 no haru” and “Kokkoku”), Miyamoto Yuriko: Sakuhin to Shogai (Miyamoto Yuriko: Her Works and Life), (Shinnihon shuppansha: Tokyo, 1976), p. 146.

[18] In December 1931, a cultural arts federation was formed: KOPF (Nihon Puroretaria Bunka Renmei, or Federacio de Proletaj Kultur-organizoj Japanaj). KOPF was a confederation of thirteen proletarian cultural groups like prokino (proletarian cinema), profoto, the music league, the writer's league, etc. KOPF published populist proletarian journals like Proletarian Culture, Working Woman, The Friend of the Masses, and Little Comrade. Eguchi, p. 148

[19] “Spring 1932,” available online p. 20 (of print-out)

[20] Those arrested included Miyamoto Yuriko, Konno Dairiki, Nakano Shigeharu, Kubokawa Tsurujiro, Tsuboi Shigeji and others; later Kurahara Korehito was arrested. Miyamoto Kenji and Kobayashi Takiji managed to escape and go underground. (Eguchi, 146; all names but Konno's)

[21] Eguchi, p. 150.

[22] Eguchi, p. 149.

[23] Richard Mitchell, Though Control in Prewar Japan (Cornell University Press: New York, 1976).

[24] Elise Tipton, Japanese Police State: Tokko in Interwar Japan (University of Hawai'i Press: Honolulu, 1991), p. 25-26.

[25] Richard Kim, “Pop Torture,” The Nation (December 10, 2005), republished on The Huffington Post (accessed September 9, 2006).

[26] Matt Feeney, “Torture Chamber: Fox's 24 terrifies viewers into believing its bizarre and convoluted plot twists,” Slate (January 6, 2004) (accessed September 9, 2006).

[27] “We were writing the fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes when 9/11 happened, and the first show hadn't even aired yet. Now, there was an explicit impact on that first show because it ends up with a plane being blown up. That obviously was very close to the bone, but it was also essential to the plot. So, it was recut to be less violent and visceral.” Michael Loceff, from interview with James Surowieki in “The Worst Day Ever: a 24 Writer Talks about Torture, Terrorism, and Fudging ‘Real Time,’ “Slate (January 17, 2006) And it's not the only time the writers anticipated real life: in season three, the evidence of nuclear weapons by three unspecified countries nearly leads the U.S. to war, except that in 24, the forgery is discovered in time and war is averted.

[28] “Cheney Roars Back: The Nightline Interview during his trip to Iraq,” Interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, ABC News (Dec. 18, 2005).

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Deborah Pearlstein, “Reconciling Torture with Democracy,” The Torture Debate in America, edited by Karen J. Greenberg (Cambridge University Press, New York, 2006) (253-54).

[32] Heather MacDonald, “How to Interrogate Terrorists,” The Torture Debate in America (94-95)

[33] Available.

[34] interrogation: interviews with a point, “The Worst Day Ever: A 24 writer talks about torture, terrorism, and fudging ‘real time.’ “By James Surowiecki, (January 17, 2006)

[35] Richard Kim, “Pop Torture,” The Huffington Post (Originally posted on The Nation), (12.10.2005)

[36] Alfred W. McCoy, The Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror (Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company: New York, 2006), 5. In June 2006, allegations surfaced describing an immense global collusion: “More than 20 mostly European countries colluded in a ‘global spider's web’ of secret CIA jails and flight transfers of terrorist suspects stretching from Asia to Guantánamo Bay, a rights watchdog said on Wednesday [June 7, 2006].” Jon Boyle, “Europe colluded with CIA over prisoners: watchdog,” (accessed August 1, 2006). In November 2005, The Washington Post reported on the network of secret prisons: “CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons: Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11.” Dana Priest, The Washington Post (November 2, 2005) (accessed August 1, 2006).