The CIA and Walt Disney Co. were used to persuade the Japan public into accepting nuclear power

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-21/tepco-deal-with-devil-signals-end-to-japan-s-postwar-era.html

Tepco ‘Deal With Devil’ Signals End to Japan’s Postwar Era

October 21, 2011, 11:02 AM EDT

<snip>CIA Involvement

Still, officials in both the U.S. and Japan had to work on persuading the public that nuclear technology could have a civilian use. Nuclear supporters in Japan were helped by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, says Tetsuo Arima, a professor of media studies at Tokyo’s Waseda University who studied declassified documents on postwar relations between the two countries in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration to establish the link.

Among the CIA’s Japanese allies in the propaganda effort was Matsutaro Shoriki, owner of the Yomiuri newspaper and Nippon Television, Japan’s first commercial TV station. The newspaper -- now the world’s biggest with 10 million copies published daily -- wrote a series of pro-nuclear articles from Jan. 1954 viewed by the U.S. government as a success, according to the book “Nuclear Power, Shoriki and the CIA,” written by Arima and published in 2008.

Walt Disney

The Walt Disney Co. was also roped into the effort. The 1957 cartoon “Our Friend, The Atom,” released as part of the company’s Tomorrowland project and depicting the positive benefits of a world harnessing atomic energy, was run on Shoriki’s TV channel, Arima wrote.

The Yomiuri newspaper declined to comment on Arima’s book when contacted by Bloomberg. Arima also declined to comment on whether the newspaper had responded to his book.

[Mnemosyne]

1. I was born in 1958, but am sure I've seen it. Thanks!

Very interesting, though not surprising, bit of propaganda history.

[bananas]

2. k&r nt