Information AboutTokko |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT TOKKO | |
| law enforcement in japan | |
| empire of japan | |
| organizations based in japan | |
| national security | |
| political repression | |
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The "Tokko" (特高 ''Tokkō''), '''Tokubetsu Koto Keisatsu''' (特別高等警察 ''Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu''; Special Higher Police) was a Police Force established in 1901 in Japan . Their main function was as a civilian counter-part to the military's Kempeitai , targeting any dissenters from Imperial rule and Japanese expansionism. The Tokko was comprised of six departments (Special Police Work, Foreign Surveillance, Koreans in Japan, Labor Relations, Censorship, Arbitration) and had overseas offices in Shanghai , London and Berlin . It took on Secret Police aspects. The Tokko investigated a large number of internal "problems" including Japanese listening to foreign music or reading foreign books, communists, pacifists and those not showing proper respect to the Emperor. In 1927, a sub-bureau was added, the Thought Section Of The Criminal Affairs Bureau , to deal with these subversive actions. Later, a linked network of informants (the '' Tonarigumi '' or Neighborhood Associations) was established in every building, on every street and on every block. By 1936, the Tokko had arrested 59,013 people, bringing 5000 to trial; about half of those received prison sentences. Prisoners were forced to write accounts of how they had become involved with "dangerous thoughts," rewriting these essays until their interrogators were happy with the work. These works then were used to prove their criminal involvement. Responsibilities included those similar to those of the German '' Forschungsamt '' monitoring external telephone and radio communications inside or outside japan and nearest areas. Also, in facing down political opposition in metropolitan areas, "himitsu kessha" (秘密結社, Secret Society ) members were sometimes used. At the end of the Pacific War it worked with other political and national security on the measures taken against invasion. |
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