1) 'Far East Digest' does not exist as a publication in Hong Kong in the pre-WWII period - if someone can prove me wrong I'd love to hear it
2) In the 1941 Jurors List - 'Far East Digest' vanishes completely from the list. Suddenly a person named Ogura - again a Journalist in HK - is now working for 'Hong Kong News' in 1941
3) O.G. Ogura worked for 'Domei News Agency' and 'Hong Kong News' - both Japanese propaganda newspapers .
I can only conclude that 'Far East Digest' was in fact a euphemism for 'Domei News Agency'
I had assumed that the Far East Digest was the publication of that name issued by an NGO called the Institute of Pacific Affairs. However, a search of the SCMP archive fails to come up with any pre-war mentions of that title, and a search on the broader Proquest platform reveals that the first issue of the Pacific Institute's Far East Digest was in 1947.
This of course supports your suggestion that the Ogura in the 1940 Jurors List really worked for Domei.
My search revealed something else: Ogura did not in fact die in 1945 as Harry Ching (and I think others) believed. In 1947 the American journalist Gwen Dew, who knew Ogura before the war and at the start of the occupation, visited Japan, where she met him. She stated that he was now foreign news editor of the Kyodo Agency, the successor of the Domei (SCMP, June 24, 1947, p. 6).
Thanks for being my second pair of eyes. Interesting about Ogura continuing to work in Domei's next guise post-WWII - so he did not die in 1945 after all - that is news to me. Gwen Dew's 'Prisoner of the Japs' (1943) references Ogura many times in her book (no less than 17 times) - and despite knowing him and having met him several times, does not mention his first name but is always named as "Mr Ogura".
Here is food for thought. Look who else was in the 1940 Jurors List working for the fictional 'Far East Digest':
1940 Jurors List
c
Drake, Darell
Journalist, Far East Digest
6 King's Terrace, Kowloon.
c
Ogura, Hirokatu
Journalist, Far East Digest
7A Bowen Road.
c
Sai, Enretsu
Journalist, Far East Digest
7A Bowen Road.
c
Sato, Takeshi
Journalist, Far East Digest
7A Bowen Road.
Three Japanese....and purported to live at the same address.
I love how all 4 of them agree on the use of the exact same nomenclature for a publication that does not exist. They clearly knew and worked with each other.
You can see how the evidence strongly points to Far East Digest as actually being Domei.
Plus 'Gord' is not a Japanese name. Unless it is a typo error.
And going back to my question to you in 2020 regarding the BAAG list of members working under Selwyn-Clarke - do you still have the source or the list? I'd like to identify 'Drake' - was it Darell or Prof F.S. Drake? Because if it was the former, this is really interesting on a whole new level due to his close proximity with Domei.
Comments
E.G. Ogura
E.G. Ogura, editor of the Hong Kong News and also head of the Domei News Agency Bureau in Hong Kong
1941 Jurors List
Far East Digest
1940 Jurors List
Is this the same person?
1) 'Far East Digest' does not exist as a publication in Hong Kong in the pre-WWII period - if someone can prove me wrong I'd love to hear it
2) In the 1941 Jurors List - 'Far East Digest' vanishes completely from the list. Suddenly a person named Ogura - again a Journalist in HK - is now working for 'Hong Kong News' in 1941
3) O.G. Ogura worked for 'Domei News Agency' and 'Hong Kong News' - both Japanese propaganda newspapers .
I can only conclude that 'Far East Digest' was in fact a euphemism for 'Domei News Agency'
Far East Digest
David: very interesting question.
I had assumed that the Far East Digest was the publication of that name issued by an NGO called the Institute of Pacific Affairs. However, a search of the SCMP archive fails to come up with any pre-war mentions of that title, and a search on the broader Proquest platform reveals that the first issue of the Pacific Institute's Far East Digest was in 1947.
This of course supports your suggestion that the Ogura in the 1940 Jurors List really worked for Domei.
My search revealed something else: Ogura did not in fact die in 1945 as Harry Ching (and I think others) believed. In 1947 the American journalist Gwen Dew, who knew Ogura before the war and at the start of the occupation, visited Japan, where she met him. She stated that he was now foreign news editor of the Kyodo Agency, the successor of the Domei (SCMP, June 24, 1947, p. 6).
Hi Brian Thanks for being…
Hi Brian
Thanks for being my second pair of eyes. Interesting about Ogura continuing to work in Domei's next guise post-WWII - so he did not die in 1945 after all - that is news to me. Gwen Dew's 'Prisoner of the Japs' (1943) references Ogura many times in her book (no less than 17 times) - and despite knowing him and having met him several times, does not mention his first name but is always named as "Mr Ogura".
Here is food for thought. Look who else was in the 1940 Jurors List working for the fictional 'Far East Digest':
1940 Jurors List
Three Japanese....and purported to live at the same address.
And British Darell Drake who you know worked for Domei News Agency as stated by yourself.
I love how all 4 of them agree on the use of the exact same nomenclature for a publication that does not exist. They clearly knew and worked with each other.
You can see how the evidence strongly points to Far East Digest as actually being Domei.
Plus 'Gord' is not a Japanese name. Unless it is a typo error.
And going back to my question to you in 2020 regarding the BAAG list of members working under Selwyn-Clarke - do you still have the source or the list? I'd like to identify 'Drake' - was it Darell or Prof F.S. Drake? Because if it was the former, this is really interesting on a whole new level due to his close proximity with Domei.