Tokio Jokio

Tokio Jokio is a 1943 Looney Tunes anti-Japanese propaganda short directed by Norman McCabe.

The film pretends to be a newsreel from Japanese cinema that was captured by American troops during World War II.

In reality, each segment contains often racist satirical content to depict the Japanese and their Axis allies as incompetent, pathetic, self-destructive failures.

A listening post is also shown in the following scene, showing a small Japanese man walking around a pole covered in keyholes.

As he is making an announcement, the hole closes on his lips, which then fall to the ground and are revealed to be false teeth with the label "Made in Japan".

When the card is removed, there is an opened door and inside the room is an electric chair, and Chopin's Marche funèbre is quoted.

The scene fades and the narrator explains how General Homma demonstrates "Japanese coolness and calmness during air raid attacks".

Next a hand is seen holding a post-card, and the song O du lieber Augustin (due to the association with Germany) plays.

The next scene shows that the other hand is that of Adolf Hitler who then twitches his mustache in confusion (in a similar manner to Charlie Chaplin).

From Rome, the "celebrated" Roman ruins are shown as Largo al factotum is quoted (hence the association with Italy).

Benito Mussolini is sitting on the pillar labelled as "Ruin #1" as he plays with a yo-yo with a sad expression on his face.

A group of Japanese sailors are then seen using what the narrator calls "intricate and technical machinery", but are actually various arcade machines.

A plane is shot in the air with what is stated to be a "super-duper cataproat device" but is in fact just a giant slingshot, or "catapult".

Tokio Jokio is one of the 122 Warner Bros. animated shorts identified as having not had its copyright renewed in 1971 and is thus in the public domain in the United States.