Talk:CIA activities in Japan/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Amanuensis Balkanicus (talk · contribs) 21:54, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

A very interesting subject indeed. At first glance this article looks well written, thorough and adequately sourced. I will get started on this review shortly. Amanuensis Balkanicus (talk) 21:54, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

These are my initial impressions of the lead and I will add more comments over the next few days:

Lead:

• The caption of the lead image should read: "Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency"
• The opening sentence could be reworded as follows: "The activities of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Japan date back to the Allied occupation of Japan." Please read the Superfluous bolding section of WP:BENOTBOLD as to why I'm suggesting not to use bold.
• Wouldn't "intelligence-gathering" be less colloquial than "intel-gathering"?
• Hattori group shouldn't be italicized. See MOS:ITALICS.
• I understand why you included the logo of the Liberal Democratic Party given its history and its relevance to the subject, but consider adding it further down in the body of the article so as not to cause clutter in the lead.

More to come later. Amanuensis Balkanicus (talk) 02:11, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

"The caption of the lead image should read: "Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency"" ✓ Done

"The opening sentence could be reworded as follows: "The activities of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Japan date back to the Allied occupation of Japan." Please read the Superfluous bolding section of WP:BENOTBOLD as to why I'm suggesting not to use bold." ✓ Done

"Wouldn't "intelligence-gathering" be less colloquial than "intel-gathering"?"✓ Done

"Hattori group shouldn't be italicized" ✓ Done

"I understand why you included the logo of the Liberal Democratic Party given its history and its relevance to the subject, but consider adding it further down in the body of the article so as not to cause clutter in the lead." ✓ Rephrased the caption as "Logo of the Liberal Democratic Party" and put it in the "interference in Japanese politics" section.

- Yokohama1989 (talk) 17:21, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

Continuing...

Background

• "The CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, maintained extensive intelligence networks in the Japanese colonial territories during the Pacific War.[15]After the signing..." Space between the inline citation and the text
• "(With Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek being perceived as unreliable and corrupt)" shouldn't be capitalized
• "under the pressure of policy-makers in the US government now focusing on the Cold War, began releasing purgees' from their civil-service blacklist and initiated the Red Purge." "Purgees" shouldn't contain a hyphen and Red Purge shouldn't be italicized.

Formation of the Kikan

• Reverse Course and White Purge shouldn't be italicized.
• Kikan, as a foreign word, should always be italicized. It currently is in some places and not in others.

Hattori Kikan

• Willoughby's Stable should not be italicized.

Project Bluebird

• Amnesia, sodium amytal and barbituates should not be capitalized.

Canon Organ

• "The Hongo House, Canon's office was on the second floor" This is a comma splice; I would suggest using a semi-colon.

Role in the Reverse Course

• Reverse Course is already linked in the article. Please de-link and de-italicize it.

Rise of Nobusuke Kishi

• Lucky Dragon Incident should not be italicized.
• "War-loving" shouldn't be capitalized.
• This culminated in Yoshida's resignation[86][85] This is missing a period.
• "This angered CIA director Allen Dulles, who threatened..." Change to: "This angered Dulles..." The article already states who Dulles was.

Promotion of Okinori Kaya

• "During his visit to the United States, Kaya met CIA Director Allen Dulles." Again, no need to state he was CIA director. The article already mentions this.

Tungsten smuggling

• "Yoshio Kodama, in a bid with the Central Intelligence Agency to enrichen himself..." enrich himself Also, just use the acronym CIA.
• Japan Lobby is already linked earlier in the article. Please de-link it.

Propaganda activities in Japan

• Redundant section title: The article is about the CIA's activities in Japan so it stands to reason that the propaganda activities would also be in Japan.
• The agency was involved in a multi decade campaign..." Multi-decade.
• One of the CIA's greatest media assets was Japanese media Moghul..." Spelled mogul, also shouldn't be capitalized.
• The operation was endorsed and supported by the Central Intelligence Agency." Just CIA is fine since the acronym has already been established.

General comments

• I'm surprised to see no real mention of the Atsugi Air Base, which was used for U-2 flights by the agency.
• Virtually everything mentioned in the article strikes me as being activity of a pretty controversial nature by definition, so why are the Role in the Lockheed bribery affair and the Role in the cover-up of Unit-731 singled out for the Controversy section?
• When citing page numbers, a single page should be denoted as "p." whereas multiple pages should be "pp."

Overall, the article is looking good. I would just make the changes listed above. I will commence with the image review shortly. Amanuensis Balkanicus (talk) 14:17, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

• ...Space between the inline citation and the text - Done
• ....shouldn't be capitalized - Done
• "Purgees" shouldn't contain a hyphen and Red Purge shouldn't be italicized. - 'Yeah the hyphen was an accident', Done
• Reverse Course and White Purge shouldn't be italicized. - Done
• Kikan, as a foreign word, should always be italicized. It currently is in some places and not in others. - Done
• Willoughby's Stable should not be italicized. - Fixed
• Amnesia, sodium amytal and barbituates should not be capitalized. - Done
• "The Hongo House, Canon's office was on the second floor" This is a comma splice; I would suggest using a semi-colon. - Replaced comma with semicolon
• Reverse Course is already linked in the article. Please de-link and de-italicize it. - Done
• Lucky Dragon Incident should not be italicized. - It was referred to as the Lucky Dragon Incident in the text, replaced it with Romaji
• "War-loving" shouldn't be capitalized. - Fixed
• This is missing a period. - Done
• The article already states who Dulles was. - Fixed
• The article already mentions this. - Fixed
• "Yoshio Kodama, in a bid with the Central Intelligence Agency to enrichen himself..." enrich himself Also, just use the acronym CIA. - Fixed
• Japan Lobby is already linked earlier in the article. Please de-link it. - Done
• Redundant section title: The article is about the CIA's activities in Japan so it stands to reason that the propaganda activities would also be in Japan. - Changed
• The agency was involved in a multi decade campaign..." Multi-decade. - Done
• One of the CIA's greatest media assets was Japanese media Moghul..." Spelled mogul, also shouldn't be capitalized. - Fixed
• The operation was endorsed and supported by the Central Intelligence Agency." Just CIA is fine since the acronym has already been established. - Fixed
• I'm surprised to see no real mention of the Atsugi Air Base, which was used for U-2 flights by the agency. - ❌ Section was about interference in Japanese politics, though Atsugi has been the location of protests by the JCP and OPP for quite a few decades, didn't see anything referring to political intervention that the CIA was implicated in like at Henoko
• Virtually everything mentioned in the article strikes me as being activity of a pretty controversial nature by definition, so why are the Role in the Lockheed bribery affair and the Role in the cover-up of Unit-731 singled out for the Controversy section? - I was agonizing about where to put that as well, i'll put the cover up section in the occupation period. Also moved the scandal section into political interference
• When citing page numbers, a single page should be denoted as "p." whereas multiple pages should be "pp." - ❌ Not changed, too much effort for a minor technicality

- Thanks, Yokohama1989 (talk) 15:48, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

• changed political interference to a subcaption under kodama, makes more sense under organized crime

- Yokohama1989 (talk) 15:49, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

@Yokohama1989: OK, image review. There are two images that raise some red flags.

• File:Nobusuke Kishi Dec 14, 1956.jpg: The permission tag says that in order for the image to be PD, it must have been photographed before January 1, 1947. However, the description states the image was taken on 14 December 1956.
• File:Seizou Arisue.png: In the description, the uploader describes the image as their own work, which almost certainly isn't the case since the image appears to have been taken at some point in the 40s. Could you please figure out what the actual origin of this image is so we can have a clearer picture of whether it is PD or not. And update the description and permissions accordingly.

Otherwise, this article is good to go. Thanks for all your effort. Amanuensis Balkanicus (talk) 14:45, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

@Amanuensis Balkanicus:

• I believe that the copyright law of Japan also grants an exception if the image is published before January 1, 1957. The image was published in December 1956.
• The JA Wikipedia page describes the image as having been taken when... "Lieutenant General Arisue when he was the second general manager of the General Staff"

Such an office was held by Arisue in "August 1942- General Staff 2nd General Manager"

I think both of the images are PD.

Thanks, Yokohama1989 (talk) 17:46, 17 July 2022 (UTC)

OK. Please amend the description and permissions of File:Seizou Arisue.png and I will pass the nomination. Nice work. Amanuensis Balkanicus (talk) 20:02, 17 July 2022 (UTC)

Done, thanks! - Yokohama1989 (talk) 21:08, 17 July 2022 (UTC)

Great, passed! Amanuensis Balkanicus (talk) 21:40, 17 July 2022 (UTC)