ABSTRACT
Often overlooked in the study of the Cold War in East Asia is the creation of a pro-Soviet information regime within Japan, especially among left-leaning sympathizers with socialism and communism. In this chapter, I examine the careers of two master Soviet spies, Andrey Ivanovich Domnitsky and Sergei Leonidovich Tikhvinsky, to show how the Soviet Union manipulated Japanese politicians such as Prime Minister Hatoyama Ichirō (1883–1959) and others, as well as Japanese public opinion through pro-Soviet Japanese journalists, throughout the Cold War in order to effect policies within Japan favorable to the Soviet Union. In particular, I focus on how Domnitsky and Tikhvinsky were able to bring about the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and the Soviet Union without the return of the northern territories, a major diplomatic coup for the Soviet Union and the product of the skillful creation of a Cold War information regime.
