Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Works Cited
- Note on Asian Names
- 1 Introduction: Setting the Stage
- 2 The Master of the Form: Japan at San Francisco's 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
- 3 The New China and Chinese-Americanness: China at San Francisco's 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
- 4 Performing Japan in the ‘World of Tomorrow’: Japan at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair
- 5 From ‘Panda Diplomacy’ to Acrobat Diplomacy: China at the Brisbane's Expo ‘88
- 6 Fashion, Dance, and Representing the Filipina: The Philippines at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair
- 7 Performing Modernity under Sukarno's ‘Roving Eye’: Indonesia at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair
- 8 Maximizing Affect, Minimizing Impact with Hansik: South Korea at the 2015 Milan International Exposition
- 9 Hard and Soft Power in the Thai Pavilion: The Spectral Presence of King Bhumibol at the 2015 Milan Exposition
- 10 Conclusion: The Future of Asian Self-Representation at the International Exposition
- Works Cited
- Index
4 - Performing Japan in the ‘World of Tomorrow’: Japan at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Works Cited
- Note on Asian Names
- 1 Introduction: Setting the Stage
- 2 The Master of the Form: Japan at San Francisco's 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
- 3 The New China and Chinese-Americanness: China at San Francisco's 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
- 4 Performing Japan in the ‘World of Tomorrow’: Japan at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair
- 5 From ‘Panda Diplomacy’ to Acrobat Diplomacy: China at the Brisbane's Expo ‘88
- 6 Fashion, Dance, and Representing the Filipina: The Philippines at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair
- 7 Performing Modernity under Sukarno's ‘Roving Eye’: Indonesia at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair
- 8 Maximizing Affect, Minimizing Impact with Hansik: South Korea at the 2015 Milan International Exposition
- 9 Hard and Soft Power in the Thai Pavilion: The Spectral Presence of King Bhumibol at the 2015 Milan Exposition
- 10 Conclusion: The Future of Asian Self-Representation at the International Exposition
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Abstract
As Asia and Europe raced toward another catastrophic world war, the Japanese government engaged Nippon Kōbō, its de-facto state propaganda machine, to reinforce America's love affair with all things Japanese at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair. The temple-like national pavilion set amidst an extensive garden celebrated the strong diplomatic and trade relationship between the two countries, while highlighting the ‘softer’ and more feminine side of Japan through displays featuring attractive, kimono-clad women engaged in silk production, ikebana floral arranging, and the ubiquitous ‘tea ceremony.’ The reception given to the genderbending performing arts company, Takarazuka in May, 1939, suggests Americans were unwilling to change their perception of Japan as the land of cherry blossoms and willowy maidens.
Keywords: diplomatic performance, cultural fusion, Japanese femininity
At a time when the world was once again on the verge of war, thirty-three nations came together for the 1939 New York World's Fair at a site a mere twelve miles from Midtown Manhattan, to ‘demonstrate how tools, processes and knowledge of today can create a better World of Tomorrow.’ Like the next significant New York fair, in 1964-1965, it was established and run as a fundamentally commercial operation and was held over into a second year with the hope of recouping costs and returning a profit. Centrally-positioned in this international exchange of cultures, technologies, and ideas was Japan, America's third-largest trading partner, with its enormous country pavilion, reputedly modelled after the famous Grand Shrine of Ise, serving as a performance space in which the complex relationship between the two countries was displayed and acted out. This chapter will consider how the pavilion and its exhibits, carefully stage-managed by the Japanese firm Nippon Kōbō, which by 1939 functioned as a ‘state directed propaganda organ’ (Germer 2011, pp. 4-5), as well as the performance of Japan's Takarazuka Revue on the fairgrounds, reflected how Japan projected its culture to American fairgoers. The pavilion offered multiple sites of performance, fundamentally gendered spaces that foregrounded the charm, industriousness, and artistic skills of kimono-clad women, while the Revue sought to present another, more modern vision of Japan. Thus, the story is equally about Japanese self-representation and American reception, one made more complex by the imperial government's tight control over content at a time when the country was being transformed into a war machine run by a de-facto military dictatorship.
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- Asian Self-Representation at World's Fairs , pp. 113 - 138Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2020