Staging and Recognizing “Reconstruction”: “Tourism” and the Gaze of “America” in the Japanese Occupation Period

Abstract

This paper considers the character of “reconstruction” in post-war Japan through an investigation of the relationship between Japanese people's national identity and the gaze of “America” by analyzing the process and content of Japanese tours for American tourists in 1947–48. I construct a hypothesis that recognition from the “West” and “America” has been important for modern Japan. The tours were conducted for the purpose of “reconstruction” and were organized in order to give tourists the impression that “Japan had already been reconstructed.” I conclude that the tourist industry in the Japanese occupation period was an actor that tried to achieve “symbolic reconstruction” by gaining recognition from the gaze of “America”.