This paper explores the image of Japan represented in the Japanese films screened at the New York World’s Fair, 1939, during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
In Japan the exposition committee members were responsible for the export of an image of Japan, aimed at American and European citizens, that would make them recognize “Japan” through uncritically positive imagery.
For the respective purpose of “International Friendship” and “Attracting Tourists,” the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai (International Association of Cultural Promotion) and the Japan Tourist Bureau produced films introducing Japanese culture. The content was “Good, old Japan” that dealt with aspects of traditional Japanese culture and traditional industries, as well as the “New Japan” that dealt with Japan’s Westernized urban life and modern industries. These two images of Japan reflected the interests and the desires of European and American people toward the Japan of those days. In these films, the dark side of Japan was thoroughly excluded; that is, its weakness, poverty, and the darker aspects of wartime Japan.
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