A Cultural History of Postwar Japan

by Shunsuke Tsurumi

  See Table

  As of 16 July 1983, the morning serialized novel Oshin has reached an unprecedented popularity rating of 58.4% (since a rating of 1% represents a million viewers, this represents 58 million viewers throughout the country). Since Oshin is the life story of one woman including the period of the Fifteen Years’ War, it is in the same dramatic mould as other Great River Drama favourites. In both Oshin and Hatoko no Umi a deserter from the Japanese Army appears in the supporting role.

  NHK Television’s morning serialized novels in the seventies were as follows:

  See Table

  64 Shiba Rytar’s works, taking as their theme the Meiji Restoration, were presented to the Japanese public in the sixties and seventies serialized in the newspapers, in book and paperback form and as television dramas:

  Moeyo Ken (Burn, Sword!)

  Junshi (Self-immolation)

  Saigetsu (Years and Months)

  Saka no Ue no Kumo (Cloud on top of the Hill)

  Tobu ga gotoku (As if Flying)

  Ryma ga Yuku (Here Goes Ryma)

  Yo ni Sumu Hibi (Days of my Life)

  Kashin (The Gods of the Flower Seeds)

  Koch no Yume (Butterfly Dream)

  65 Amano Ykichi, Santorii Sendenbu (Suntory Promotion Section) in Kza Komyunikeeshon (Series on Communication), Vol. 7, Kenkysha, 1973.

  66 Matsumoto Seich, Hansei no Ki (The Chronicle of Half a Lifetime), Shinch Bunko, 1970, enlarged ed., Kawade Shob Shinsha, 1977, first appeared in the magazine Bungei, August 1963 to January 1965). Asukai Masamichi, Matsumoto Seich no sekai (The World of Matsumoto Seich), in Taish Bunka no Sz (The Creation of Mass Culture), (Kza Komyunikeeshon [Series on Communication], Vol. 4), Kenkysha, 1973.

  67 Matsumoto Seich, Shsetsu Teigin Jiken (The Imperial Bank Incident: a novel), Bungei Shunjsha, 1959. Morikawa Tetsuro’s Gokuch Ichimannichi (Ten Thousand Days in Gaol), Tosho Shuppansha, 1979, deals with Hirasawa Sadamichi, the man who was suspected of being the criminal and was imprisoned.

  68 Tachibana Takashi, Tanaka Kakuei Kenky Zenkiroku (A Complete Register of Research on Tanaka Kakuei), 2 vols., Kdansha, 1976.

  69 Kim Dae Chung, Minsh Kykoku no Michi (The Path to Save the Democratic Nation), Shinky Shuppansha, 1980. T.K.Sei, Kankoku kara no Tsshin (Letters from South Korea), Iwanami Shinsho, 1974; Zoku: Kankoku kara no Tsshin (More Letters from South Korea), Iwanami Shinsho, 1975. Wada Haruki, Kankoku kara no Toikake (Enquiry from South Korea), Shis no Kagakusha, 1982. Nakazono Eisuke, Rachi (Abduction), Kbunsha, 1983.

  70 Sawachi Hisae, Mitsuyaku—Gaimush Kimitsu Roei Jiken (Secret Agreement—the Foreign Affairs Ministry Top Secret Leaks), Ch Kronsha, 1974.

  6

  Trends in Popular Songs since the 1960s

  71 Sonobe Sabur, Nihon Minsh Kayshik (Thoughts on the History of Japanese Popular Song), Asahi Shinbunsha, 1980. The work of Minami Hiroshi and Inui Takashi and others on the analysis of Japanese popular songs is collected in the Shis no Kagaku Kenkykai publication Yume to Omokage (Dream and Image), Ch Kronsha, 1950. Mita Munesuke analyzes the lyrics and the mood of popular songs up to the era of rapid economic expansion in Kindai Nihon no Shinj no Rekishi (Emotional History of Modern Japan), Kdansha, 1967. For an analysis of singers and their connection with the mood of the time, including the era of rapid economic growth, see Zak Jun, Itsumo Kaykyoku ga Atta (There Have Always Been Popular Songs), Shinchsha, 1983. See also Izawa Sensei Kinen Jigykai, Gakuseki Izawa Shji Sensei, Gakusekisha, 1919.

  72 Koizumi Fumio and Dan Ikuma, Ongaku no sekaizu (World Map of Music) in Enajii Taiwa, Esso Petroleum Company Ltd, April 1976.

  73 Koizumi Fumio, ‘Nihon ongaku no rizumu’ (Rhythm in Japanese Music) in Koky suru Minzoku Ongaku (Vital Ethnomusicology), Seidosha, 1983. First appeared in programme notes for the seventh programme of the National Theatre series Nihon Ongaku no Nagare (The Stream of Japanese Music), 1979. See also Koizumi Fumio, ‘Kaykyoku no ongaku kz’ (The musical structure of popular songs), in Koizumi Fumio et al. (eds.), Uta wa Yo ni tsure (Song Changes along with the World), Kdansha, 1978.

  74 Satomi Ton, Uzaemon Densetsu (The Uzaemon Legend), Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1955; Sawachi Hisae, Densetsu no naka no purimadonna (The prima donna in legend) in Zoku: Shwashi no Onna (Sequel to Women in the History of the Shwa Period), Bungei Shunjsha, 1983.

  75 In the history of Japanese popular song, the speed of the diffusion of ‘Katyusha’s Song’ was amazing. When Tanabe Wakao went on tour after the première of the play Resurrection, arriving in Nagasaki at night, he heard young women already singing this song in various places: ‘Arriving ahead of our performance, Katyusha’s song was already being sung in this southern province.’ Tanabe Wakao, Haiy—Butai Seikatsu Gojnen (My Life as an Actor—Fifty Years on the Stage), Shunjsha, 1960.

  76 Miyauchi Kanya, Shichirigahama, Shinchsha, 1978. An exile from student life, as a new recruit in the army and connected with a youth institute, Miyauchi composed a melody which merged into the Korean arian. See Mihashi Kazuo, Kinka no Seitaigaku (Ecology of Forbidden Songs), Ongaku no Tomosha, 1983.

  7

  Ordinary Citizens and Citizens’ Movements

  77 It Toshio, ‘Skuru zenshi e no kokoromi’ (Investigating the history of the ‘circle’), in Shis no Kagaku Kenkykai (ed.), Shdan (Groups), Heibonsha, 1976.

  78 Wada Yichi, Haiiro no Ymoa (Grey Humour), Rironsha, 1958. It Toshiya, Maboroshi no ‘Stajio Tsshin’e (In Pursuit of the Phantom ‘Studio Despatch’), Renga Shob, 1978. This book deals with the history of Saturday, based on the memoirs of the small-part actor Sait Raitar, and provides a clue to treating this magazine as a citizens’ movement. Its viewing of the coffee shop as an arena for the exchange of citizens’ opinions also anticipates the postwar citizens’ movements of the sixties.

  79 Nakai Masakazu Zensh (Collected Works of Nakai Masakazu) (4 vols.), Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1981.

  80 During this period, one person who lent strength to the citizens’ movement was Hani Gor (1901–1983). His writings throughout the whole period of the Fifteen Years’ War showed a clear trail of civilian protest against militarism: ‘Jid no rekishikan to sono hygen’ (Children’s view of history and its expression), in Kyiku (Education), Iwanami Shoten, May, July and August issues, 1936; Hakuseki Yukichi (Arai Hakuseki and Fukuzawa Yukichi), Iwanami Shoten, 1937; Mikeruangero (Michelangelo), Iwanami Shinsho, 1939; Kurooche (Croce), Kawade Shob, 1939; ‘Meiji Ishin kenky’ (Research on the Meiji Restoration), in Ch Kron, January to June issues, 1940; Bakumatsu ni okeru rinri shis (Ethical thought in the Bakumatsu period) in Kza—Rinrigaku, Book 2, Iwanami Shoten, 1940; ‘Rekishi oyobi rekishigaku’ (History and the study of history), in Kawai Eijir (ed.), Gakusei to Rekishi (Students and History), Nihon Hyronsha, 1940.

  Hani’s Toshi no Ronri (The Logic of Cities), Keis Shob, 1968, is an enlargement of Toshi (Cities), Iwanami Shinsho, 1949, and had a great influence on the student movement of the 1960s. It argues for the development of a new political system based on citizens’ self-rule, which does not siphon off the citizen’s taxes into the national budget of a central government, but allows for a greater portion to be used in regional self-government bodies. For a treatment of Hani’s work as a historian during the Fifteen Years’ War, see Kitayama Shigeo, Nihon kindai shigaku no hatten (The development of the study of history in modern Japan), in Iwanami Kza Nihon Rekishi 22 Bekkan 1 (Iwanami History of Japan, No. 22, Appendix 1), Iwanami Shoten, 1963.

  81 Tamaki Akira, ‘Ajiateki fdo to nson’ (The Asiatic climate and agricultural villages), in Keizai Hyron (Economic Review), Nihon Hyronsha, August 1974; Inasaku Bunka to Nihonjin (Rice Cultivation and the Japanese), Gendai Hyronsha, 1977; Mizu no Shis (The Philosophy of Water), Ronssha, 1979.

  82 Tanaka Shz Zensh (Collected Works of Tanaka Shz), Iwanami Shoten, 1977–80. After a long period of neglect, Tanaka Shz came to attract attention again through the efforts of two people: the research of the philosopher Hayashi Takeji, and, later, technologist and scientist Ui Jun who expounded his significance in the anti-pollution m
ovement and the student-initiated lecture series (Jishukza), ‘Theory of Pollution’ (begun 1970).

  Hayashi Takeji, ‘Teik no ne’ (The Roots of resistance), in Shis no Kagaku, September 1962 issue, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Tanaka Shz; Tanaka Shz—sono sei to tatakai no ‘konpongi’ (The ‘basic meaning’ of Tanaka Shz’s Life and Struggle), Nigatsusha, 1974; Tanaka Shz no Shgai (The Life of Tanaka Shz), Kdansha, 1976.

  Ui Jun, Kgai Genron (Theory of Pollution) 1–3, Supplementary vols. 1–3, Aki Shob, 1971–4; Kgai no Seijigaku—Minamataby o otte (The Politics of Pollution—in pursuit of Minamata Disease), Sanseid, 1968; Watakushi no Kgai Ts (My Pollution Struggle), Ushio Shuppansha, 1971.

  Hinata Yasushi, Tanaka Shz Nto (Notes on Tanaka Shz), Tabata Shoten, 1981; Hatenaki Tabi (Endless Journey) (2 vols.), Fukuinkan, 1979.

  Tamura Norio, Kdoku Nmin Monogatari (A Tale of Farmers and Copper Poisoning), Asahi Sensho, 1975. Tamura edits a research magazine, Tanaka Shz to sono Jidai (Tanaka Shz and his age), published by Warashibe Shob.

  Kenneth Strong, Ox against the Storm, The University of British Columbia Press, 1977.

  83 Taketani Mitsuo (ed.), Anzensei no Kangaekata (Attitudes towards Safety), Iwanami Shinsho, 1967. Since then Taketani has contributed towards contemporary criticism with the distinction between special privilege (tokken) and human rights (jinken), a line of thinking which provides a clue to linking the citizen’s life with the work of specialists. ‘University professor’ is a concept which denotes privilege, whereas ‘scholar’ is a concept linked with human rights. In this society, our everyday work is carried on by means of privilege; if this does not continually recreate a new direction by an interaction with human rights, privilege will automatically conflict with human rights. See Taketani Mitsuo (ed.) Tokken to Jinken (Privilege and Rights), Keis Shob, 1979. At the present time (1983) when 90% of Japanese think of themselves as middle class, there are many kinds of links between privilege and the internal life of the citizen which are difficult to control. Because of this difficulty, criticism on behalf of the citizen against science, technology and, even more broadly, against the academic world in general, which exist as privileged forces severed from human rights, must constantly experiment with new and original ideas.

  84 Irokawa Daikichi (ed.), Minamata no Keiji—Shiranui-kai Sg Chsa Hkoku (The Revelation of Minamata—Report of the Joint Inquiry into the Shiranui Sea), Vol. I, Chikuma Shob, 1983.

  On the links between outsiders and the village see the following works by Ishimure Michiko: Kugai Jdo, Kdansha, 1969; Ten no Sakana (The Heavenly Fish), Chikuma Shob, 1974; Tsubaki no Umi no Ki (Chronicle of the Camellia Sea), Asahi Shinbunsha, 1976.

  85 Miyaoka Masao, Sunagawa Ts no Kiroku (Record of the Struggle at Sunagawa), San’ichi Shob, 1970.

  86 Tomura Issaku, Tatakai ni Ikiru (Living in Struggle), Aki Shob, 1970; No ni Tatsu (Standing in the Field), San’ichi Shob, 1974; Waga Jujika Sanrizuka (Sanrizuka, My Cross), Kybunkan, 1974; Shosetsu Sanrizuka (Sanrizuka: a Novel), Aki Shob, 1975.

  For the biography of ki Yone, a Sanrizuka farmer, see Makise Kikue, Kikigaki, Sanrizuka—Dochaku suru Ksantachi (The Local-born Mothers of Sanrizuka), Taihei Suppansha, 1973.

  Maeda Toshihiko, Doburoku o Tsukur (Let’s make home-brewed sake) Nson Gyoson Bunka Kykai, 1981. The home-brewing of sake seen as a form of resistance can be found in Nozoe Kenji and Makabe Hitoshi (eds.), Doburoku to Teik (Home-brewed Sake and Resistance), Taimatsusha, 1976, and further back still in Yanagita Kunio, Meiji-Taishshi: Seshen (History of Modern Japan—Signs of the Changing Times), 1930.

  87 The magazine Chiiki Ts (Regional Struggle), Roshinantesha.

  88 Nagaoka Hiroyoshi, Genbaku Minshshi (A People’s History of the Atomic Bomb), Miraisha, 1977.

  89 Shinobu Seizabur, Anpo Tsshi (A History of the Security Treaty Struggle), Sekai Shoin, 1961; Hidaka Rokur (ed.), Senkyhyaku Rokujnen Gogatsu Jkunichi (Nineteenth of May, 1960), Iwanami Shinsho, 1960; Koenaki Koe no Kai (ed.), Mata Demo de A (Let’s meet again at the Demonstration), Tokyo Shoten, 1962.

  Since these two years of demonstrations, both Koenaki Koe no Tayori (News of the Voice for those who have no Voice) and Ten to Sen (Dots and Lines), have continued to be active right up to the present.

  Kobayashi Tomi, Kaigara no Machi (City of Shells), Shis no Kagakusha, 1980.

  90 Betonamu ni Heiwa! Shimin Reng (ed.), Shiry ‘Beheireri’ Und (Documents of Materials on the ‘Peace for Vietnam’ Committee Movement) (3 vols.), Kawade Shob Shinsha, 1974; Beheiren Nysu Shukusatsuban (Pocket Edition ‘Peace for Vietnam’ Committee News), Beheiren, 1974; Nandemo Mite Yar (We’ll look at everything), by Beheiren spokesman Oda Makoto, Kawade Shob, 1961, shows clearly the wide support enjoyed by this movement.

  91 An early critical appraisal of ‘Sazaesan’ was Imamura Taihei’s Amerika Manga to Nihon Manga—Sazaesan to Burondii (American comics and Japanese comics—Sazaesan and Blondie), in Shis no Kagaku, April 1951 and February 1953.

  The wide popularity of Sazaesan among Japanese urban dwellers in the 1960s was discussed in Roku Daitoshi to Shimin (Six Large Cities and their Citizens), published by the Council of Chief Commissioners of the Planning Enquiry of Specific Cities, Kyoto Town Planning Office, in 1966.

  92 Kuno Osamu, ‘Heiwa no ronri to sens no ronri’ (The logic of peace and the logic of war), in Sekai, November 1949.

  93 I am indebted to Taketani Mitsuo for pointing out this distinction to me soon after the war.

  8

  Comments on Patterns of Life

  94 Some idea of how unusual Yanagita was can be gained from reading what he wrote in a magazine article written towards the end of the war when all was dyed in the single colour of nationalism:

  The sad thing about conservatism is that it can only learn from the recent past. For example, the idea of the Preservation of the National Essence in the beginning of the Meiji Period. One can only return to something very soon after the event; therefore old in this sense would only be about as far back as the Tenp Era (1830– 1843). Conservatism then would have meant something like wearing a tzan haori jacket.

  This is what conservatism tends to mean. It can probably be seen as a reaction…. Any really conscientious scholar will recognize that the times are always changing. The Meiji Period had its own way of life; the Taish Period had its own way of life. This may include frivolous, or even unnecessary reform, or improvements which are made only in imitation of other people. By and large, each age makes its own different demands. Therefore, while there is sometimes a return to the past, one must recognize that we are going in a different direction. That is the most important thing. (Yanagita Kunio, ‘Minkan densh ni tsuite’ (On folklore), in Bungei Shunj, September 1943.)

  95 Many hitherto secret documents relating to the Occupation are now being released to the public in America. There are no doubt many things which should be added to the text of this book.

  Sodei Rinjir, Makkasa no Nisennichi (MacArthur’s Two Thousand Days), Ch Kronsha, 1974; Sodei Rinjir and Fukushima Chr (eds.), Makkasa (MacArthur), Nihon Hs Shuppan Kykai, 1983; the letters of Japanese civilians to MacArthur which are now being printed in Shis no Kagaku, August 1983 onwards. The difference between Japanese and American tastes in personal style is clearly seen in the fact that MacArthur, who was the emotional mainstay of the Japanese, was not popular with Americans in the same period. The Japanese found it difficult to understand how MacArthur failed to gain endorsement as a candidate in the presidential election.

  96 Shis no Kagaku Kenkykai (centring on Tsukuda Jitsuo) (ed.) Nihon Senry (The Occupation of Japan), Tokuma Shoten, 1972; Nihon Senrygun—sono Hikari to Kage (Light and Dark Sides of the Japanese Occupation Army), 2 vols., Tokuma Shoten, 1978; Takemae Eiji, Amakawa Akira, Hata Ikuhiko, Sodei Rinjir, Nihon Senry Hishi (The Secret History of the Japanese Occupation), 2 vols., Asahi Shinbunsha, 1977; Kojima Noboru, Nihon Senry (The Occupation of Japan), 3 vols., Bungei Shunjsha, 1978.

  Books based on newly released materials: Takemae Eiji, S
enry Sengoshi (Occupation Postwar History), Sshisha, available through Keis Shob, 1980; Morita Yoshiyuki, Tainichi Senry Seisaku no Keisei (The Formation of the Occupation Policy towards Japan), Ashi Shob, 1982.

  For a testimony from within the Occupation army there is Thomas A.Bisson’s Bisson’s Memoirs of the Occupation of Japan, translated into Japanese as Bisson Nihon Senry Kaiski, by Nakamura Masanori and Miura Yichi, Sanseid, 1983.

  I myself would pick out Robert King Hall’s Education for a New Japan, Yale University Press, 1949, as the record most clearly showing the aspirations of a young officer in the Occupation authorities. Now that a considerable time has elapsed since the Occupation, the people involved tend to underplay the idealism of the Americans at the time who feared nothing; this book, published during the Occupation, gives a good picture of the atmosphere of the Occupation army at the time, and an aspect which we are apt to lose sight of is in fact well represented.

  97 See the reference to Tominaga Ken’ichi (ed.), The Class Structure of Japan, in reference 39, above.

  98 A Ministry for Agriculture publication, Shokury Jukyhy (Table of Supply and Demand of Foodstuffs) gives the following rates of self-sufficiency in grain (these figures assume that supply and demand of rice have levelled out since 1966):

  See Table

  According to the Secretary of the Survey Department in the Ministry for Agriculture, the definition of self-sufficiency in food is as follows: