Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This black-and-white clip taken from a propagandist film shows scenes of post-Second World War Japan and the Allied occupation. It opens with scenes of traditional Japanese ways of life still being practised and is accompanied by a narration that questions the effectiveness of the Allied program to introduce democracy to Japan. Matsuno-san, a well-educated Japanese farmer, appears with his family at home. Occupation forces march in parade to martial music in front of Japanese onlookers. Japanese women dance with Allied soldiers.

Educational value points

• This clip reflects Australian unease after the Second World War that, while the Japanese had appeared to have accepted changes introduced by Allied occupation, it was impossible to know how genuine the acceptance was. Having the effect of a plea to the viewer for continued vigilance the clip repeatedly questions whether ‘1,000-year-old beliefs’ could really change in ‘a few short years’, noting that traditional Japanese attitudes towards women and their unequal place in society remained unchanged.

• The Supreme Command of the Allied Powers introduced both democratising reforms that affected the status of women and a new civil code on 1 January 1948 to guarantee gender equality. The reforms challenged traditional Japanese beliefs about women, mentioned in the clip, reflecting the view of Allied authorities that anti-egalitarian social practices had to be removed to achieve democracy and a peaceful attitude to the rest of the world.

• The language and imagery of the clip imply that the viewer should regard all of Japanese traditional culture with suspicion. The clip indicates an anxiety about Matsuno-san’s culture, and asks 'what goes on in his mind?’. Reflecting racial stereotypes of the time, the narrator suggests that Matsuno-san’s ‘oriental poker face’ may hide his true feelings. Examples of Japanese cultural practices are shown out of context and without explanation as if to emphasise their foreignness.

• Women dressed in Western clothes and dancing with military personnel are used in the clip to represent the willing ‘Westernisation’ of some Japanese women, but this obscures the difficult circumstances that caused many women to seek the company of the occupying troops. In the desperate poverty of post-War Japan, many young women saw the troops as a source of entertainment and perhaps a way to a better life.

• The troops of the democracies referred to and shown in the clip were part of 300,000 troops from the USA and its allies including Australia, the UK and New Zealand that occupied Japan from September 1945 until April 1952. Under the command of General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) key military and civilian personnel, including tens of thousands of bilingual Japanese support staff, carried out policies and reforms to achieve nation rebuilding.

This black-and-white clip taken from a propagandist film shows scenes of post-Second World War Japan and the Allied occupation. It opens with scenes of traditional Japanese ways of life still being practised and is accompanied by a narration that questions the effectiveness of the Allied program to introduce democracy to Japan. Matsuno-san, a well-educated Japanese farmer, appears with his family at home. Occupation forces march in parade to martial music in front of Japanese onlookers. Japanese women dance with Allied soldiers.

Narrator In the midst of modernity, the old Japan still survives, even to the goldfish seller whose wares are prized in homes which are sparsely but usually artistically decorated. But what are the Japanese civilians thinking? What, for instance, is Matsuno-san thinking? Matsuno-san is a civilian of good type, and a family man. He is a farmer, and he has a degree from the Tokyo University. What goes on in his mind? Has democracy really sunk beneath his skin in a few short years? Does he accept the Western system, or does his soul yearn for the traditions of his ancestors, the life they lived, the arts they revered?

Or perhaps the ancient folk dances dear to villagers’ hearts?

How does Matsuno-san and 30 million Matsuno-sans view the occupation of his land by the troops of the democracies, men he still considers white barbarians? What is he thinking as they go marching by? Does he philosophically accept the fact as the inevitable result of a lost war, or does he think of the day when Japan may rise again? Who knows. We may hear what 30 million Matsuno-sans are saying with their lips, but who shall know what they’re saying in their hearts. And what the women of Japan are thinking still doesn’t matter to Matsuno-san, for you can’t change the 1,000-year-old beliefs of a people in a few short years, no matter how hard you may try.

So, Matsuno-san watches the newcomers behind his oriental poker face. He sees the west mingle with the east. But in his heart, does he believe one will absorb the other completely?

Passively and, as far as the observer can see, cooperatively, he watches the process of the democratisation of Japan, which sprang from a feudal system and developed into a military dictatorship. The latter paid no dividends at all. Nothing but blood and loss and ruin. Matsuno-san and the millions like him were happy to give that away. He is consciously aware that through the three great mediums of propaganda – the screen, the radio and the press – he is being re-educated. If he minds, he gives no hint of it.