Field Journal 9: Japanese Modern

Astro-Boy by Osamu Tezuka

After immediately surrendering to the Axis Powers in 1945, Japan was left in devastation. Michio Hayashi, author of Tracing the Graphic in Postwar Japanese Art, notes that, "the city [of Tokyo] was undergoing rapid transformations" as General Douglas A. MacArthur led the country to military, political, social, and economic reforms between 1945 to 1952. The Japanese economy revived thanks to "increases in capital and labor, reallocation of labor from agriculture, improved technology, and economies of the scale" (Edward F. Denison and William K. Chung). As the country demobilized, companies that produced weapons and materials towards the war began to produce more technology that would be better suited for the new Japan, the Japan that was rising out from its ashes. 

Increased labor allowed Japan to produce more goods to export to countries like the U.S. and graphic design was needed more than ever. Emerging as one of the world's major industrial powers, Japanese companies like Toyota and Mitsubishi hired professional designers to completely change its branding and image. Aside from industrial products, everything being produced from the country including traditional crafts and food depended on design as more people payed attention to it during the 50s due to materialism. While American and European graphic design was largely influenced by the International Typographic Style during this time, Japan graphic design turned to Constructivism while still retaining traditional Japanese Art Theory. Delicate, flat lines and silhouettes, simplification, abstraction, flat colors, symmetrical composition, and decorative patterns from ukiyo-e were still being used Japan as designers blended tradition with new art forms outside of Japan.

Yusaku Kamekura, 1955. Poster for a photo exhibition.

Yusaku Kamekura, one of the first graphic designers coming out of this century, is hailed as the "Father of Japanese graphic design". Having studied in New York, Kamekura's posters are influenced by the Bauhas and Constructivism while still maintaining simplicity and balance found in traditional Japanese prints.

Overtime Japanese graphic designers changed their styles from traditional to futuristic. With a booming economy and a rising tech industry, there was a lot of speculation and endless possibilities of what else could happen for the country next. Designers couldn't wait any longer and drew their own visions of the future. Instead of flatness, dimension was explored and dynamic colors were used to communicate excitement and energy. Reading a little about this in the lecture immediately made me think about Astro-Boy, the popular manga and anime series from 1952. And this makes sense and further supports that design was reaching to all aspects of life, from the automobile industry to food packaging to cartoons. Design was crucial to bring Japan back into power and eventually helped maintained Japan's strong and steady economy. But most importantly, design helped the world forget about the atrocities committed by and done to Japan and allowed everyone to move on.

Sources:

 Michio Hayashi, Tracing the Graphic in Postwar Japanese Art

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/japan-reconstruction

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/30974/donald-s-zagoria/how-japans-economy-grew-so-fast-the-sources-of-postwar-expansion

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1032864/graphic-design/242775/Postwar-graphic-design-in-Japan

http://pinktentacle.com/2010/03/yusaku-kamekura-posters/

http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl/h207_2002/jecontakeoff.htm