Occupied Japan, 1949-1955
Post-war Japan was chaotic. By the end of 1945, more than 350,000 U.S. personnel were stationed throughout the country, supervising almost every aspect of life. The Allied occupation, sometimes referred to as the “Confusion Era” in Japanese art history, must have been disorienting for the Americans as well. Just one look at the military menu from 1949, showing Santa Claus flying through a Japanese gate heading straight for Mount Fuji, indicated that something unusual was going on.
Deep exhaustion and despair were widespread in Japan during the years immediately following World War II. Yet the country proved to be resilient and slowly regained its footing. The situation had improved considerably by the time the Far East Air Materiel Command (FEAMCOM) at the Tachikawa Air Base printed this Christmas menu. Of course, holiday menus normally appear joyful, even in the most difficult situations, but this design was different, expressing an unusual juxtaposition of Japanese icons and American holiday imagery.
The U.S. military makes it a priority to provide traditional holiday meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas, bringing a “bit of home” to everyone in the service throughout the world. Since the bill of fare is always about the same, it is the other information—the who, what, when, and where—that can make these interesting historical documents. The cover illustration on such menus usually depicts typical holiday images, or some aspect of the exotic locale where the unit is based, but it is unusual to mingle both themes within the same design.
As the occupation entered its fifth year, an unusual mixture of iconic imagery began to appear on holiday menus at the U.S. air bases. Suddenly, the important and enduring symbols of Japan were being combined in whimsical ways with things like turkeys, pumpkins, candy canes, and Santa Claus. For example, this 1950 Thanksgiving menu from the 374th Troop Carrier Wing at the Tachikawa Air Base shows a C-124 Globemaster II flying in the middle distance between Mount Fuji and a large turkey. On the inside of the menu, Air Force Colonel Troy W. Crawford concludes his holiday message with the exhortation, “Let us be Americans in everything we do or say.” Ironically, this bill of fare is printed in French, something rarely seen on a U.S. military menu.
This exuberant Thanksgiving menu from the Naval Air Station at Atsugi in 1951 is another example of mixed imagery. Startled by a goofy turkey, a local farmer drops an assortment of vegetables normally associated with the American holiday. Mount Fuji can be seen in the background.
The Christmas menu shown below also comes from Atsugi that year, depicting the Star of Bethlehem shining brightly in the night sky over Mount Fuji—a peaceful scene framed in candy canes.
The 8064th Battalion of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) stationed in nearby Yokohama clearly got into the swing of things. While a rickshaw is not exactly an icon of Japan, their Christmas menu in 1951 expresses a playful mixture of East and West.
When the occupation officially came to an end in 1952, the U.S. military remained in the country at the invitation of the Japanese government. This 1953 Thanksgiving menu from the 6412th Air Base Squadron features an enormous turkey looming behind vignettes of classical landscape scenes. Once again, Mount Fuji, the preeminent symbol of Japan, is seen in the background.
Perhaps too disciplined to mix their icons, the Marine Helicopter Transport Group at Hanshin still expressed a happy feeling on their Christmas menu in 1953. In a scene reminiscent of the Golden Week of holidays celebrated in Japan each spring, this menu shows a helicopter buzzing over cherry trees at the base of Mount Fuji; only the word “Christmas” indicates which holiday is being celebrated.
The Thanksgiving menu shown below from the Atsugi Naval Air Station in 1954 shows the iconic symbols of the two countries having receded to separate planes. No longer jumbled together within the same pictorial space, this separation of images marked an inflection point in evolution of the multicultural motif. In the future, the illustrations utilized the iconic images from either one culture or the other, but no longer showed both in the same design.
The menus shown below from the Matsushima Air Base in 1955 use the traditional holiday symbols without any reference to Japan. Despite the design change, the quality of the food was the same, an appreciative diner noting on this Christmas menu, “Pretty good meal. The food was excellent.”
Illustrations on menus are expressions of popular culture. The mixed icons on the holiday menus during the years 1949-1953 reflected a newly-heightened awareness of the beauty and culture of Japan by the U.S. military personnel who were stationed there. Although the long occupation was a learning experience for both countries, Colonel Crawford need not have been concerned about the men in his command. Americans were going to be Americans in everything they said and did, even when expressing their appreciation of another culture using the irreverent humor of their own.
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