the confiscation and shipment of Japanese war record paintings

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and may also still be in the US.
At this point, it is difficult to establish just how many Japanese war paintings were shipped to
the US. Relying on the shipping documents alone is clearly not enough. Moreover, it seems that the
Occupation personnel were less than forthright in the documentation of their confiscation and shipping
of the Japanese war record paintings. Confusion is clearly evident in the fragmentary nature of the
documents that the activity left behind.
In 1951, it was not very easy to not see the significance of the Japanese war record paintings
and it was convenient to dismiss these works as mere propaganda. In fact, several Occupation
documents expressed this kind of evaluation of the confiscated paintings, from the beginning of their
confiscation up to the point of their shipment. It is only in hindsight that these works, no matter how
controversial their theme and the circumstance of their creation, gain greater significance through the
lenses of history.