japanese_art_catalog

Commerce and Culture
at the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition:
Centenary Perspectives
Edited by Ayako Hotta-Lister and Ian Nish
A History of the Takarazuka
Revue Since 1914
Modernity, Girls’ Culture, Japan Pop
Makiko Yamanashi
This volume, intended to complement Hotta-Lister’s
original 1999 study, marks the centenary of London’s 1910
great Japan-British Exhibition, which was held at White
City, Shepherd’s Bush, and attracted over eight million
visitors during its six-month stay. While the initiative came
from Britain, the Japanese Government was the major
source of funding for the Japanese side of the Exhibition.
Using the Anglo-Japanese Alliance as its springboard, Japan
– at the time a new colonial power – hoped to bring about
a greater understanding of its cultures and traditions and
thereby stimulate trade and commerce between the two
countries.
In the event, the Japanese press, unlike the British press,
took umbrage at what they considered the trivialization
of Japanese culture, thus in part frustrating the positive
cultural, commercial and political outcomes that were
hoped for. Eighteen months later, Emperor Meiji died
and the Great War of 1914-18 followed soon after, thereby
relegating the exhibition – its origins, composition,
relevance and impact – to oblivion until recent times.
The papers in this volume, therefore, drawn from four
‘centenary conferences’ held in London and Tokyo, offer an
important spotlight on the exhibition’s legacy – specifically
in the contexts of commerce and culture.
The contents include the following themes: The Exhibition
and domestic conditions in Britain and Japan; the
Exhibition and Japan’s economic background; selling
the ‘backward’ Japanese economy; imperialism and the
Exhibition; the Japanese media and the Exhibition; the arts
of Britain and Japan; Ainu in London; Japanese fine art; the
human legacy; Japanese gardens.
This book has wide inter-disciplinary relevance for students
in modern East Asian Studies, but especially in the context
of colonial and economic history, inter-cultural exchange
and Anglo-Japanese relations.
Founded in the hot-spring resort town of the same name
in 1914, Takarazuka is a kaleidoscopic medium, both in
terms of its theatricality and visual characteristics. Yet,
despite its prominence and popularity, it has not received
the academic attention it deserves, especially in the
context of theatre studies. This book, therefore, by taking
an interdisciplinary approach, endeavours to fill this
gap through a detailed analysis of the Takarazuka Revue
Company’s history, educational traditions and theatrical
ethos viewed from the prism of Japan’s modernization
and globalization in the twentieth century. Its important
relationship to Japanese popular culture, especially
in the fields of manga and fashion are also given due
consideration.
Furthermore, because of its unique features as an allfemale
performance art appealing mostly to female
Japanese audiences, the study also includes an in-depth
consideration of its continuing success, way of life
and wider social impact from both cultural and social
perspectives.
With Takarazuka’s centenary fast approaching, A
History of the Takarazuka Revue Since 1914 will have wide
interdisciplinary appeal, as well as in the particular context
of Japanese Studies. Illustrated throughout, supported by
an extensive bibliography, it is divided into five chapters:
l. The Formative Years of Takarazuka; 2.The Mechanisms
of Takarazuka; 3. The Stage Art of Takarazuka ‘Fantasy
Adventure’; 4. The Taishō ‘Modern’; in the Female Domain
of Shōjo Bunka; 5. Takarazuka in the Modern Heritage of
Girls’ Culture and Beyond.
GLOBAL ORIENTAL
35
BRILL’S JAPANESE ART CATALOG 2014
• October 2012
• ISBN 978 90 04 22916 7
• Hardback (xvii, 231 pp. incl. several illus.)
• List price EUR 85.- / US$ 118.-
• May 2012
• ISBN 978 90 04 20386 0
• Hardback (248 pp. including 130 color illus.)
• List price EUR 85.- / US$ 117.-