Imagining Asia in 1960s Japan

Abstract

This panel explores the place of Asia in 1960s Japan by discussing several scenes of post-colonial encounter, all involving writers and artists who address the representation of Asia within the Japanese cultural imagination. We examine the sites of such experience, from a childhood in the colonies to a Korean War exile, asking how such experience is articulated, for what purposes (both personal and national) and to what ends. Many of the artists and works we discuss are producing an Asia for Japanese domestic consumption, but we also consider what it might mean to produce an Asia for local, as well as international, audiences.