London: Routledge, 2020. xvi, 248 pp. (Illustrations, B&W photos.) US$160.00, cloth. ISBN 9780367184698.
The presence of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, together with three previous prime ministers, at former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent state funeral—undoubtedly the strongest contingent among all the countries that sent representatives—provided a good opportunity to marvel at the closeness of the Japan-Australia relationship and reflect on just how far it has come. A 150-year journey that began auspiciously with Japanese pearl divers and other migrant workers was buffeted by the winds of racism (White Australia) and all but destroyed by World War II. Yet today there is no stronger relationship in the Asia-Pacific region. To understand how the relationship has endured, survived, and recovered, one needs to look at its history, particularly the people-to-people interactions at the grassroots level and the ensuing cultural fusions. Drawing on a range of disciplinary approaches, this edited book does a fine job of presenting and deepening our understanding of the multidimensional presence of Japan in Australia.
Conference proceedings can often be something of a mixed bag—the book has its roots in a conference at the University of Queensland in 2016—and my first reaction after perusing the individual chapter titles was to wonder at the many omissions and gaps. This is perhaps inevitable in a book of this scope and indeed Alan Rix in the prologue makes the same point, presenting a long list of the “many more important stories still to be told.”
The editors do a good job of giving some structure to the potpourri of stories by placing them in a (loose) chronological framework. In the introduction they weave a detailed overview, starting from early contacts, that places the chapters in an easy-to-follow historical context.
Chapter 2, by Tomoko Aoyama, details the visit to Australia of two Japanese intellectual giants, Kazuko and Shunsuke Tsurumi, who accompanied their father at the ages of 19 and 15 respectively. It is mildly interesting but I’m not sure that it helps us to better understand “how dichotomies of Self and Other are challenged” (4), which is one of the avowed aims of the book. In contrast, the following chapter by Penny Bailey, showing the influence Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) had on Australian artist Margaret Preston, fits in much better with the central theme of cultural fusion, highlighting “the dynamism, creativity and complexity that can spring from intercultural exchange” (59).
Chapters 4 and 5 both focus on sporting connections. Chapter 4, by Ai Kobayashi, is about “baseball diplomacy,” introducing the Yomiuri Giants’ visit to Australia in 1954 when ill feeling towards Japan remained high and the process of rebuilding relations between the two countries was just beginning. The author tells us that during the tour, Japan received an official invitation to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and this is the topic of Morris Low’s chapter 5, further detailing the improvement in bilateral relations.
Chapter 6, by Lucy Fraser, takes a literary turn, describing how Australian creators have engaged with and incorporated Kawabata’s House of the Sleeping Beauties into their own works. This has much in common with Laura Emily Clark’s chapter 10 about Haruki Murakami’s influence on the Australian literary scene (through an analysis of Australian book reviews): unfortunately, both are rather abstract so that in the end neither tells us very much about either being Australian (Australianness) or being Japanese (Japaneseness).
Chapter 7, by Rebecca Hausler, about the cult following in Australia of the Chinese folktale-based Japanese TV drama Monkey is possibly the weakest chapter. Aside from the fact that this essentialist mishmash of Asian/Oriental stereotypes is not identifiably “Japanese” (one is reminded of chapter 9 author Koichi Iwabuchi’s notion of the cultural “odourlessness” of certain Japanese imports), this chapter lacks the people-to-people narratives which make up the strongest contributions in this book. Chapter 8, by Timothy Kazuo Steains, provides such a contribution, where we do hear real voices, in this case Japanese-Australian experiences “of moving and belonging between Japan and Australia” (130) through the lens of Japanese-Australian artist Mayu Kanamori. This contrasts quite starkly with the following chapter by Koichi Iwabuchi, which seems something of an outlier in this volume due to its highly theoretical/methodological nature. That aside, Iwabuchi’s argument about how a inter/trans-Asia approach to human mobilities and cultural connections can help to develop “the study of Japan” in Australia is utterly compelling.
The final two main chapters both focus on Japanese language and education. Chapter 9 by Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson uses survey data to explore the reasons for and motivations behind students enrolling in introductory Japanese courses at her own university through survey data. As such, while boasting an excellent history of Japanese-language education in Australia, the pedagogical feel of the chapter seems somewhat out of kilter with the aims of the book. In contrast, Ikuo Kawakami’s chapter 12, focussing on the everyday lives of migrant children in Australia and Japan through a number of case studies, brings alive the real lived experience of “children crossing borders.”
The book ends with two essays, one by Roger Pulvers, the other by Vera Mackie; while the former is very personal and a little too introspective to add much to the mix, the latter weaves fascinating characters such as fashion designer Akira Isogawa and chef Tetsuya Wakuda into a narrative describing the way “Japan in Australia” is “imprinted on the very streets of our cities” (236).
In sum, this book is a timely reminder of the everyday, personal, and community contacts that form the bedrock of a national-level relationship of unparalleled intimacy. My main gripe, hinted at above, is the paucity of actual voices: I rarely felt moved in the same way as I did when reading the account of Japanese war bride Michi (Keiko Tamura, Michi’s Memories, Pandanus Books, 2003) or listening to the words of Cowra survivor Teruo Murakami. Another drawback, in a tome very much centred on the Australian perspective, is that the inequality of the bond is papered over, hiding the “one-way love” reality of a relationship in which Australia needs Japan much more than Japan needs Australia (Alison Broinowski, About Face: Asian Accounts of Australia, Scribe Publications, 2003, 86). A future collaboration which includes not only Australia-based but also Japan-based scholars would make for a fascinating sequel, a truly interactive fusion between academics from both countries.
Chris Burgess
Tsuda University, Tokyo