Gas Mask Nation: Visualizing Civil Air Defense in Wartime Japan

Gas Mask Nation: Visualizing Civil Air Defense in Wartime Japan

A fascinating look at the anxious pleasures of Japanese visual culture during World War II.   Airplanes, gas masks, and bombs were common images in wartime Japan. Yet amid these emblems of anxiety, tasty caramels were offered to children with paper gas masks as promotional giveaways, and magazines featured everything from attractive models in the latest civil defense fashion to futuristic weapons.   Gas Mask Nation explores the multilayered construction of an anxious yet perversely pleasurable visual culture of Japanese civil air defense—or bōkū —through a diverse range of artworks, photographs, films and newsreels, magazine illustrations, postcards, cartoons, advertising, fashion, everyday goods, government posters, and state propaganda. Gennifer Weisenfeld reveals the immersive aspects of this culture, in which Japan’s imperial subjects were mobilized to regularly perform highly orchestrated civil air defense drills throughout the country.   The war years in Japan are often portrayed as a landscape of privation and suppression under the censorship of the war machine. But alongside the horrors, pleasure, desire, wonder, creativity, and humor were all still abundantly present in a period before air raids went from being a fearful specter to a deadly reality.   "Through an extensive exploration of artworks, photographs, films, and other media, Gas Mask Nation offers a nuanced portrayal of a society engaged in a constant balancing act between anxiety and normalcy. . . . Weisenfeld’s work challenges us to reconsider our understanding of how societies engage with war—not just in terms of sacrifice and endurance but through a complex interplay of adaptation, dehumanization, and commercialization. Gas Mask Nation is an invaluable addition to the literature of wartime Japan." ― Pacific Affairs " Gas Mask Nation is a formidable visual document with well over one hundred high-quality color and black and white images. Taken together, they encompass a dizzying array of visual culture and media formats . . . . Weisenfeld’s survey of this complex terrain is clear, authoritative, and accessible, and suitable for undergraduates through professional scholars. The layout of the book is an evident strength. The entire book is richly packed with diverse artifacts of bōkū culture from the 1930s and 1940s, and Weisenfeld takes care to provide nuanced explanations of the relevant Japanese cultural context and terminology. Gas Mask Nation is an important addition to any academic library and an indispensable and fascinating read for anyone eager to learn more about the Japanese experience during World War II." ― ARLIS/NA Reviews "Focusing on the fascinating cultural effects and (by)products of civil air defense in interwar and wartime Japan, art historian Weisenfeld’s superb study Gas Mask Nation  investigates the unintended, and sometimes, surprising aspects of a culture of air defense that soon developed its own unique esthetics by the mid-1930s. . . . Gas Mask Nation is an excellently researched, fascinating study of an aspect of imperial Japan’s wartime era that additionally connects with broader themes in scholarly investigations of the Second World War. Readers familiar with the author’s vivid prose and razor-sharp scholarship will be delighted that another one of her engaging and beautifully-illustrated works is available." ― History: Review of New Books "If it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words, then this illustrated volume tells the stories of an entire generation of Japanese citizens with humor and nuance that will surprise and fascinate readers." ― Wesleyan Connection "Given the recent surge of COVID-19, coupled with increasing calls for enhanced surveillance, prevention, homeland security, air defense, and frequent drills, Weisenfeld’s Gas Mask Nation has gained even more significance. Its historical insights urge us to critically reflect on contemporary political strategies and the intricate workings of media, visual, material, and exhibition cultures, compelling us to march either alongside or against the 'gas mask parade.'" ― The Art Bulletin " Gas Mask Nation is a brilliantly conceived, lavishly illustrated, and entertaining study of the culture of civil air defense ( bōkū ) in fascist Japan." ― H-Diplo “Weisenfeld brilliantly explores the overlooked creativity, humor, pleasure, desire, and play in Japan’s wartime culture. Her astute and original work opens up new ways of thinking about how we can productively revisit what we think we know about Japan’s wartime culture, expanding our understanding beyond reductionist views of the familiar tropes of sacrifice and aggression, toward a view that takes a sophisticated and nuanced position on the social mobilization of Japanese citizens.” -- David Odo, Director of Academic and Public Programs, Division Head and Research Curator, Harvard Art Museums “This is a marvelous, smartly-written, and utterly fascinating stu