Time for a Music Bath: Body, Sex, Control, and Subversion in Unno Jūza’s Literary Dystopia

Modern Japanese writer Unno Jūza 海野十三 (1897-1949) published the story “The Music Bath at Eighteen O’clock” 十八時の音楽浴 ("Jūhachiji no ongakuyoku") in 1937 that envisions a future where the use of science, utopian desires, and dystopian realities intertwine. By examining Unno’s life, the socio-political context of interwar Japan, and reading his story as dystopian fiction, I argue that “Jūhachiji no ongakuyoku” cannot only be interpreted as a propagandist story advocating for scientific progress in militarism; it is also a political satire modeled on 1930s Japan and a cautionary tale. Unno’s dystopia shows us that utopian perfection can never be realized without the devastating loss in human lives, identity, and morality.