Unassuming Antiquity: The 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair

This paper examines the self-representation of Japan at the 1939 New York World’s Fair through the country’s displays and gifts to the United States. American world’s fairs were events that many countries wanted to participate in, to showcase their innovation, industry, and culture. It was a place for them to enter the international stage and control their image of themselves to the rest of the world. Japan’s choice of displays varied at different points in history depending on what would best serve the country’s diplomatic interests. In 1939, following its military aggression in China, Japan looked for a chance to promote itself as a peaceful and traditional country so that Western nations would not gain more sympathy for China. This was done through a propaganda campaign that pushed traditional Japanese values, crafts, and lifestyles that were popular in America already. Using news releases written by the Japanese Commission to the New York World’s Fair, newspaper articles, and display pieces from the fair itself, this chapter will argue that Japan purposely perpetuated romanticized and feminized images of itself to appear non-threatening at a time when diplomatic tensions were high. This helps to understand the role of world’s fairs not only as places of culture exchange and innovative displays, but as places that foster national images to meet the diplomatic motives of host and visiting countries.