Bruce Yonemoto: Made in Occupied Japan

Abstract

Bruce YonemotoMade in Occupied Japan Rika Hiro (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Bruce Yonemoto (1949–) Made in Occupied Japan (Sakasama Makasa), 1998. Ceramic mug and metal base 7 ½ x 8 ⅜ x 4 ¾ in. (19.05 x 21.27 x 12.07 cm.). The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Gift of Barbara Wise. © Bruce Yonemoto, Image courtesy of the artist. [End Page 162] Conceptual and multimedia artist Bruce Yonemoto's (b. 1949) display of a group of mugs, cup-and-saucer sets, and porcelain figurines provokes a sense of bewilderment. Each object is colorful, charming, nostalgic, and even kitschy. However, the artist curiously places them upside down to highlight their trademarks and country of origin, "Made in Occupied Japan," which forms the title of the series that he initiated in 1998. "Made in Japan" has become a talisman of good quality, refined craftwork, and tasteful design. Yet it once meant the opposite—inexpensive and sometimes defective goods in the immediate postwar period.1 In the 1930s and 40s, Japanese fine but low-cost ceramics were seen as a threat to American pottery manufacturers.2 "Made in Occupied Japan," in contrast, suggests a narrow range of production dates and circulation limited to Europe and especially North America. Under General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (SCAP), the Occupation of Japan lasted from September 1945 until the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace in April 1952. However, it was only in the single year of 1947 that the mark of "Made in Occupied Japan" or "Occupied Japan" was required for virtually all export items, including toys, textiles, cameras, and porcelain.3 Although the mark became non-compulsory in 1949, Japanese manufacturers continued the practice of adding this imprint until the end of the Occupation Period.4 This historical imprinting intersects with the biography of Yonemoto himself, whose identity was, to some extent, trapped between Occupied Japan and liberating America. The sansei artist was born to ex-interned Japanese American parents in 1949. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was exposed to the rise of Asian American and Third World studies, and decided to further pursue art and his cultural roots in Japan.5 Since then, Yonemoto has been questioning the authenticity of histories and memories as well as complicated gender, cultural, racial, and/or ethnic representations through his works. His multimedia installations frequently involve [End Page 163] complex structures to allow such a nuanced reading of memories and the politics of representations. For example, a 1995 video installation, Parana, utilizes a coffee porcelain set made in Paraná, Brazil, with hand-painted oval images featuring Oscar Niemeyer's modernist architecture in Brasilia. Yonemoto superimposes found film footage of Paraná's Japanese Brazilian community gathering over one of Niemeyer's designs. Compared to Parana and Yonemoto's other installations, Made in Occupied Japan seems fairly simple and straightforward. This 1998 example of a "Made in Occupied Japan" work consists of a single Toby mug in the shape of MacArthur's head and is stamped "MERIT OCCUPIED JAPAN." MacArthur wears his iconic Philippine Field Marshal cap, but unlike other comical Toby mugs, his face looks serious and reveals signs of his aging, such as saggy cheeks and under-eye bags. A toughness and energy issue forth from his cherry-colored lips and wide-open eyes. In the domestic space of America at the time of the mug's creation, it would have functioned as a memento of America's strength, its victory over Japan, and MacArthur as the executor of postwar democracy during the rise of communism. By changing the mug's orientation, however, and placing it upside down, Yonemoto playfully challenges the above, referencing Duchamp's readymades. The mug in Yonemoto's presentation instead becomes a keepsake of the hypocrisy of American democracy, which incarcerated nearly 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry, about two-thirds of whom were American citizens and included Yonemoto's family. [End Page 164] Rika Hiro Rika Hiro is a Visiting Assistant Professor, Occidental College, California. Her doctoral dissertation looked at the aftereffects of the atomic bombs in arts and exhibition culture in postwar Japan. She co-founded the non...