COMPLETION REPORT
Gina Kim
University of California, San Diego

From Dalian to Changchun: The Aesthetics and Politics of Visual Culture in Manchukuo
大連から長春まで：旧満州における美術の形成と政治生をめぐって
The Description of Onsite and Online Archive Research
My project explores visual culture of Manchuria under Japanese dominion, especially focusing on official art
exhibitions and propagandistic visual productions. As the crux of the proposed project lies on discovering and analyzing
raw historical data through underrepresented archives in Asia, the generous financial support from Sumitomo Foundation
enabled me to conduct onsite and online research, although extremely impacted by the pandemic circumstance. Mostimportantly, the funding supported me to continue writing my dissertation chapters and preparing symposium
presentations. Since Japan’s year-long entry ban that has not been lifted, I visited Stanford University Archival Center,Harvard University Library, and Library of Congress in Washington D.C. instead. Also, online museums, libraries, andarchival research centers I had explored from home provided me to collect some important images and texts, such as
newspaper, magazines, postcards and posters, and photography circulated in Japanese-Manchuria. During my fellowshipperiod, some research institutions in Japan such as the Ohara Institute for Social Research and Fukuoka Museum of
Asian Art released additional online archives, which enabled me to obtain important visual images of Manchukuo-Japan
posters published in 1930s and 40s and related artists’ works.
Further, I was able to be connected to a couple of interviewees in Japan to obtain their (in)direct memories ofManchukuo as a form of oral history. Ms. Ichikawa Chiyoko and Mr. Yamamoto Masanobu, whose parents wereManchukuo-resident craft artists and employees and later became hikiage-sha, elaborated to me on what they heard fromtheir late parents.
The Discovery through and Result of the Research
I had an opportunity to explore major archives and collect some important images and oral testimonies that will be usedin my dissertation chapters. Thanks to the generous Sumitomo Foundation, I have finished my second chapter, which
examines colonial official salon exhibition system, art productions and receptions in Manchukuo.
Throughout the duration of fellowship, there are several findings from the archival centers I visited and interviewees
who generously allowed to accept my remote interview request. Firstly, I was able to find some unpublished
Manchukuo- related material culture such as match boxes, games, and posters. Observing carefully with my visual
analysis and historical crosschecks, I found out that many commercial designers who engaged in wartime cultural
productions in Manchukuo were from Shanghai design circles, which I believe is a novel discovery. Secondly, throughthe interviews with two Japanese, I learned the approximate values of art sales, working environment, and interesting
power games among different settlers’ communities based on economic impulses. Those new discoveries induced mysecond dissertation chapter into open understandings of complex social divisions in Manchukuo.
My original plan, presenting my paper to AAS Boston 2020 and university symposiums was unexpectedly cancelled
due to pandemic; yet I was able to make a presentation in Lewis and Clark College in May 2020 where I indicated thatthe presentation was sponsored by Sumitomo Foundation.

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Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
2020 May 15th, Lewis and Clark CollegeLecture presentation “Her Manchuria: Iconographizing Manchukuo Femininity through Visual Culture” by GinaKim
Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)

Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)-2-