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Paper short abstract

This paper examines representations of interethnic romantic relationships in Japanese celebrity and tabloid magazines published between 1952 and 1970, focusing on how discourses shifted from showcasing interethnic relationships as morally ambivalent to portraying them as an object of aspiration.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines representations of interethnic romantic relationships in Japanese celebrity and tabloid magazines published between 1952 and 1970.

By 1952, relationships between American servicemen and Japanese women had already become a recurring theme in postwar literature and cinema. War brides and pan pan girls had proximity to American military personnel, and this afforded them increased access to conspicuous consumption. They were depicted ambivalently, oscillating between social stigma and fascination.

However, censorship in Japanese media was significantly relaxed following the end of the American occupation in 1952, and the local press gained greater latitude to address the longer-term social consequences of these relationships. This shift is reflected in the growing number of reports on mixed-race children born as a result of the American military presence.

In 1956 the Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finance declared the end of the ‘postwar' era. The period between this year and the first oil shock in 1973 was marked by rapid economic reconstruction and the emergence of the so-called Japanese Economic Miracle. While political leaders framed the United States as Japan’s primary strategic ally, the developing consumer culture drew aesthetic models from Euro-America, looking at the ‘west’ as a source of fascination (akogare).

Within this context, this paper argues that representations of interethnic relationships underwent a gradual shift—from the morally ambivalent or stigmatized imagery associated with war brides and pan pan girls to a more aspirational discourse. Drawing on archival materials from the celebrity magazines Heibon (Heibonsha 1945-1987) and Shūkan Heibon (Heibonsha 1959-1987), as well as Myōjō (Shūeisha 1952-) and Shūkan Myōjō (Shūeisha 1958-1991), this study traces how interethnic romance was represented in media focused on post-occupation celebrity culture. Simultaneously, this paper aims to understand how the gender and ethnic composition of couples, as well as their legal status influenced their media portrayal.

By turning to under-analyzed sources such as the tabloid press, this paper seeks to examine how popular discourse intersected with broader sociopolitical change in reshaping public perceptions of interethnic romance, while also considering the extent to which these narratives may have been transmitted to the following generations.