Jazz in Japan: Changing Culture Through Music

Abstract

This thesis primarily focuses on jazz in Japan and the role it played in the American occupation after World war II. The trajectory jazz took in Japan changed a multitude of times: in the 1920s it was immensely popular with the rise of consumerism and internationalism, and was emblematic of the carefree attitude of that time period. After Pearl Harbor occurred, enemy music, clearly being American jazz, was formally forbidden in Japan but periodically still played for the entertainment of the troops. Thus jazz went from being incredibly popular to practically banned. As the occupation took place, jazz yet again was popular but became more associated with connotations of homogeneity and representative of America. The Japanese reacted in various and differing ways, which I demonstrate in this thesis by examining the work of Japanese director Kurosawa Akira and the widely popular Japanese singer Kasagi Shizuko. Therefore, jazz was not only a form of entertainment but a tool of manipulation by many throughout the 1920s, 1930s, and, most importantly, the American occupation in Japan.