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Abstract

This article examines former and existing negative messages and images found in Japan about Blacks. It is argued that the elite Japanese used consciously or subconsciously these messages and images as negative communicative tools to strengthen their collective, postwar identity without severing U.S. relations because (a) under the guidance of elite White Americans such as General MacArthur, Japan suffered defeat, one that would make it difficult to rally collective identity through public insult of U.S. Whites, and (b) most elite White Americans felt that Black Americans were below them and the Japanese, and it would not be likely for Whites to seek retribution for international misrepresentations of Blacks as a people.

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The Convenient Scapegoating Of Blacks In Postwar Japan

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