Take two: photography and the reconstruction of the post-war Australia/Japan relationship

AbstractPhotography was a significant mediator of responses to Japan in the post-war period, from the late 1940s when thousands of Australians travelled to the country to participate in the US-led military occupation, through to the signing of the landmark Australia-Japan Commerce Agreement in 1957. The camera became a crucial instrument of reconciliation, as Australians began to look at the recent enemy with what one visitor called ‘non-military eyes’, reframing the ‘traditional’ Japan privileged by official military photographers into a dynamic, embryonically modern society with a future linked to Australia’s own. After the Occupation ended and Australia moved to cement the bilateral relationship with Japan, photography continued to act as a powerful medium of cultural reinterpretation.