book review

Colorized, digitally enhanced photos of postwar Japan bring their subjects to life

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By Thomas French

In recent years the confluence of digital technologies and social media have led to something of a boom in the digital colorization of historical photographs and film. The work of digital colorists such as Marina Amaral in her bestselling "The Colour Of Time: A New History Of The World, 1850-1960," and the team behind Peter Jackson’s sublime "They Shall Not Grow Old" seems to assist many viewers in better appreciating and relating to the subjects portrayed, and by extension better understand the complex hues of a hitherto "monochrome" past.

Unfortunately few of these colorization projects have yet produced much content related to Japan. An exception to this trend however, is "Sengo Nihon no Fuko no Kiroku, GHQ Kameraman Boria ga Totta Nihon no Fukei" (Records of the Reconstruction of Postwar Japan, Japanese Scenes Taken by The GHQ Cameraman Boria) -- a two-volume set of digitally enhanced original color photographs by Georges Dimitria Boria (also known as Dimitri Boria) published in 2018. The images presented in these two books are highlights from the 30,000 images Boria presented to the MacArthur Archives, selected and introduced by Osaka University professor Yoneyuki Sugita.

After making his way to the U.S. from his native Albania at the age of 17, Boria worked in various roles in the entertainment industry, but ultimately found his calling during World War II as a U.S. Army photographer. After the end of the conflict he continued his photographic work for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency in the Balkans and then, from 1947, as supervisor of the color photographic laboratory of the U.S. Far East Command in Japan. Boria continued to serve in this capacity until 1956, traveling across East Asia, and remained in Japan until 1961.

The photographs presented in these volumes span the era from Boria’s arrival in Japan through until the middle 1950s. The overall theme of the work, as Sugita mentions in his commentary within the volumes, is that of Japan recovering from devastation and defeat and heading towards a more prosperous future, with the country “accepting peace, rebuilding, and looking forward” (Vol 1., p.1), as Sugita puts it.

The first volume looks at the main political events and characters of the Occupation era (1945 - 1952), with a secondary focus on the rebirth and reconstruction of Tokyo. Subjects include the facilities used by the Occupation, the democratization process and the rehabilitation of the Showa Emperor as a symbol of such, the demilitarization of Japan including the Tokyo trials, and the path towards the San Francisco peace treaty and the ending of the Occupation. The final few chapters depict the economic revival and people of Tokyo.

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The second volume deals with life outside Tokyo, and carries on the people centric approach of the concluding chapters of the first volume. The continuities of elements of daily life and the economy with the pre-war years are highlighted in a first chapter whose contents geographically span the length of Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa. Other chapters are dedicated to views of life on the Izu peninsula, in Kyoto, and Okinawa. The volume concludes with a look at Boria himself and his travels in Japan.

Throughout both volumes Boria’s sensitivity, humanity, and respect for his subjects shines through. The quality and composition of the images are masterful and the often novel way their subjects and themes are presented make this work a unique and occasionally beautiful window into the period. The bright and hopeful images, often filled with smiling individuals (Boria often employed his talent for creating paper silhouettes to entertain and relax his subjects) also though present an interesting contrast to other images of the era, especially the harrowing immediate post war photographs of Joe O’Donnell and others. Some of the difference here stems from the era being portrayed (Boria arrived in Japan only in 1947, after some of the worst of the devastation of the country had begun to be overcome), and some perhaps from Boria’s role as an official photographer, which while granting him enviable access to subjects (such as top U.S. Diplomats, GHQ staff, and the Imperial household), limited his ability to photograph matters of little interest, or of embarrassment to, his employer.

Nevertheless, these images provide a unique perspective on history of Japan in an era which still had many firm links to the past (especially evident in some of the rural scenes), but which was rapidly transforming into a new, more recognizable Japan. These volumes are highly recommended for those interested in the history of Japan in the late 1940s and 1950s, students and scholars of the era, and those with a general interest in mid-20th century color photography.

"Sengo Nihon no Fuko no Kiroku, GHQ Kameraman Boria ga Totta Nihon no Fukei" (Records of the Reconstruction of Postwar Japan, Japanese Scenes Taken by The GHQ Cameraman Boria). Photographs by Dimitri Boria, Compiled by Yoneyuki Sugita. Okayama: Daigakukyōikushuppan. Vol. 1, pp 143; Vol. 2, pp. 141.

Thomas French is Associate Professor of Modern Japanese History at the College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University.

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An interesting and well-written article. Thank you Japan Today and Professor French.

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