In the 1930s, a new style of poster emerged that reflected the growing significance of the masses in Japanese society. These artistic posters borrowed elements from Western design and often incorporated bold slogans with political, economic and educational themes. Here are a few examples.
Health Exercises for the People (Bureau of Postal Insurance, 1930)
Tohoku Area Famine Relief (Federation of Tokyo Area Proletarian Organizations, 1931)
The 2nd Proletarian Art Grand Exhibition (Japan Proletarian Artists Federation, 1929)
Workers and Farmers Russian Art Exhibit (Japan Proletarian Art League, 1927)
Listen! Workers of All Nations! (1931)
Safety Leads to Efficiency (Labor Welfare Association, 1932)
Proletarian Art Institute (1930)
Poster for The Proletarian Graph Magazine (Proletarian News Company, 1929)
Indulging in Alcohol Ruins Your Health (Labor Welfare Association, 1932)
Harufusa Ohashi (Election Poster for Labor-Farmer Party, 1928)
Come, the Dawn of Mankind is Breaking (Farmers' Theater Performance, 1928)
National Bonds for the Sino-Japanese War (Ministry of Finance, 1937)
The Grand National Exhibition of Advancing Japan (City of Gifu, 1936)
Records of a Victory (Leftist Theater's 20th Performance, 1931)
A Town With No Sun (Leftist Theater's 14th Performance, 1930)
A Happy Worker Makes a Happy Home (Labor Welfare Association, 1932)
Rise, All Japanese Citizens (Imperial Rule Assistance Association, 1940)
The Key to Harmony Is the Spirit of Mutual Help (Ehime Factory Improvement Committee, 1929)
To Manchuria! (Ministry of Overseas Affairs, 1927)
Poster for Taishu [The Masses] Magazine (Taishusha, 1929)
Kusunoki Masashige Festival (Kenkoku Kai, 1931)
Mobilizing All Citizens and Organizations for the Nation (Industrial Guilds Central Committee, 1937)
Pay a Living Wage (Japan Textile Workers' Union, 1930)
Prevent Tuberculosis (Ministry of Home Affairs - Social Affairs Bureau, 1930)
Clean Up Before Make Up (Labor Welfare Association, 1932)
[Source: "Japanese Posters and Handbills in the 1930s - Communication in Mass Society," published by National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2001]
EddyBear
Fantastic, I wish I could get a copy of a few of those for myself!
[]Skunks
Posting this up here so people will read it right off. IT'S CHINESE, NOT JAPANESE! Seriously, come ON!
[]simon
this is japanese, you can tell by the rising sun, which is japan's flag, sumo wrestlers, which are solely japanese, and the japanese language, which is not chinese. really, communism did exist elsewhere in the world. so much for having to be right, you douche.
[]Rats
Skunks is an idiot.
[]Kijo
Holy crap, agreed with Simon and Rats. This is definitely Japanese. e.e;;
[]Dobbs
Rising Sun? - Check
Samurai Warrior? - Check
Image of Mount Fuji? - Check
Sumo Wrestlers? - Check
Yep. The evidence is all there. These are Chinese. :-)
Great detective work, Skunks.
[]rudof
considering everything you listed is Japanese i think you should reconsider your answer and use google. Japan has a communist party, although they disagree with Japans involvement in ww2, the posters could have been made my the Japanese communist party
[]Echo
Sarcasm, grasshopper. Sarcasm.
James
Uhm... there is obviously Hiragana there, which is not used in Chinese.. lol
[]Charles
Yeah, its obvious if you know what Hiragana is.
The other evidence listed is much more obvious.
[]trevor martin
ya totally agreed. how could they possibly get away with calling it japanese!! i take chinese!
[]Anon42362
Not Chinese dude. Easy mistake to make seeing as the Japanese language was originally derived from Chinese. But they are unmistakably Japanese.
[]geo.reinecke
you guys are all fucked,they're IRISH!!! morons...
[]Matsu
Clearly Glaswegian, complete idiots.
[]w
all I have to say is look at the source below the last handbill....
[]James
I second the question about how / where one could get some of these. As for those saying these area Chinese, they are not. They are Japanese posters. Feel free to ask for a translation of any one of them and I'll post it here. Some of these aren't leftist at all, though. Some are imperialistic in nature, although some Japanese imperial ideology and symbolism in some ways coopted from earlier proletarian movements from across the political spectrum.
[]Cibele
Some interesting reference of other classic images.
[]Great post.
mikhail
Excellent Post. Never seen anything like this.
[]sixmats
The first one looks like PM Kan's new commercial where he is washing the sheet.
[]mangek
The first one is clearly a Captain Morgan reference. ;)
[]Aydın
This is what im lookin for...Thank you so much!
[]Michiel
Great post, interesting and inspiring imagery. Never seen stuff like this from Japan, only Europe and the US.
[]Thanks for sharing!
Love
Beautiful designs, thank you very much!
[]Bruce Colthart (@bccreative)
Outstanding!! I too have never seen the likes of these from Japan. Is there a good story as to how you came across these??
[]Skunks
Dude, this is Chinese not Japanese. BIG DIFFERENCE
[]simon
no, seriously, just gander at the sources before making wild and unfounded accusations.
[]DJ Thrilliam
omg simon Sunk's totes right. china not japan! duh!
[]lol whoever you copied this from must have gotten their facts all skewed.
Rats
No, Skunks is an idiot. Fail.
[]Rats
Skunks, you're right about one thing: there IS a BIG DIFFERENCE between Chinese and Japanese. Idiot.
[]cheapthrills
hmmm...well seeing as these posters are written in Japanese, they are probably Japanese. I speak Chinese and I can assure you that this is in fact Japanese.
[]Lance
Let's see...
Katakana? Check.
Hiragana? Check.
Rising Sun? Check.
Hammer and Sickle? Check.
It's Soviet Russian you retards!
[]Hermitbiker
.... I wish they had a better description of what each poster said.... the Asian language portion of my brain is "non-existent" !! :)
[]Hermitbiker
PS..... along with the other foreign languages side of my brain.... all "recognition" has been "deleted" !!
[]wiochmen
Is there any way to get to the sources of those images ? I would gladly put my hand on some high resolution files so I can print them out. Thanks a lot.
[]釣本直紀
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[]Soviet Razor
Haha Skunks is just trying to get a rise out of you lot, ignore him/her. Probably him.
[]alvaro
u know guys how can i print this images in a poster size with that quality? Is it enough?thanks
[]Bella
I'm pretty sure these are not really from either country. Most of the scripture doesn't look Japanese to me but its all done in the Japanese style...
[]Probably just made by the U.S... :D
R.T
It's definitely Japanese for there is the Hiragana character　"ã®" which is currently only present in Japanese.
[]Ulashima
Well, the Japanese language has changed very much from the time when those posters were printed. The simlification of Kanji, changes in Kana usage, horizontal writing direction, also words dying out, words created later. And about the imagery, people get influenced by others as a rule. Socialist art and imagery has some common points throughout the world and the Japan is not an exception. Some may think that only the Chinese and Vietnamese can have those images, it's very very wrong. Also one Japanese person here has an explanation that some of the images are from the governmental agencies, which were far from being on the left wing those days.
[]someone
How cynical were the average Japanese during the 30s and 40s when they saw these posters?
[]alfa
This is the right answer on capitalism- not today "social democratic" parties- they are only soft servants of the fiancial oligarchy of the world!!
[]Paul
This is not Chinese poster art like some of the bloggers are suggesting. Workers movements took strength through the 1920s and 1930s in Japan. Some of the posters are clearly government directed (e.g. About the SJ War, Tuberculosis (which was a big killer), expand to Manchuria, workplace safety), some of the others are more radical in their tone and are probably produced by left wing groups in the country (of which there were many). The content matches up perfectly with what was happening in Japan at the time. Japanese, not Chinese.
[]Carmen
This better be Japanese or I am suing you 'cause I am using this for a project.
Jk I wont sue you but I'll fail and you'll have to forever live with that guilt.
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