Japan’s memory of war and imperialism in kayō eiga: Shochiku’s Under the Stars of Singapore and Asianism1

Abstract

In 1967, Shochiku, a Japanese film production company, released the kayō eiga (‘popular song film’) Shingapōru no yo ha fukete (Under the Stars of Singapore), starring Hashi Yukio and set in the newly independent country of Singapore. Through an analysis of the film, which highlights the experience of the Asia-Pacific War and the Japanese occupation of Singapore, this article discusses the memory of war and imperialism in Japan in the late 1960s. Previous studies have argued that works of Japanese popular culture around 1960 reveal Asianist desires. However, in focusing on kayō eiga of the late 1960s, seen as marking the end of the ‘transwar era’ in Japan, I find that Asianist desires are minimal and that the stories more strongly echo themes of Cold War-era Japanese pacifism. This reflects the changing narratives of war in the context of generational shifts and Japan’s rapid economic growth, as well as the contemporary transformation of Japan’s involvement in South East Asia.