Chin Music Press - Adventures in Publishing - What Laura Ingalls taught Japan

What Laura Ingalls taught Japan — Part 1

Life in Japan

(Noriko Suzuki has written an interesting thesis as a post-graduate student at Tsukuba University in Japan. She's taken a close look at how The Long Winter, one of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, was used by Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the Occupation forces to teach the Japanese about the American way of life. Suzuki, who received her master's degree from Tsukuba in 2003, has allowed us to excerpt the paper on our blog. We're excited to feature Suzuki's work over the next few weeks. The original material appears in a slightly edited version here.)

Under the educational reform policy of General Headquarters (GHQ), a great number of American books were selected for translation and publication in postwar Japan. Wilder's The Long Winter was chosen with the recommendation from the supreme commander, General Douglas MacArthur himself. MacArthur's wife, Jean, who loved the Little House books, encouraged him to include the series on the list to be translated and published in Japan and Germany.

By May 1948, 100 foreign copyrighted books — 76 American books and 24 British books — including The Long Winter, were granted commercial translation rights by the Civil Information and Education Section (CIE). These books covered the fields of art, religion, science and children's literature. Three-fourths of the books were for general readers and one-fourth for scholars. The following month, the first competitive bidding took place in Tokyo. The Long Winter was one of the most sought after books by Japanese publishers in the first bidding. Eventually Cosmopolitan Publishing Co. won the bidding war surrounding the book.

When The Long Winter was published in February 1949 under the Japanese title of Nagai Fuyu, the book greatly attracted Japanese people, especially young readers. In advertising the book, the publisher announced, "This book is very instructive not only for schoolchildren but also for fathers and mothers. You will have a lot of things to learn from this book." The Nippon Dokusho Shinbun, an official newspaper of the Japanese Publishing Association, had a column to introduce The Long Winter on March 9, 1949:

The Long Winter is a book that effectively illuminates the great spirit of American citizens ... Various events and happenings in daily life are plainly illustrated. The plain style of description of the daily life of a pioneer family rouses abundant warmth and great courage in every reader's heart. The traditional great American spirit illuminated in this book teaches us that what we need the most to overcome hardships and reach bliss is not a splendid act of heroism, but a little honesty, diligence, creation and courage in our daily life. (my translation)

Both the Japanese Library Association and the Association of Scholars of Children's Literature listed The Long Winter in their children's choices in 1948. The Japanese Storybook Association also included the book in its choice book list. Endorsed by these public institutions and distributed by them to school libraries, public libraries, CIE libraries and city halls, The Long Winter reached a considerable number of Japanese readers. Though originally published for school children, the book also gripped the adult audience when it became available at public libraries. Wilder's book gained a good reputation among Japanese readers and emerged as one of the most widely circulated translated books in Japan during the occupied period, surpassed in popularity only by Gone With the Wind (1936), The Good Earth (1931), Little Women (1868-1869), Lady Chatterly's Lover (1928), a biography of Madam Curie (1937) and E. M. Remarque's Arc de Triomphe (1946).

Many of the Japanese readers were deeply moved by the story of The Long Winter; some even wrote to the author Wilder, who was then living in Missouri. Wilder gave an encouraging message to Japanese readers on the publication of Nagai Fuyu at the request of the book's translator, Aya Ishida. The message, translated into Japanese, appeared on the first page of the book with her home address in Missouri.

Noriko Suzuki >> August 02, 2005

Comments

Interesting. I knew that "Little House on the Prairie" was one of the first(?), and a very popular American TV series to be broadcasted in Japan, but I had no idea that the original book was used this way. Makes me wonder what they are translating into Arabic these days...

Akira at August 2, 2005 09:15 PM