Soliders sometimes need amusement. Japanese military postcards with SENRYU ( Haiku ) at Second Sino Japanese War

"Duties" "Missions" "Glory" "Prestige " those words are important but not enough to encourage soldiers in fields.
They sometimes need relaxation & amusement.

The following are postcards with Senryu , one of Japanese traditional literary methods to express something funny, made in & delivered from the homeland along with other military supplies to amuse soldiers.
Some are sarcastic against the enemy.

 (related category in my web site)

1930's Postcard Anti Chinese Soldiers Cartoon 

"The charging enemy stops and dances fifty steps short"

Sometimes civilian speaks more aggressively & loudly than military about the national defense

In the early 1900's, Japanese academic authority presented its opinion to the government, saying Japan should fight Russia, while the government was still unsure about winning the war.

One day, before the war, when the diplomatic process was still active between Japan & Russia, several intellectuals visited General Oyama Iwao (the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese armies in Manchuria at Russo Japanese War) to express necessity of the war against Russia.
After the meeting, he said to his wife " today I met three idiots."

In the 1940's, the diplomatic process was still active between Japan & US, some newspaper said
" Prime minister Tojo Hideki is coward".

Below materials are from the early 1930's.  Although the government & military actually knew US & its allies could be Japan's hypothetical enemies, they tried to avoid a conflict with the West, seeking for the West's understanding toward what Japan was doing in China.
While government was trying to manage the situation carefully, the civilian spoke loud about the national defense, which one could be enemies, and what to do to face them.
These materials (postcards & flyers) were all published by civilian organizations.

Below materials show military power comparison between the world powers, implying "Japan should be stronger".

Second Sino Japanese War Anti China Propaganda Art

As far as I know, there are more artworks describing friendship with China ( more precisely, with Chinese civilians) than ones showing hostility against it at Second Sino Japanese Wartime.

That shows Japan was dragged into the quagmire of war against wide China, was trying to avoid facing everything as enemies and was eager for the cause of the war "Asia Unity", totally unlike the war against Russia in 1900's.

These are hostile artworks against China.
More sarcastic than ones at Russo Japanese wartime, but not as much harsh as ones against United States and United Kingdom at Pacific wartime.
No wonder war art really shows how the war was being fought.

(related categories in my website)
 2nd Sino-Japanese War      Friendly to China, Asia     Hostile to China 

1930's Second Sino-Japanese War Postcard : Anti Chinese Army Sarcastic Senryu (Haiku)

1930's Postcard Anti Chinese Soldiers Cartoon "The charging enemy stops and dances fifty steps short"

Japanese 1950 - 1960's Toy Art : Nuclear War / Future War / Space War ( in the nuclear age , space age , cold war )

This movie collects Japanese 1950's , early 1960's toy artworks , mainly traditional card toys called " Menko " reflecting so called the nuclear age , space age and the cold war.

Fear of nuclear war disasters , end of the earth are seen in them.
At the same time,  dreaming of the space adventure existed as well.

As for the "cold war", artworks describing the threat of Soviet or hostility against it
are hardly seen in the toy artworks of this age
Sometimes Japanese toys praised sputnik's accomplishment.
Politics & military knew how to face Soviet , while civilians saw Soviet as an example of the socialism and some people even admired it.

By the way,
giving kids space dream should be suitable for the cultivation of their aesthetic sensitivity or creativity.
Having kids see fear of nuclear, having kids see everything happening in the real adults' world for what ?
Oh yes, I know Japan uses everything for playing... actually has been doing so since the Edo Era,
and that is still happening now. No compromise for making toys.