1947 Schwartz Pictorial View of Camp Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan

This is Henry Schwartz's 1947 pictorial view of Camp Hakata near Fukuoka, Japan, produced during the U.S. Occupation of Japan following World War II (1939 - 1945). The colorful, exaggerated illustrations, reminiscent of the underground comics of later decades, satirize both the Japanese and the Americans, as well as their interactions.

A Closer Look

The view covers Hakata Bay and environs near Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan. (The area covered is represented in a small map below the title.) Throughout, U.S. troops and locals are depicted in a wildly embellished comic fashion. Americans are presented as violent, drunken, sex-crazed animals who need to be constantly monitored and reprimanded by military police. Indeed, they appear to do little else than drink, fight, and fornicate. Some of the more respectable Americans try their hand at fishing, sunbathing, or swimming, including a group of older men (likely officers) and glamorous white women (USO entertainers) near the Genkai Sea. Also of note is the African-American soldier driving the dump truck at right, reflecting the frequent relegation of black soldiers to such roles. (The U.S. military was not desegregated until the following year.)

For their part, the Japanese fall into one of several categories, including prostitutes and pan-pan girls hanging around the (many) bars and cabarets catering to Americans (even the traditional gate to the right of the title is labeled 'Cabaret' キャバレー), traditionalists (Buddhist monks, Shinto priests, samurai), and curious onlookers. Surrounding the view are illustrations of key events in the local history of Hakata and Fukuoka, complete with scatological humor (in the fourth drawing, a man hauls a cart of buckets filled with night soil - human feces - which later is flung at invading Mongols).

Although focusing on the realities of occupation (i.e., drinking and sex), some references are made to the recent conflict, including a group of bombed out buildings at bottom-left (Fukuoka was heavily bombed late in the war, including a firebombing raid on June 19, 1945, referred to in the marginal history of the area), an unexploded mine on the beach at top-left, and the 'Atomic Saki Works Inc.' at bottom towards center.

Stylistically, the view appears to presage the underground comics of the following decades, which are known for being vulgar, sexually explicit, and racially insensitive but also sharply satirical and innovative. Schwartz also cleverly incorporates some Japanese motifs (a dragon, sea monster, and octopus) that he may have been familiar with from ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

The 24th Infantry Division

The 24th Infantry Division grew out of the Hawaiian Division, one of a handful of Interwar U.S. Army Divisions that was unconventionally named rather than given a number. In October 1941, the Hawaiian Division was split, and most of it became the new 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions, both of which included field artillery battalions. After suffering casualties in the Pearl Harbor attack, the 24th Division was deployed to Oahu to prepare defenses in case of Japanese attack. Then, when the danger had passed, was shifted to Australia and took part in the capture of Hollandia in the 1944 New Guinea Campaign. Afterward, the Division was assigned to the Sixth Army and participated in the invasions of Leyte and Luzon in the Philippines, the latter of which saw them engaged in heavy fighting, including the recapture of Corregidor. At the end of the war, the 24th Division was tasked with the occupation of Kyushu in southern Japan.

Publication History and Census

This view was drawn by Henry Schwartz, an artist about whom nothing is known but who likely was a soldier in the 24th Division. The only other known example is held by the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.