Abstract:

This article analyses the influence of Hawaiian music in Japan from its introduction in the 1920s until the official suppression of the form during World War Two. It attempts to identify the ways in which styles of Hawaiian music were 'naturalised', ie adapted and integrated into an emergent Japanese vernacular, and the extent to which this 'naturalisation' was dependent on the role of Hawaiian born Japanese and thus Japan's 'privileged' access to Hawaiian music. It also frames its discussions within the context of Japan's 'Jazz Age' and the manner in which the cultural climate, of Tokyo at least, contributed to musical cross-fertilisation.

Author: SHUHEI HOSOKAWA