Losing the War, Winning the Pooh: Ishii Momoko and the Construction of Contemporary Children's Literature in Postwar Japan

The beginning of contemporary Japanese children’s literature dates back to the 1950s. Presently, the conventions of the genre has become accepted as truths about what types of books are appropriate for children. However, the conventions established in the 50s and 60s developed under the specific social conditions of Japan’s loss of the Second World War, the ensuing U.S. Occupation, and the Cold War. The state of children’s literature in present day Japan reflects a historically constructed image of childhood prevalent in writing, translating, publishing, and distributing children’s books. This thesis focuses on the career of Ishii Momoko, one of the most important figures in shaping postwar Japanese children’s literature who received a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation to study in America from 1954 to 55 and disseminated the knowledge she acquired upon her return, in an attempt to outline the influences of postwar social forces on children’s literature.M.A