Matsumoto Gaku: A Bureaucrat between Culture and Politics in the Beginning of the 1930s

In Japan state controlled active guidance of filmmakers, a central feature of many authoritarian or totalitarian states but also of many democracies throughout the first half of the 20th century, did not set in until the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 — this is the general consensus within the field of Japanese Film studies and of global comparative studies of the history of state and film as a medium. Up until now one assumed that the Police Affairs Bureau of the Home Ministry was exerting influence only via censorship measurements, but did not take part in any state controlled policy enforcing in order to actively guide the film industry. The personal papers of “new bureaucrat” Matsumoto Gaku became especially active in the field of cultural politics during his time as head of the Police Affairs Bureau from 1932-34. Inspired by his work, Matsumoto decided to get actively involved with Japanese culture and founded the so-called Japanese Culture League. With the help of this League Matsumoto intended to establish a broader cultural movement that ideally enfolded not only Japan but the whole world. Making use of different media channels, as well as of personal connections to German cultural representatives helped him spread his messages abroad and noticeably shaped Matsumoto’s mode of thought. In order to include the film industry in his movement, Matsumoto on the one hand studied the works of film economist Ishimaki Yoshio. On the other hand he addressed those engaged in the film sector directly to convince them to from now on cooperate with the state authorities. Matsumoto’s active commitment in the field of film politics disproves the hitherto assumption of an inactivity of the Home Ministry regarding a state controlled film guidance before 1937 and affirms the complexity of intercultural connections linking the state and those engaged in the cultural sector in the beginning of the 1930s.status: publishe