In this lecture, historian Angus Lockyer examines Japan’s participation in the 1939–40 and 1964–65 New York World’s Fairs. He explores how Japan’s pavilions and exhibitions combined traditional culture with modern achievement while responding to the very different diplomatic circumstances of the prewar and postwar periods. Placing the Japanese exhibits within the broader history of international expositions, Flushing Meadows, and New York City, Lockyer shows how government officials, exhibitors, and the Japanese community used the fairs to present Japan to Western audiences and navigate a turbulent century.

Angus Lockyer is a historian of Japan, East Asia, and global history. He is the author of Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development and Japan: A History in Objects, and currently teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.