[The starting point]
Last spring, we started talking about resuming the Bubu-Shimada collaboration after 27 years, At that time, our main concern was the situation in Gaza. We felt uncomfortable about just “sympathizing” with them from a “peaceful” Japan. Settler colonialism is what Japan had done before and we still haven't squarely dealt with. We decided to look back at OUR Imperialism, colonialism, and capitalism, focusing on the modernization after the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

[Dragging the Meiji Era]
The Meiji Restoration is generally hailed as the “dawn of modern Japan and the opening of civilization". However, from the beginning, the first priority was to invade foreign countries through military power, and to establish Japan as Empire. To achieve this, they adopted “Leave Asia and Enter West” policy, dressing up as westerners and dancing to the western music However, this was nothing more than an imitation of the West and lacked serious consideration of Japanese culture and national identity. Through drag, we “dress up” this “costume play”, thereby expose the twists, contradictions and foolishness of modernization.

[Nhisiki-e (錦絵)]
Nishiki-e is a type of woodblock-print which has never been considered “modern art,” despite the large number of them produced in the early Meiji period. In particular, the popular Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese nishiki-e depicted Japan as a modernized “Sovereign of Asia” and encouraged militarism and a sense of discrimination against China and Korea among the populace. By taking the game format of “Sugoroku” and juxtaposing Nishiki-e with drag, this work critically traces the history of the modern Japanese empire since the Meiji era in a truly CAMP manner, deviating not only from existing gender norms but also from “art” norms.

Yoshiko Shimada
March 2025