Noodles in a Time of Scarcity: U.S. Food Aid toward Japan during the Occupation

My paper examines the proliferation of food stands serving Chinese noodle-soup in Tokyo during the U.S. Occupation (1945-1952), and frames it within the larger political context of the U.S. government’s food-aid policy. This policy shifted during the occupation, generally following the “reverse course” of U.S. policy toward Japan as the Cold War intensified. After initially insisting that the Japanese government pay for the importation of wheat-flour and other staples, the U.S. government decided to pay for all costs as it increasingly viewed the food as a means of reindustrializing Japan and, in turn, combating communism. I also analyze the ways in which people in Japan utilized the wheat-flour and the various meanings they attributed to this aid. By discussing the connections between dietary change in Japan and US Cold War policies, this essay highlights the close interrelationship between food culture, international politics, and political economy. The sources for my paper are declassified US government documents from the Occupation, Japanese texts on the history of ramen, Japanese radio broadcasts, and a film directed by Ozu Yasujirô.