4. Sustainable Development Goals from the Perspective of Photographic Archives: A Case Study on Photographs from Occupied Japan

In this chapter, I consider how photography can function for SDGs from old photographic archives and make a proposal using these photographs taken in Japan immediately after the end of the war as an example.

When I see the SDGs, the images that come to mind are those of photographs that I collected in Japan during its occupation (1945–52). “No poverty (SDG1),” “zero hunger (SDG2),” and “good health and well-being (SDG3)” were the major issues facing Japan during the occupation. The generation that lived through the postwar period battled against these challenges. However, the issues of “affordable and clean energy (SDG7)” and “job satisfaction and economic growth (SDG8)” are in different phases. For example, the switch from charcoal to fossil fuels, and the decline in the number of primary industry workers did not occur until 1955, after the occupation. These SDGs, therefore, images of the prehistory of this issue to resurface.

The SDGs, as this book shows, are very broad in scope and require various research approaches to engage and involve many people. The SDGs are a current and future issue; however in this study, I consider what can be done from the “opposite perspective” of historical photography.

My research field is photo archiving (Satō 2006, 2015, 2021), which involves the collection of old photographs from various places, passing them on to those who need them, and considering how to utilize them for various people. However, I am not aware of any paper or book that squarely addresses the question of how photo archives can help SDGs. Photo archiving is a public field. There are many points of contact between collecting, researching, and utilizing historical photographs and advancing on the SDGs.

Photographs have many possibilities, especially those photos are “open to reading” for the viewer (Ueda et al. 2021). It is not always a given that the viewer will understand exactly what the photographer intended, but the viewer can focus on areas that the photographer was not aware of. Photography allows the viewer the freedom to make discoveries and encourages fresh thinking.

Although my research has mainly focused on photographs of occupied Japan, I present a methodology that can be applied in other parts of the world under different conditions and at different times. I hope that readers will consider the following text and study the photographs while keeping in mind the history of the region, even though they may not wholly be related to the occupation or Japan.

In the specialized field of photographic expression, there exist photographers and news reporters who present photographic works based on their awareness of the issues expressed in SDGs. There are also global events that curate and introduce such works. For example, “The Prix Pictet,” an award for photography and sustainability (Fig. 4.2), decides on a theme each year and nominates and awards photographers for their work (The Prix Pictet 2021). In many cases, the viewers are presented with trends and conditions of the world that they may not have been aware of. Through these photographs, the viewers are able to imagine the situation and share the photographer’s awareness of issues. Some well-known photographic works can provide questions to be considered.

Most of us are committed to these photographic expression activities as viewers. Encountering these works at some point in time can open our eyes of interest. In addition to promoting the creation of such works, it is necessary to pick up the works, introduce them to others, and communicate them widely.

In the field of education, there are workshop programs and contests in which students think about SDGs by taking pictures of things that interest them in their daily lives. SDG photograph contests, for example, the SDGs Student Photo Contest (Fig. 4.3) launched in 2016, have been held at various locations.

In the classroom, while learning the value of the SDGs, students observe daily life, discover problems, take pictures, and discuss them. By taking photographs, we can build a bigger picture using the fragmented facts embedded in our daily lives. It confirms that we are also a part of the problem and allows for discussion. This can be done through various means—on a smartphone inside or outside your home. The photographs present in the camera roll of a smartphone can also be analyzed.

Having a camera as a medium encourages discovery, and looking at these photographs further imparts values and views.

The use of archived photographs makes it possible to consider the history of how humanity acquired the values set forth in the SDGs. I attempt to establish the role of these photographs in this chapter. By comparing old photographs to those of the present, we can confirm the gaps and connections between them. For example, most of the photographs of the occupation period presented here were taken around 1950, but we can ask the following questions: What were the values of the world 70 years ago? What has improved and what has not changed over the past 70 years? What were the common problems? What are the new problems that have emerged?

Many digital archives of photographs are available on the Internet. For example, Japan Search is a leading portal site for digital archives in Japan (Fig. 4.4), and we can very easily view these archives on our own desktops.

With the promotion of digitalization in society, digitized data is being provided for various uses. The digital image in the form of a photograph is one of the targets of this trend. In the field of humanities, there is a subfield called “digital humanities.” Research using digital images has also become increasingly common.

First, what does a photographic archive mean as a historical document?

A photograph is a material that provides an opportunity to relive the long experience of humanity. We own the experience in the form of photographs and share it by preserving it as an archive. Photography was invented in the 1820s. In the 200 years since, various landscapes and situations have been photographed, and these photographs belong to the human race.

Additionally, photographs show facts as well as perspective. When photographing a person, the difference between taking a close-up of the person alone or framing the image to include the background is not just a difference in photographic technique, but also a difference in the way things are perceived. In addition to information about the other side of the picture, it is also possible to consider the differences in the way we perceive things by reading information about the distance from the subject, the height of our gaze, and the framing.

With these points in mind, we will consider what can be known from old photographs in the next section.

By using photographs from the past, the analysis of SDGs can take three forms (Fig. 4.5).

Based on the discussion in the previous section, I propose two historical methodologies using photographs as historical documents.

One method is to use the framework of the SDGs to understand the situation of a certain period of time in a certain society and compare it to the present to understand the history of the mission of the SDGs.

The other method involves tracing the transition of a single issue in the SDGs through photographs to understand how the issues have been recognized and solved (Fig. 4.6).

The occupation period was important in that it that defined the present state of Japanese society, and many of the issues addressed by SDGs came to the forefront. Before looking at specific photographs, let us summarize the characteristics of photographs taken in Japan during the occupation.

In the following section, I reconsider the historical photographs of the occupation period in the context of the 17 SDGs, showing the relevant photographs in the order of the SDGs and explaining what can be considered from them.

Goal 1: No poverty

Poverty is one of the biggest challenges of the present, and there is no shortage of photographs depicting this (Fig. 4.7); for example, personal photographs in places like Ginza, the central shopping district of the capital city of Tokyo. The image of the homeless living on the streets is easily caught by visitors to the city. Similar images can be found in official photographs (Fig. 4.8), but these are intended for research or propaganda purposes.

Goal 2: Zero hunger

Extreme food insecurity was also a major challenge, and photographs of food rationing, which was an official measure, frequently appeared in official and press photographs (Fig. 4.9). Rationing alone was not enough to provide food for the people, so urban residents went to the countryside to buy food, which was illegal, but done openly. There are not many photographs of such activities, probably because they were subject to control. Similarly, there are few photographs of the black market, which was an informal source of food, because the occupying forces were forbidden from entering it (Fig. 4.10).

Goal 3: Good health and well-being

Sanitation was also a major issue, and photographs of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), an insecticide sprayed in public places to prevent epidemics, are symbolic images of this era. In addition, the photographs (Fig. 4.11) of social improvement projects, such as a survey on sanitation in a so-called bad housing area (slum), may be in line with the SDGs perspective (Fig. 4.12). The images illustrated above can also be considered as interrelated with SDGs 1–3.

Goal 4: Quality education

As school facilities were destroyed in the war, public education was offered in different locations. The photograph of the “open-air classes” is one such example (Fig. 4.13). Many photographs of war orphans and orphanages can be seen in both official and personal photographs. Some of the personal photographs are taken by people who supported the operation of the individuals (Fig. 4.14), suggesting that the occupation officials were aware of their “savior” status.

Goal 5: Gender equality

Prostitutes working for occupation forces personnel, known as “pan-pan,” were also a social problem due to the perception that they were disruptive to public morals; but they were also deeply rooted in society because of poverty. Because the occupying forces were forbidden to set foot in the areas where prostitution was tolerated (red-light district), photographs taken in those areas are few, but do exist (Fig. 4.15). Such images speak eloquently of the situation women found themselves in, but to make them public was a matter of hesitation, and there is the issue of portrait rights in photography. Gender issues in the contemporary sense have also been taken up in policy as women’s labor issues, and many photographs have been taken to investigate the working conditions of women workers (Fig. 4.16).

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

The sewerage system in the capital city of Tokyo was not built in earnest until after World War II, with a penetration rate of 49% in 1970 and 100% in 1995. The occupation forces conducted a survey of drainage systems and public toilets during the postwar survey of areas lost to air raids, and photographs of these facilities have been preserved (Fig. 4.17).

Many of the photographs taken by the occupation forces show “honey buckets,” or manure buckets, and people collecting them (Fig. 4.18). It is likely that the occupation forces learned of the existence of these buckets from the odor and captured it on camera. In any case, human waste generated in urban areas was purchased and transported to farming villages in the suburbs for use as fertilizer, but the occupying forces adopted the hydroponic method for growing vegetables for their own food because of the risk of parasites and other hygiene problems.

Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy

The depletion of commonly available fuels was severe to the extent that gasoline for automobiles was not generally available, and coal was used as a fuel for power (Fig. 4.19). Fuel for household use was charcoal and coal, but since the period of rapid economic growth, fossil fuels were replaced by kerosene stoves and other fuels for ordinary households.

Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth

The trade union movement was banned during the war, but resumed, and the occupying forces worked to improve the inhuman working environment caused by unfair exploitation. The labor movement also gained momentum in many parts of the country, and the occupation forces supported the movement while carefully watching over political developments. The May Day march in Hibiya Park, Tokyo, was captured in various photographs (Fig. 4.20).

Photographs of surveys conducted by labor policymakers in various parts of the country (Fig. 4.21) also show that the working environment at that time was problematic.

Goal 9: Industry, innovation, infrastructure

The occupying forces’ efforts to dismantle the warlords and munitions industries, and to replace them with peaceful industries, have left behind a variety of symbolic photographs. These include abandoned munitions factories and scenes of fighter jets being burned (Fig. 4.22). Some of these factories were later taken over by heavy industries, while others were cleared for public use, and it is only in modern times that the SDGs have begun to address the issue of sustainable industry.

Goal 10: Reduced inequalities

The improvement of the status of former colonists was a major theme of the postwar process. The movement by the natives themselves was one of the targets of the occupation policy, and there exist various records (Fig. 4.23). Some problems were resolved during the occupation and some were not, and this is one of the issues that have remained unresolved since. There has also been researched into the Ainu ethnic minority in the country, and both official and personal photographs exist (Fig. 4.24).

Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities

Immediately after the end of the war, barracks and shelters were the predominant living spaces in burnt-out urban areas (Fig. 4.25), and the focus turned to residential environmental issues, along with sanitation and disaster prevention issues. Urban housing construction in the context of war reconstruction proceeded, followed by the rapid construction of housing complexes. A symbolic topic in the issue of intra-city housing is that of people living on the water, “floating population.” Their hygienic conditions were poor, and while surveys were conducted in light of these conditions, they were also recognized as an extremely Asian urban landscape (Fig. 4.26). Although many other urban planning issues existed, the occupation forces had little touch with urban planning itself, and it was only in the later phases of the occupation that urban development with new values began to take off.

Goal 12: Responsible consumption, production

The Natural Resources Section (NRS) of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP), a section of the occupation forces, was in charge of managing the natural resources that were devastated during the war, and its policies include researching new natural resources and protecting the existing environment. For example, the NRS started to protect wild birds that were almost extinct due to mass captivity caused by food shortages, especially during and after the war, as can be seen from the photograph of the person in charge (Fig. 4.27).

Goal 13: Climate action

Flood damage caused by heavy rainfall due to typhoons and other causes was a frequent occurrence in Tokyo, and there exist photographs of rescue operations and other activities at the time (Fig. 4.28). In response to such heavy water damage, the city implemented flood control measures during the period of economic growth by strengthening the levees of rivers in the capital with concrete; however, the rivers became “backspaces” in the city, and the connection between water and land was severed. This fragmentation of environmental ecosystems due to robust infrastructure has continued ever since.

Goal 14: Life below water

The NRS conducted research on Japan’s fisheries in relation to marine resources. For example, laver fishing was conducted in Tokyo Bay, which was rapidly reclaimed during the period of rapid economic growth (Fig. 4.29), and it can be understood that the coastal ecosystem that was subsequently lost was still alive.

Goal 15: Life on land

During the war, trees were cut down in many areas for material use, resulting in serious degradation of forest resources. This situation can be clearly seen in the photographs of the bald mountains (Fig. 4.30). As a result, coniferous trees such as cedar, which were planted at a rapid pace after the war, were the main cause of pollinosis.

Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

The photographs taken by the occupation officials include many pictures of children carrying their siblings on their backs (Fig. 4.31). In these photographs, children were portrayed as being forced to work. These scenes were commonplace, but disappeared with declining birthrates, economic growth, and changing lifestyles.

Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation for sustainable development and revitalize the global partnership.

Assistance during this period was provided by Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia (LARA), which focused on food, and was supported by private organizations in many countries (Fig. 4.32).

Here are some examples of how the issues related to Goals 7 and 11 have evolved from several pictures.