USE OF CARTOONS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22339, 26 May 1947, Page 2

USE OF CARTOONS

TEACHING DEMOCRACY, JAPANESE ELECTORS NEW YORK. April 12. Baffled by the inability of the Japanese people to comprehend that their votes now run the country, once throttled by the Emperor system, warmongers and industrial barons, occupation experts are now trying to explain democracy ihrough cartoons. These coloured posters will be displayed throughout Japan in an effort to explain to the people that it is their duty to take advantage of all the rights the new constitution has brought them. One cartoon attempting to show the difference between conditions before the new constitution and today, depicts the relationship between the Emperor, the nobility and the people.

In the “Before” cartoon the Emperor is a large figure on a wooden pedestal with the nobility a bit smaller on ,a small pedestal. Still more shrunken is the figure of the common man on a tiny pedestal while the woman is a mere speck with no pedestal at all. The “After” cartoon shows a truck hauling away the pedestals and all the figures, even that of the woman, the same size. The man and woman have smiles on their faces, hut there is something glum about the look of the Emperor and the aristocrat.