The ANU Japan Institute Seminar Series showcases cutting-edge research by leading and emerging scholars based primarily in Australia and Japan.
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Japanese food diplomacy and the United States: The cases of sugar and whale meat
After Japan's defeat in the Pacific War, the country experienced a severe food crisis. In response, the administration of US President Harry S Truman and the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) implemented a food aid policy. These measures included authorising food imports from the United States, permitting the entry of products from other countries—such as Cuban sugar—and approving the resumption of Japanese whaling. While these policies helped alleviate the famine and supported Japan's economic recovery, they also increased the country's dependence on US food commodities.
Following Japan's return to the international community in 1952, Tokyo sought to reduce this dependence. However, sugar and whale meat—initially supported by the United States—later became sources of tension in US–Japan relations. In the case of sugar, Japan continued its imports from Cuba after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. This situation caused diplomatic friction because Washington sought to isolate the Revolutionary Government. Ultimately, Tokyo resisted US pressure to sever ties with Havana and maintained sugar imports throughout the Cold War. The dispute over whale meat, by contrast, stemmed from international regulatory conflicts rather than geopolitical issues. While the United States initially mediated whaling debates, it adopted a more critical stance in the 1960s as domestic environmental movements grew, making whaling a persistent source of friction.
This presentation examines the intersection of food diplomacy and US–Japan relations, highlighting how commodities once promoted for Japan's recovery later became points of contention.
Speaker
Isami Romero is Associate Professor at the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (Japan). He holds a PhD from the University of Tokyo and specialises in the history of Japanese diplomacy, the Cold War, and inter-American relations. His research examines Japan's food diplomacy—particularly sugar and whaling—and Japan's postwar relations with Cuba and Latin America. He is the author of Sugar, Cold War, Revolution: Japan's Diplomacy toward Cuba and Japan–U.S. Relations, 1929–1964 (2026) and has published widely in journals including International Relations and The Japanese Journal of American Studies. He is also a literary translator, rendering works by Osamu Dazai, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Kenji Miyazawa, Natsuhiko Kyōgoku, and other Japanese authors into Spanish.
Chair
Professor Simon Avenell is a Professor in the School of Culture, History, and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. He specialises in modern Japanese history, postwar Japan (1945~), civic activism, civil society, social history, and political history.
Image: Whaling Scene on the Coast of Gotō drawn by Hokusai from Wikipedia
