The Vagabond on Front Lines

Each phase of Hayashi Fumiko's wartime writing presents a distinct "face" of the war, or rather the Japanese imperialism. In general, Hayashi's nonfictional texts are in line with the state narrative, presenting the cause of war as just, the Japanese empire as the benevolent leader of Asia, and evading aspects of Japanese aggression. The early travelogues from Nanjing show the destruction around the city following its fall and subsequent massacre, the discussion of which is wholly absent. Interestingly, Hayashi writes about the abandoned houses and ponders the fate of the citizens, and leaves just enough space between the lines to let the informed reader fill in the gaps - but on the surface, Chinese are not portrayed as victims of aggression, but as insurgent rebels. In her writings from the offensive on Wuhan and the city of Hankou, where she accompanied the military in late 1938, Hayashi describes her march with the soldiers, and in so doing provides the reader a perspective from an immediate vicinity of the battle. As the war intensified during this time, so did Hayashi's voice in writing about her experiences. The Chinese, particularly soldiers, become increasingly dehumanized, Japan and its soldiers glorified as saviors, and the urgency in winning the war is more pronounced than before. The commercial success of Hayashi's book Sensen [Front, 1938] and the publicity she earned as the first of all embedded writers to reach Hankou and witness its fall hint at the resonance Hayashi's war-affirming, at times even jingoistic, rhetoric found at home.

The theme of physical and mental hardship, prominent in Hayashi's writing from the front, is taken up in her travelogues from Manchukuo, most importantly Kōreru daichi [Frozen Earth, 1940]. During her travels, Hayashi encounters a wide array of migrants from Japan, some struggling, some living in luxurious mansions; but Hayashi also pays attention to the inequality between the Japanese and Manchurian population, as well as the Manchurians' poverty. Ultimately, Hayashi presents a picture of hope and progress; the harsh living conditions of Manchuria are possible to overcome. During her time in Japan between 1940 and 1943, Hayashi published a number of essays related to war (such as a report from her visit to a military school) and focused heavily on writing novels and short stories, many of which were based on her war experience. Finally, Hayashi spent ten months traveling around Southeast Asia between 1942 and 1943; however, only a small amount of texts from her travels in Indonesia were published in 1943. In these travelogues, Hayashi depicts Indonesia as a positive example of colonialism, with Japan benefitting from Indonesia's oil resources and Indonesia benefitting from the abundant opportunities for economic, cultural and educational exchange. In Hayashi's texts, the Indonesian people have readily accepted their place in the so-called Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere (Daitōa kyōeiken) and are already enjoying the benefits, in stark contrast with the Chinese population in the earlier texts.

The features that define each phase largely correspond to the way the respective territories, peoples and geopolitical narratives were depicted in contemporary media, in alignment with state politics: the obfuscation of aggression and genocide in China, the heroism of Japanese soldiers, Manchukuo as a "utopia under construction", and the patronizing, exoticizng depiction of the "Indonesian paradise" are all different ways of showcasing Japan as the savior and "natural leader" of Asia. Hayashi Fumiko's wartime essays and travelogues therefore don't present any radically new revelations about war narratives in Japan, but their value lies in the sheer quantity and variety of this material. Hayashi's texts have been published in a broad spectrum of magazines, and were therefore addressed to a broad spectrum of audiences as well. Hayashi had frequently published in women's magazines (Fujin Kōron, Shinjoen etc.) and general interest magazines (Chūō Kōron, Kaizō), but also in magazines aimed at children (Shōjo no Tomo), her message and rhetoric remaining consistent despite possible changes in writing style. Examining this corpus can therefore reveal how established narratives of war and colonialism were presented to different audiences, and opens up the possibility to explore them with more nuance.