Onoe Kikugor VI photograph Visit by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to Japan Commander in Chief of Veterans of Foreign Wars James

van Zandt 7th May 1936

Photo from Acme Newsphoto Company (now United Press International).

Left to right: Commander R.E. Conway, Dept. of Pennsylvania. James Van Zandt, Commander if Chief. Onoe Kikugor VI, J.J. Skilman, National Council of Administration. Lieutenant Governor Fred S. Alward, Nevada, National Aide-de-Camp, Joseph C. Bettencourt.

Venue This picture is dated May 1936. Mitsukoshi Gekijo wasn't used for Kabuki until after the war. It's hard to say where backstage they are but the fact that the Americans are wearing shoes suggests it's not actually on the stage. The Japanese wouldn't have allowed that. Kikugor played the lead in MUSUME DOJOJI in April 1936 at the Kabuki-za. In May he played KAGAMI JISHI, but this photo is surely MUSUME DOJOJI. There's a photo of him in precisely this costume in KABUKI-ZA HYAKUNEN SHI for April 1936. I suspect the photo reflects the date of the photo's publication, which would have been more than a week after it was taken, since the May 1936 program began on May 2. Samuel Le Leiter

I was wondering if as visiting 'dignitaries' they might have been show a performance in a temple, or a pavilion in the grounds of someone's house, as sometimes happened. This might explain the raised 'blinds' and the fact that the Americans are wearing shoes. The edge of the roof in the top right hand corner when examined close up seems to show the night sky. Trevor Skingle Foreign Service Magazine, July 1936, (the party arrived at Yokohama on Friday April 24th for a 22 day visit so would have left Japan on Friday May 15th and after a reception travelled to Tky where they were staying at the Imperial Hotel) that evening the V.F.W. members were the guests of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Japan Economic Federation and Industry Club at a theater partyfor the article from the Foreign Service Magazine, July, 1936 (see below)

Imperial Hotel Onoe Kikugor VI http://otowaya.ne.jp/en/ancestors/a04.html James van Zandt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Van_Zandt Veterans of Foreign Wars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_of_Foreign_Wars Acme Newsphoto Company 220 East 42nd Street New York City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Press_International