A group of 5 issues of the Far East Fanfare, a bimonthly publication vividly capturing life in Occupation era Tokyo.
The Far East Fanfare was started by a man named Philip Beaufoy (dates unknown), an American Army officer who was stationed in Japan after the War. After he was discharged, he decided to stay in Japan and started a design company called Philip Beaufoy Associates. Though it is not noted in the publications themselves, it is likely that his company did all of the design and art direction for the Far East Fanfare as well.
The editor is noted as Lee Martin, i.e. Lee Nicholson Martin (1916-1987), an American journalist in Japan. After graduating from the University of Washington, Martin worked as a journalist for the Tacoma News-Tribune before joining the Associated Press in Copenhagen in 1939. After leaving Denmark, she joined Time and Newsweek magazines reporting on events of the War, eventually finder her way to Asia. She arrived in Tokyo in 1947 and stayed after the War, later becoming the editor of the newly established Far East Fanfare.
There is a distinctly whimsical and satirical feel to the Far East Fanfare. Each issue contains anecdotes from Westerners in Japan as well as the social events of the month. The articles portray a vivid image of what life could have been like as an American in Japan in 1950, a time of rapid growth and change. The advertisements, too, provide a rich overview of the commercial goods and businesses that were targeted towards Westerners – including point-and-shoot cameras, whiskey and travel agencies.
This is an extremely rare publication, with OCLC listing only one issue (April 15: vol.1 no.2) at Harvard. Due to the lack of recorded copies and its scarcity in commerce, it is hard to know exactly how many issues of the magazine were published in total.
