“Wings of the New Japan”: Kamikaze, Kimonos, and Airline Branding in Postwar Japan

Abstract

This article examines Japan Airline’s advertising frontier in the 1950s, when a small domestic airline became Japan’s national carrier and expanded into the international market. JAL found itself forced to compete with two trusted American brands: Pan American Airways and Northwest Airlines. The preparation for JAL’s transpacific debut was a project of not only corporate branding but also nation rebranding. An American advertising agency in San Francisco transformed JAL’s visual identity under the slogan “Wings of the New Japan.” It went on to demilitarize JAL’s image by removing the design legacy of Imperial Japan and playing up Oriental hospitality provided by kimono-clad flight attendants. This differentiation strategy, conducted to create a new international identity for JAL, ultimately reinforced certain Orientalist stereotypes.