Petit Retrospective of ARAI Shin-ichi
Works from 1999-2009
at GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE

5 May 2009

ARAI Shin-ichi
"Viva! United States for Herbert Norman"

About Herbert Norman
Few individuals experienced the worst aspects of the Red Scare more than Herbert Norman, the academic turned public servant who was hounded by accusations and rumours of disloyalty until 1957 when, unable to face another round of witch hunting, he took his own life by jumping off the roof of a hotel in Cairo.

Born to Methodist missionary parents in Japan in 1909, Norman was educated in Japan and Canada before moving on to studies at Cambridge and Harvard. He began a career as an academic, publishing many articles and books, including Japan's Emergence as a Modern State (1940) which established his reputation as a scholar.

Norman joined the Department of External Affairs in 1939 and, thanks to his knowledge of Japan and his fluency in Japanese, he served in Tokyo and, after 1942, in Ottawa directing signats intelligence against the Japanese. He returned to Tokyo at the end of the war to work under General Douglas MacArthur and served as head of the Canadian Liaison
Mission until 1950.

Things began to fall apart for Norman in 1950 when questions were raised in a US Senate committee about his reliability and his past activhies at Cambridge. In his Student days at Cambridge, Norman had been a close sympathizer and supporter of the Communist party, but had not been checked in 1939 and he was out of the country after 1946 when the first round of security screenings began, although the FBI had already opened a file on him a few years earlier.

With the outbreak of McCarthyism in the United States, it was almost inevitable that his name would come up during the meetings of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee. Norman was brought back to Ottawa on 16 October 1950 from his posting ln Tokyo and interviewed over a six-week period by the RCMP and members of the Department of External Affairs. He was cleared on all counts (even though, of course, he had not been charged with any crime). External Affairs Minister Lester Pearson supported Norman at the time and indeed, stood behind him throughout this ordeal and for the rest of his life..
Following the investigation, Norman was placed in Less central positions; from 1951-53 he headed the Departmentls Information Division, and from 1953-56 he served as Canada's High Commissioner to New ZeaLand.

In 1956 he was moved to Cairo as Ambassador to Egypt where, with the outbreak of the Suez Crisis, he found himself in the international spotlight once again. Norman established a close relationship with Egyptian President Nasser and played a helpful role in defusing the crisis, but his presence in Cairo sparked cniticism in Washington that someone of Norman's questionable security background would occupy such a sensitive position. He was named again ln the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in mid-March 1957. In desperation and fear of a second round of questioning,
Norman took his own Life on 4 April 1957.

ARAI said
In the university I studied modern history of Japan.
I knew Canadian historian, Herbert Norman who studied modern history of Japan.
And his point of view on modern history of Japan is very important especially on democracy tradition before World War Second in Japan.
Because many Japanese historians thought before World War Second there was no democracy tradition in Japan.
So Norman's idea of Japanese Democracy tradition encourage us very much.
and hammered down big nails on the portrait of Herbert Norman and his wife.

ARAI said
In our primal school days (almost 40 years before) in Japan
We had school lunch with breads and powdered skimmed milk and some dishes. And I had eaten neither bread nor milk at my home. We ate rice and miso soup there. The bread was made by expired flour in USA as well as the powdered skimmed milk which are the food of livestock in United states. United states gov't sold them to Japan gov't. So we were familiar with bread and milk. Sometimes I asked my mother to buy bread and milk. But She said that they were too expensive to buy for us.
ARAI dreged portrait of Norman and his wife with powdered skimmed milk and flour
ARAI asked audience to dredge over him with powdered skimmed milk and flour.
And asked them to massage softly him with the items.

ARAI shouted "Viva! United States , Viva! expired flour, Viva! expired powder milk"

Also I liked Coca-cola very much but I only could get it once or twice for the year. When our relatives visited us at new year or some festival, they gave me small money and I ran to buy Coca-cola. My parents asked me why I like Coca-cola taste like medicines and it is very expensive!
ARAI dreged portrait of Norman and his wife with Coca-cola


ARAI shouted "Viva! Coca Cola, I liked Coca Cola very much"


That day in TV spots every day sung "DEL MONTE tomato ketchup" song.
So we children happily sung "DEL MONTE tomato ketchup" song without knowing wha is the ketchup. After I liked ketchup very much so every foods I used ketchup. But my parents never used it.
ARAI sung the "DEL MONTE tomato ketchup" song.
ARAI dreged portrait of Norman and his wife with tomato ketchap

ARAI sung "Deru'mo-nte Deru'mo-nte Deru'mo-nte Ke'chya'pu" in Japanese English and dance








My home town is very country side so 40 years before around my house were almost all rice field and some petolol station. But nowadays there are no rice fields but are McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, 24 hr open convenience store like "Seven-Eleven" and USA style road side restaurant.

My father who died 7 years ago liked Kentucky Fried Chicken very much in his last years.
He also liked Japanese sake very much and drunk sake and ate Kentucky Fried Chicken.
He drunk sake with Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Now my mother lives alone in my home town. She told me that she sometimes dose not like to make her meal so she buy breads and milk at convenience store "Seven-Eleven" for her lonely dinner.

ARAI shouted "Viva! United States" again and again

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