American, 1922-1995
Russell A. Bernier was a U.S. Army officer stationed in Occupied Japan in the early 1950s, following World War II. His photo album records an outsider’s view of Japanese urban life and culture, including Japanese festivals and street performances, interiors of shops and cabarets, and a series of westernized storefronts in Yokosuka. The mostly urban views show a mixture of traditional Japanese forms (carp streamers, shrines, sandal shops) with encroaching American influences (English signage, cabaret neon signs, bars), reflecting the culture of the postwar occupation in various Japanese cities. Bernier is featured in some of the photographs, but most appear to have been taken by him, occasionally depicting American military personnel on the streets, at bars, and outside clubs.
