Northeastern Political Science Association

Boston, Mass

13 November 2014

The Golden Haze of History:The East Asian Pavilions at the 1964 World’s

Fair

By Prof. John J. MetzlerDepartment of Government and Politics

St. John’s University, NY

(Check Against Delivery)

ABSTRACT

The New York World’s Fair in 1964-1965 showcased commerce, technology and the confident visions of the future. Equally many foreign countries, among them key East Asian states, participated both to present their culture, burnish their political image and, as importantly, exhibit their growing role in international trade and business. 

The paper shall focus on four key countries participating inthe World’s Fair; Japan, the Republic of China on Taiwan,

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Korea, and Indonesia. The manuscript will illustrate the countries socio/political standing in 1964, and more importantly contrasts how a half century later these lands have progressed both in terms of political freedoms and economic standing. The account will relate both personal memories and contemporary research to view the political image and economic status of these countries at the Fair andcorrespondingly in the current era.

Reprint not Permitted unless authorized by the AuthorContact: metzlerj@stjohns.edu

Introduction

Fifty years ago, the World’s Fair opened in New York. The

Fair, a grand expo of technology, commerce, and cultures,

was held in at a time when America’s fortunes were riding

high in the post-war era. Now every time I pass the great

Unisphere Globe, built by U.S. Steel and still standing

proudly, I ask myself, “does anyone still remember the 1964

World’s Fair?”

Though the 1964-1965 World’s Fair was expected to mark a

time of celebratory optimism, the expo was soon overtaken by

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the darkening clouds of the Vietnam conflict, and what would

become a tumultuous decade.

Importantly World’s Fairs are about showcasing products,

inventions and global cultures. For individual countries

participating in such costly endeavors we see a perfect

example of soft power.

Significantly as compared to the 1939/40 World Fair held on

the cusp of WWII, a number of East Asian countries, these

rising economic success stories of the post-war era, would

participate both to introduce themselves, present their

products, and burnish their political images on the

international stage.

The object of this rather retro look at the World Fair then

is both about the realm of memory as well as the realization

of positive outcomes. Thus we shall present a brief tour

d’horizon of a number of East Asian participants both as they

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were back in 1964, now 50 years ago, and then fast forward to

the contemporary era to view these countries today.

The Fair

Today a half century later the World Fair is probably best

remembered for its presentation both of the arts and

technology. The Vatican Pavilion rotunda hosted

Michelangelo’s venerable Pieta statue, the 466 year old

masterpiece which became a must visit symbol. Protected by

bulletproof glass, the Pieta’s artistry represented the

apotheosis of Italian Renaissance sculpture.

The Belgian Village, medieval as it was, introduced Belgian

Waffles, and the Kingdom of Jordan showcased the ancient

Dead Sea Scrolls. What kid wouldn’t like this? And as for

technology, Bell Telephone’s high-tech push button Princess

phones and the Pepsi pavilion with the UNICEF ‘Small

Small World Theme” song were pretty cool too.

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What is now largely forgotten was the legal flap between the

Paris based Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) and

the Fair Planners; since a World Fair had just been held in

Seattle, Washington in 1962, the USA had to wait its turn

for a decade before holding another. Thus many European

countries decided not to participate

In New York, but were most certainly represented at Expo 67,

in Montreal.

But I must confess that the East Asian pavilions intrigued

me most and played a subliminal, if not strong, role in my

subsequent academic interests in the Far East.

So let me recall the Fair from a slightly less nostalgic

angle. Let me start with Japan. 1964 was one of those

seminal years for Japan; in the Autumn the country would

successfully host the Summer Olympics. Indeed less than

twenty years after the end of WWII, Japan was reintroducing

itself on the global stage as both a peaceful and prosperous

land awash with tradition, technology, and tolerance.

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Without question the Olympics were the big story that year

and thus overshadowed the World’s Fair. However as Prof.

Ian Buruma reminds us, “In 1964 Japan rejoined the world.

The postwar period of poverty, humiliation and until 1952,

Allied occupation was finally over, and the boom years of

the economic miracle had begun”. As Buruma adds, in the

autumn of 1964, “when the Olympics came to Tokyo, was to be

the great ceremonial celebration of Japan’s peaceful,

postwar democratic revival.” He adds, “Japan was

respectable now.” 1

A Japanese official at the OECD remarked recently, “The

year 1964 holds golden memories for Japan. I vividly recall

how the streets were buzzing with the opening of the

Shinkansen high speed rail system and the hosting of the

Tokyo Olympics, and how our lives were steadily becoming

enriched , not to mention the stench of exhaust fumes and

the roar of traffic. “ It was in Spring 1964 that Japan

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was admitted into the OECD, the select economic group’s

first Asian member state.

Yet as Rintaro Tamaki recalls “However at the time, Japan’s

per capita GDP was only a quarter that of the U.S. and two-

thirds of Argentina.” 2

The Japan Pavilion

Japan’s pavilion showcased rockets for space research, tea

ceremonies and an array of consumer products. The first

building Century of Progress traced the “opening of Japan” from

the time of American Commodore Matthew Perry. Japanese made

rockets, electron microscopes and , symbols of industry

dominated the building. The second building The New Japan

offered an array of consumer products from cameras to color

TV sets and computers. This modernity contrasted with

demonstrations of the tea ceremony. The third building

House of Japan offered Japanese restaurants which served

sukiyaki and tempura but probably not sushi. This was 1964

after all and America’s sushi craze came much later. 3

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Japan’s pavilion presented a synthesis of the traditional

and the modern ranging from the tea ceremony to space

rockets. Besides showcasing the country’s vibrant

industries, the expo exhibited models of the new high-speed

bullet trains, the Shinkansen. These fast trains were

developed more than a decade before their French TGV

counterparts.

Though the Shinkansen has become a legend in itself for its

speed and punctuality, the fact remains that the trains

safety has been paramount. Over the past 50 years, the

Tokaido Shinkansen has carried more than 5.6 billion passengers

with an unblemished safety record. The first such train ran

in October 1964.

The bullet trains roots “date back to the late 1930’s. Japan

had looked on in envy when steam locomotive powered trains

in Germany and Britain set successive speed records in 1936

and 1938 in excess of 200 KM. During that decade, Japan’s

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expanding economic and military interests in Asia demanded

a means of transporting ever-greater amounts of men and

material from Korea, Manchuria and China. A high speed

railway network would address those needs while raising the

nation’s prestige.” Indeed a wide-ranging and costly

network plan was already planned and partially funded in

1940 before it was derailed by the expanding war after

December 1941. 4

One brochure from the period extolled, “1860’s-1960’s From

Feudalism to the Edge of Space; Japan Pavilion”

So what was the economic standing of Japan of 1964— now a

half century ago?

Well the population stood at 96 million and the economy was

surging forward. Between 1953 and 1962 the annual growth

reached a dizzying 9.5%.

This translated into rapidly improving lives for the

Japanese people whose per capita income reached $554. In

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the USA per capita income stood at $2,939 in 1964 while

France reached $1,545 and the UK $1,478. One U.S. dollar

bought 360 Yen! 5

Yet in the 1960’s the growth was simply amazing. When

Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda promised in 1960 to double

Japanese incomes in a decade, he was in error; incomes had

doubled by 1966, just a year after the Fair! During the

1960’s Japan’s GNP grew at an amazing rate of 10.6% 6

And where does Japan stand today economically? Population is

126 million. Per capita income has reached an impressive

$46,730. But GDP growth has been static between 2007 and

2012 standing at minus 0.2%. Today one U.S. Dollar buys

105 Yen. 7

Japan hosted an Expo in Osaka in 1970 and Winter Olympics

in Sapporo in 1972. Tokyo is slated to host the 2020

Olympics. Prime Minister Abe sees the games as a way end

the long period of economic decline and stagnation.

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His motto “Japan is back,” carries needed optimism.

Curiously the Games have a family connection too. Nobusuke

Kishi, who led Japan when Tokyo was selected for 1964, was

Mr. Abe’s grandfather. But there’s a new Japan in many

ways. Back in 1964 the Olympic related investment exceeded

3.6 % of the GDP, according to Nomura. The 2020 Games are

slated to have a smaller cost equal to one percent of GNP. 8

Both Prime Ministers come from Japan’s long ruling Liberal

Democratic Party (LDP) in power pretty much without

interruption since 1955. Yet Japan’s economic standing in

2014, while prosperous in a global context, is still facing

the social undertow of recession and chronic

underperformance. The unbridled optimism of 1964 is long

past but the memories linger on.

Indeed both the World’s Fair and the Olympics symbolically

closed Japan’s post-war era; it was not time to see Japan’s

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powerhouse economy and technological advancement occupy

center stage.

Republic of China Pavilion

Significantly, the Republic of China on Taiwan was the first

nation to break ground in Flushing Meadows, Queens for its

national Pavilion. Earlier this year, Taipei’s delegate

in New York, Ambassador Paul Chang stated, “The theme of the

’64 World’s Fair, ‘Peace Through Understanding’ remains as

valid and powerful as it was in 1964.”

While Ambassador Chang spoke of sub-tropical Taiwan as a

“Kingdom of Orchids,” my mind drifted back to visiting the

old Taiwan Pavilion, a grand and ornate four story Palace

which remained a signature structure among the national

pavilions.

“The opulent red and gold pavilion representing Nationalist

China is a reproduction of a traditional Imperial Palace,

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the first of its kind ever erected in the Western

hemisphere,” adds the Official Guide. The painted wall and

ceiling panels, the ornate roof tiles and the ceremonial

gate were all handcrafted in Taiwan. On other floors of the

pavilion one could see a “typical modest but modern home”

in Taiwan while other rooms allowed for viewing splendid

arts from Dynastic China. 9

Taiwan’s ornate pavilion encompassed both traditional and

contemporary Chinese culture. Back in 1964, Taiwan was

emerging from the aftermath of WWII and the Chinese civil

war ending in 1949, but fast building itself into a

prosperous and free market oriented island, what would later

emerge as one of the Dragons of the Far East.

At the end of WWII, and the half century of Japanese

colonial rule, Taiwan was had a per capita income of $70.

“Indeed the postwar development of Taiwan can be divided

into two sub-phases; with 1961 as the demarcation year.”

The first phase stressed serious land reform and import

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substitution, the second phase stressed outwardly focused

export expansion. In 1964, Taiwan’s population stood at

11.3 million.

U.S. aid was terminated to Taiwan in 1965 actually

jumpstarting the economy from its post-war phase into a

more self-sufficient era. Nonetheless during this period

the island economy was already thriving; during the 1950’s

GNP growth averaged 8.2 % and in the 1960’s the rate reached

9.4 percent. Real GNP doubled every seven years after

1963. 10

In 1964, Taiwan’s GNP per capita income stood at $202. As

a point of comparison West Germany’s per capita in the same

period had reached $2,144 while Canada had reached $2,920.

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Today Taiwan’s population stands at 23 million and its per

capita income stands at an impressive $20,000 with GDP

growth at 3%. 12

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Politically speaking the ROC on Taiwan back in 1964 was a

rather typical East Asian authoritarian state. Fast forward

to the present and modern Taiwan is a fractious multiparty

democracy who actually has earned the moniker Free China.

Reflecting the long running China debate, the Taiwan

Pavilion was the unquestioned World’s Fair representative of

Nationalist China. Even in the early 1960’s the ROC led the

Mainland in diplomatic recognition; in 1963 Taipei led in

the political contest by a significant margin of 58 to 42

countries. 13

A half century ago, U.S. diplomats such as Dean Rusk still

spoke of the “Peiping regime” and tilted America’s favors

towards Taiwan, the other China. Taiwan still held the China

seat in the United Nations. During this period, almost a

decade before President Richard Nixon’s ground- breaking

trip to Mainland China, there was virtually no chance nor

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desire to let the People’s Republic of China to partake in a

World’s Fair, least of all in New York.

President John F. Kennedy specifically forbade inviting

either Mainland China, Cuba or East Germany to participate

the New York Fair. 14

People’s Chinese pavilions were focused on trade and

friendship fairs in places like Leipzig, Damascus, and

Jakarta.

Interestingly, China had participated in various Expositions

in the USA. Qing China had a presence at the 1876

Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition, as well as the St.

Louis Expo in 1904. Interestingly, Nationalist China

participated in the 1933 Chicago “Century of Progress” Fair

not far from Japan’s controversial Pavilion which spared no

efforts to showcase Tokyo’s achievements in Manchukuo.

Though the PRC would not be part of any Expo until 1983, one

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remembers that in 2010, Shanghai hosted a successful World

Expo. 15

Regarding the 2010 Expo, Prof. Cole Roskam asserted,

“China is clearly celebrating its economic and cultural

ascendance with an exposition of notable pomp, scale and

expense…an exercise in display, representation and power.”

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Those words well describe the socio/political focus of

World’s Fair participation in general and would apply to

1964-1965 as much as to the contemporary era for many

countries.

Without question, while the World’s Fair offered a soft

power venue, the setting was nonetheless very much part and

parcel of the hard ball politics between both the two Chinas

and in the wider super power rivalry. Not surprisingly,

despite an initial welcome and plans by Moscow to

participate, the Soviet Union did not have a pavilion in New

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York. Yet a few years later there was a massive Soviet

Pavilion at Montreal’s Expo 67. Equally the USA

participated at Expo 67.

Republic of Korea Pavilion/South Korea

“An oriental teahouse, with a traditional peaked roof, is

linked with a concrete pavilion with contemporary flowing

lines, linking the Korea of yesterday and today,”

reads the Official Guide to the New York World’s Fair.

Beyond historical exhibits, the ROK pavilion featured the

traditional folk dances and drummer girls. The

Teahouse served Korean specialties, including kimchi, the

spiced and pickled vegetables which are a trademark of the

country’s cuisine. 17

Back in 1964 the divided Korean peninsula was just a decade

removed from the devastating War (1950-1953). South Korea,

while on the fast track to economic success, was still

living dangerously in the shadow of renewed aggression by

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the North. Though both a U.S. mutual defense treaty and the

presence of American forces shielded the South, the

economy was very much in a rebuilding stage.

Politically the ROK was run by the authoritarian Park Chung-

hee, a strongman who allowed for the firm foundations of a

prosperous industrial state, but at the expense of squashed

dissent and political rights.

In 1964 South Korea’s per capita income stood at $130.

The country’s population was 25 million. 18

In the years after the Fair, South Korea would work long

and hard to get through the tumultuous 1970’s from which

point the ROK began to focus on the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Despite the tumultuous political discord in the countdown to

the games, hosting a successful Olympiad served as a

political incentive to both depressurize the authoritarian

society as well as to present South Korea in the best light.

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Politically speaking, the ROK’s road to democracy was paved

by the 1988 Olympics. 19

Following the successful hosting of the Games, South Korea,

much as Japan in in 1964, then began its amazing ascent

towards being a global economic power.

“Since South Korea launched its first five year development

plan in 1962, real GNP has expanded by eight percent

annually. As a result GNP rose from $2.3 billion in 1962 to

$170 billion by 1988. Total trade jumped from $477 million

in 1962 to $153 billion by 1991.

The ROK is now the tenth largest trading economy in the

world. 20

Currently South Korea’s population stands at 49 million

with 3.5% GDP growth and a trillion dollar GDP . Per

capita income has reached $22,590. 21

20

Consider the socio/political progress contemporary Korea has

achieved. Almost ironically Park Gyen-hye, the daughter of

1960’s strongman Park Chung-hee, was democratically elected

ROK first female President and assumed office in 2013. Only

in 1991, did both Korean stated achieve UN membership, but

in 2007 the South Korean diplomat Ban Ki-moon became United

Nations Secretary General and serves until 2016. On a

lighter note, Korean pop music K-Pop and Hallyu have set a

global entertainment standard. How the Korean Hermit

Kingdom has changed.

South Korea has reached the status of Dragon of the Far

East, and well Beyond.

The Indonesian Pavilion

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Today Indonesia is the world’s largest Islamic state is also

the world’s third largest democracy. Who would or could have

imagined that back in 1964 when Sukarno ruled that his

government would both then withdraw from the United Nations

in January 1965 and formally pull out of the Fair by March?

Following Sukarno’s decision, the Pavilion was closed but

still stood, a stark reminder that the winds of the Cold

War reached into Southeast Asia.

The Indonesian archipelago stretched over thousands of

islands and comprised dozens of nationalities. The rich

cultural heritage of 100 million Indonesians was showcased

by the large carousel rotunda which showed lifestyles on

Bali, Sumatra and Java islands. The colorful batiks of the

Indonesia and were displayed along with the ever popular

puppet shows and the unique music of the gamelan. 22

Sukarno’s Indonesia became synomous with Non-Alignment,

Pancasila/The Five Principles, and post-colonial confrontations in

Southeast Asia. By 1964 the authoritarian ruler had entered

22

into a conflict with the United States as well, much of

which centered on Jakarta’s political and military threats

to mainland Malaysia.

Indonesia’s economy reflected the political instability with

both spiraling inflation and declining living standards.

During this anxious period, the value of the Rupiah currency

tumbled as inflation roared at 100 percent from 1962 to

1964, before peaking at 650 percent in December 1964.

Indonesia’s foreign reserves fell from $326 million in 1960

to just $8.6 million in 1965. Defense spending soared. 23

Under Sukarno’s “guided Democracy” Indonesian society

deteriorated precipitously. Government corruption turned

flagrant, and the cost of living index rose from a base of

100 in 1957 to 36,000 in 1965,” writes Prof Clark Neher. 24

“During 1964 and much of 1965, Indonesian President Sukarno continued his policy

of confrontation against the Federation of Malaysia. The United States sought to

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mediate this territorial dispute, which had flared into low-level guerrilla warfare,

while at the same time the Johnson administration grappled with the question of

continuing U.S. economic aid to Indonesia,.” Observed a State Department survey.

“The Indonesian Communist Party, (PKI) became increasingly powerful under

Sukarno, and its anti-American demonstrations and attacks onU.S. facilities severely

strained U.S.-Indonesian relations.” 25

A National Security Council brief in May 1964 stated,

“Although Sukarno is notoriously indifferent to economics,

there is no doubt that even he is dimly aware of the

country’s plight and may be worried at its political

implications.” 26

Thus the Indonesian Pavilion stood on the cusp of the sea

change in Jakarta’s political relations from Sukarno’s

confrontational authoritarianism to the equally

undemocratic rule of General Suharto. Though a series of

violent events which would see Sukarno’s eventual ouster

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came later in 1965, his government had already closed the

Pavilion in a spiteful political showdown with both the UN

and foreign powers.

“Indonesia's Pavilion had a political focus, reflecting a

‘desire for creating a synthesis between Western and Eastern

ideologies.’ It sought to give one an ‘impression of what

Indonesia regards as its active and independent foreign

policy,”

writes Sharyn Elise Jackson.

In her study of the Indonesian Controversy at the World’s Fair,

Jackson adds

“President Sukarno requested that his pavilion be

‘dramatically placed’ between those of the United States and

the Soviet Union, to represent Indonesia's neutrality in the

Cold War. For six months, Indonesia rejected site offers for

their failure to be equidistant enough to suit his neutral

sentiments.” Sukarno, who came to the U.S. to meet with

President Kennedy on behalf of the Belgrade conference of

25

non-aligned nations, personally visited the Fairgrounds to

select the location of the pavilion. 27

Both the Pavilion and Sukarno’s intentions were steeped in

irony. The Soviets declined to sponsor a Pavilion in New

York. During 1965 relations between Jakarta and Washington

hit new lows and American support and sympathy for

independent Indonesia waned dramatically. The Pavilion was

shuttered thus presenting a ghostly closed and padlocked

structure amid the Fair’s colorful attractions.

By 1967 and the creation of the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations, (ASEAN) Indonesia’s policies began to reflect

a more multilateral and pragmatic posture.

Modern Indonesia has a population of 245 million making

the island nation the world largest Muslim democracy.

Economic growth slowed to 5.8% in 2013 from 6.2 % in 2012.

Growth in 2014 is expected to reach 5.4%. Per capita

income now stands at $3,560. 28

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Conclusions

Significantly of the countries surveyed, Japan, Taiwan, and

South Korea are listed as “Free” under the international

watchdog Freedom House/ Map of World Freedoms.

Only Indonesia rates “Partly Free.” 29

But what ever happened to many of the former World Fair

buildings? Well the actual structures from fifty years

ago are few and far between. None of the Asian pavilions

described here are standing. Their grounds are part of the

Flushing Meadows Park. Picnickers, strollers,

skateboarders, and soccer players roam over the Avenues and

reclaimed green space which once were lined by the proud

pavilions of foreign lands; Japan, Taiwan, Korea and

Indonesia and many others..

Only the still amazing Unisphere, the steel globe, lords above

them.

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These now forgotten World Fair pavilions presented countries

and technologies whose phenomenal success would hardly have

been imagined a half century ago.

The structures may have slipped into the Golden Haze of History,

but the countries they represented, are part of contemporary

East and South East Asia’s dynamic social and economic

heritage.

Endnotes

28

1 Ian Buruma. Inventing Japan 1853-1964, (New York: Modern Library Chronicles, 2004), p. 3.

2 Rintaro Tamaki, “OECD and Japan Marking 50 Years of Membership”

OECD Observer No. 298, Q1, 2014, p. 10.

3 Official Guide New York World’s Fair 1964/1965, (New York: Time-Life Books, 1964), pp. 140-142.

4 Mark Schreiber, “Shinkansen at Fifty: Fast Track to Future,” Japan

Times .com 27 September 2014

5 Economic Surveys: Japan 1964 (Paris: OECD, July 1964).

6 Op. cit. , Inventing Japan, pp. 166-167.

7 The Economist/Pocket World in Figures 2015, p. 170.

8 Jonathan Soble, “Shinzo Abe to Write Revival Story for Japan with

Olympics,” Financial Times, 10 September 2013.

9 Op. cit. , Official Guide to World’s Fair, p. 166.

10 Shirley Kuo, Gustav Ranis, John C. H. Fei. The Taiwan Success Story; Rapid Growth with Improved Distribution in the Republic of China 1952-1979. (Boulder,CO: Westview Press, 1981), pp. 6-7.11 Ibid., p. 36.

12 Op. cit., World in Figures/2015, p. 224.

13 John J. Metzler. Divided Dynamism The Diplomacy of Separated Nations; Germany,

Korea, China/2nd Edition (Lanham, MD: University Press, 2014), p. 174.

14 Sharyn Elise Jackson. International Participation in the New York World’s Fair 1964-1965 Thesis New York University 2004, pp. 24-25.

15 Cole Roskam. “A World’s Fair for China,” Orientations Sept 2010

Vol. 41, No. 6

pp. 143-144.

16 Ibid., p. 144.

17 Op. cit., Official Guide to the World’s Fair, p. 128.

18 Index Mundi.com 2014 and Statesman’s Yearbook 1964, (London: Macmillan, 1964), p. 1191.

19 Op. cit., Divided Dynamism, pp. 71-73.

20 Op. Cit., Divided Dynamism, pp. 69-70.

21 Economist, 1 November 2014, p. 84 and World in Figures, p. 216. 22 Op. Cit., Official Guide to the World’s Fair, p. 168.

23 “Footprints of a New Order Economic Czar,” Jakarta Post, 23 October 2011.

24 Robert Dayley and Clark D. Neher. Southeast Asia in the New International Era/6th Edition. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2013), p. 227.

25 American Diplomacy, Foreign Relations of the United States/Indonesia, UNC.edu

26 Foreign Relations of the United States, (FRUS) Volume XXVI/ Indonesia, Malaysia-Singapore; Philippines. (Washington, DC: GPO, 2001), p. 105.27 Sharyn Elise Jackson, International Participation in the New York World’s Fair

1964-1965. Thesis, New York University 2004, pp. 32-33.

28 World in Figures, 2015, p. 160, and Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the

Pacific/2014. (Bangkok, ESCAP/United Nations, 2014), pp. 74-75.

29 2014 Freedom in the World, freedomhouse.org