Couple pretending to be westerners

"Couple Pretending to Be Westerners" depicts the Meiji-era social phenomenon of Japanese people adopting Western dress, manner, and accessories as markers of modern identity — sometimes with an enthusiasm that overshot its cultural target. Such subjects were popular in Meiji-era humor magazines, which gently satirized the excesses of "civilization and enlightenment" adoption. Kawakami's treatment is affectionate rather than satirical: the couple in their Western get-up are charming rather than ridiculous, their mimicry a form of cultural exploration as genuine as Kawakami's own artistic investigation of cross-cultural encounter.