This paper clarifies; the dynamics of bunka kosaku (cultural operations) in Indochina are clarified and it is discussed how the source of the connections that initiated Bunka Kosaku in the early 1940s was led by a member of the Japanese community in France, Japanese writer Kiyoshi Komatsu, who was had been living in France for ten years. The reason why an ordinary person like Komatsu could get involved in Bunka Kosaku is that he interacted with many diplomats at the Japanese embassy, had many French friends like André Malraux and André Gide and was able to write many articles for a major newspaper.
Takarazuka Revue Company, assisted by KBS (The Center for International Culture Relations) and Japanese Authorities tried to introduce a famous Takarazuka dance performance to French Indochina. The Takarazuka Group successfully staged a traditional Japanese dance performance in Hanoi and Haiphong in late 1941, - introducing Japanese culture to Indochina.
In addition, the Takarazuka Revue Company planned to introduce a legendary Vietnam story to Japan. In 1942, renowned poet and novelist Mori Michiyo (森三千代), a member of the Japanese community in France, visited Vietnam for three months. After returning to Japan, she wrote an operetta based on the legendary Vietnamese love epic of Trọng Thủy and Mỵ Nương (The Tale of Cổ Loa). This performance had a very successful run in Kansai in 1942, and run in Tokyo in 1943, marking the first time a Vietnamese legend was performed in a foreign country.
The successful performance of the Takarazuka was used as propaganda by the Imperial Japanese government as an example of the success of the ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ policy. This might be one of the reasons why stories of successful Takarazuka performances were concealed and excluded from the history of postwar Japan.
The Vietnamese performances of the Takarazuka, which introduced Japanese culture and the successful Japanese performance of the Vietnamese legend “The Tale of Co Loa” were in line with the philosophy that Kiyoshi Komatsu had set out to achieve. This can be called “ Mutual Cultural Exchange”. In other words, it is in line with the principle of “not only imposing culture from Japan, but also introducing culture from French Indochina”. It can also be said that mutual cultural exchange is the philosophy of the KBS, and that Bunka Kosaku was proposed by the private sector, like Takarazuka.