Friendship dolls

There were organizations which mainly dealt with the project. The Committee on World Friendship Among Children played an important role in this project. This committee was established by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, and the Commission on International Justice and Goodwill.[3] Then, Sidney Lewis Gulick and Eiichi Shibusawa played a central role in the plan. Gulick was an American missionary. Shibusawa was not just a Japanese rich businessman but a leader of the modernized private economy.

Gulick and Shibusawa failed to amend to the Immigration Act of Japan and cooperated through the Friendship Dolls project to improve the relationship between Japan and the US. In a letter dated from April fifteenth, 1928, Gulick wrote to Eiichi Shibusawa about changing into a policy to relieve the anti-Japanese sentiment of the American people without touching the immigration laws, especially focusing on the children's understanding of Japanese culture.

The children was actively featured in the mass media as messengers of peace and the main characters of touching tales. The reason why the project focused on children is that the media firmly established the image of clean and innocent children in the people. The composition that the pure children thought about the happiness of the neighboring country and wished for friendship and peace was completed by the Friendship Dolls. The media at that time learned about that through the successful experience of the Friendship Dolls. After that, children were a symbol which featured peace in the world, for instance, in the goodwill exchange between Japan and Manchuria. That way to utilize children as a peaceful symbol was a very effective to be accepted favorably by the people. Entrusting the improvement of the relationship between Japan and the United States to the future children through the Friendship Dolls might seem romantic at first sight, but from a different perspective, it showed hopelessness toward adults. Gulick believed that a deeper understanding of different cultures from children's age could prevent the friction created by cultural prejudice. This corresponded to the preface, “The Purpose of the Project”, in the report named “Doll of Friendship” of the Committee on World Friendship Among Children. The preface stated that there is no other way for eternal world peace other than education. There were several ways to interest children, however, sending friendly messages directly to the children who are far away, together with a “doll friendship” was perceived as the best way.

The plan about the Friendship Dolls was gradually proceeded. In a short period of time, 22,379 dolls were collected from 47 of the 48 states in the United States. In fact, 11,975 dolls were sent for Japanese children according to the historical materials of Eiichi Shibusawa. This is because of the policy, “sending excellent products even in small numbers” by the Committee on World Friendship Among Children. But, on the other hand, many ordinary people said that the plan to promote the international relationship by exchanging the dolls was nonsense.[4]

There are a big difference to use dolls by American and Japanese children. Dolls for American were basically mannequins to decorate shop windows or toys for children, but dolls for Japanese went beyond the American basics and have many facets. Japanese dolls were used for purification and holding the belief that they could possess spirits within them. Japan also has a beautiful cultural festival for children’s dolls called “Hina Matsuri” in Japanese. In the festival, children could generally decorate their own dolls freely at that time. Gulick had knowledge about Japanese dolls’ multi-sided roles for children, so he discovered the possibility of cross-cultural exchange. According to DOLL MESSENGERS of FRIENDSHIP published by The Committee on World Friendship Among Children, publishers firstly suggested that American children at schools and homes should know a lot about the beautiful festival (Hina Matsuri), the Japanese love for children and family, and be familiar with the country of Japan. They secondly proposed exchanging American dolls for Japanese ones and making the American dolls be Messengers and Ambassadors to communicate children’s feelings of friendship toward Japanese. They also asked American parents and teachers to utilize the plan of exchanging the dolls as an educationally beneficial event.[5]

Friendship Dolls’ structure had various features. The dolls were durable, safe, sanitary, reasonable and the latest designs. They were called American Composition Dolls and very popular at that time. The Dolls were made in consultation with three doll makers: Averill Manufacturing Co., Effanbee, and E.I. Horsman & Co. The Dolls had some features, for instance, they were new, made in the United States, wearing beautiful clothes that could be washed, approximately 30 cm in height, had mobile limbs, eyes that could blink called Sleeping Eye, sewn hair, cotton-filled torso, included a voice feature that said “mom”, and special friendship display dolls. They represented a part of the rise of American culture at that time. Some of friendship dolls are other than three companies, which were made from German bisque dolls, other manufactures, and unknown companies. Therefore, it was found that children brought their favorite dolls individually as “Hina Matsuri”.[6]