Japanese Hippies

A lively group of women and long-haired men dressed in Indian clothing are shown here drinking and smoking. We do not have the artist’s explanation for this painting, but the title’s specificity suggests he is depicting Japanese students that he observed traveling through Bihar. After the Japanese Buddhist order Nipponzan-Myohoji built a Peace Pagoda stupa south of Madhubani town in 1969, many travelers, especially Japanese students, visited the region.

In Gopal Saha’s painting, we cannot identify the figures either as Japanese or as tourists by their facial types or dress. In addition to the work’s title, only the free interactions between men and women, and their smoking and drinking in a public setting, signify their foreignness and set them apart from the more conservative Indian provincial world. It is unclear whether the artist is here neutrally observing, celebrating, or critiquing their behavior.