Japanese-style lettering design for advertising in South America in the early twentieth century

In the early twentieth century, Japanese advertising began to be recognized as an industry due to the development of printing technologies and the establishment of advertising agencies in the main urban centers such as Osaka and Tokyo. Between 1925 and 1930, the lettering design productions of Japanese graphic artists, which included Masuji Hamada, Shuichi Yajima, and Taichi Fujiwara, were important in changing the culture of graphic design in Japan. During the same period, advertisements printed in Japanese-language community newspapers, and disseminated in the cities of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Lima (Peru), and São Paulo (Brazil), were essential means of communication for promoting products and services. In this regard, the article presents an analysis of the presence of Japanese-style lettering in the South American community press, based on documentary research of advertisements published by El Argentin Djijo, Lima Nippo, and Nippon Shinbun.