Australia's Rising Sun
He's Coming South is an Australian propaganda poster that highlights the prospect and fears of a Japanese invasion. During the Second World War, Japan was expected to continue its southwest conquest through parts of Asia and into Australia. To warn citizens of this possibility, the poster was created to represent the psychological impact of this threat. It was also created to amplify psychological fear, in turn becoming so alarmist that it was blocked from release in both Queensland and Melbourne. It was later revealed that Japan had considered invading Australia, but decided against it due to concerns about the lack of military resources to combat the territory.
The poster shows a caricature of a Japanese soldier with a gun running across the globe toward Australia and looming over it. The words "He's Coming South" appear in a bold, all-caps serif font, and "It's fight, work, or perish" appears in an italic script at the bottom. Most prominently, the red rising sun flag appears in the background, underscoring the Japanese threat without stating it explicitly.
The Rising Sun flag features a red disk with 16 rays branching out, originally designed in the Edo period to represent good fortune and celebration in traditional folklore. During WWII, it transformed into a symbol of Japan's imperial rule and the navy responsible for conquering, killing, torturing, and assimilating many countries across Asia and the Pacific. The Rising Sun quickly became synonymous with Japanese expansion, with its bold red colors and distinct symmetrical design becoming a striking motif worldwide. Although Japanese propaganda posters rarely featured the Rising Sun (focusing more on events and caricatures of Western figures), anti-Japan Western propaganda often used the symbol as a direct reference to the country. Western propaganda used the symbol that represented the Japanese nation-state against them in the war, stripping it of its original meaning and giving it a negative connotation. An interesting design choice in the Western posters is their intentional placement of the Rising Sun in the background, spread across the entire page to grab the viewer's attention. While Japan used the symbol to draw attention to its state and convey national pride, the West adopted and appropriated it to highlight an enemy country and strike fear.
