Manufacturer John McNee and Sons

Cigar Box, The Jap

Credit LineCollection of Museum London, 2003

Object number2003.022.001

Label TextThe graphics on cigar boxes featured fictional characters, historic figures, and drawings of plants and animals. Some also featured racist depictions of different people, in this instance, the Japanese. At the end of the 19th and in the early 20th centuries, when John McNee and Sons manufactured these cigars, Japanese were active, vibrant members of Canadian society. Still, the imagery on the box depicts them as foreign and exotic “others.” This aligned with and reinforced the stereotypes and racist ideas that permeated Canadians’ attitudes towards Japanese people.

NameBox, Cigar