The historical consumer : consumption and everyday life in Japan, 1850-2000 / edited by Penelope Francks, Janet Hunter.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Francks, Penelope, 1949-

Hunter, Janet, 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumption (Economics)--Japan--History.

Consumption (Economics).

Consumer behavior--Japan--History.

Consumer behavior.

History.

Japan.

Physical Description:

xiii, 329 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Summary:

Much of the existing writing on Japan's economic rise has concentrated on the production of goods, and has largely neglected the role of the consumers and users of the expanding output of Japanese businesses and workers. While historians of Europe and North America have opened up the 'world of goods' and its role in industrialisation and modernisation, Japan is often seen as having little consumption history of its own, distinct from Western paths of development. This volume seeks to change this picture, and brings together studies by Japanese, British and American historians that combine economic, social and cultural analysis of the distinctive historical pathways of consumption in Japan.

Chapters focus on the interactions among individuals, institutions and social structures that have determined the changing pattern of everyday life in Japan since the nineteenth century, viewing consumption history through contexts that range from household labour allocation and gender relations to fashion, food and leisure. The collection thus aims both to broaden the comparative framework within which global consumption history can be studied and to demonstrate some of the ways in which Japanese consumer life followed its own course throughout the process of economic development. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Japan's Consumption History in Comparative Perspective / Penelope Francks Francks, Penelope, Janet Hunter Hunter, Janet 1

Part I Gender, the Household and Consumption

2 The Role of Housework in Everyday Life: Another Aspect of Consumption in Modern Japan / Masayuki Tanimoto Tanimoto, Masayuki 27

3 Like Bamboo Shoots after the Rain: The Growth of a Nation of Dressmakers and Consumers / Andrew Gordon Gordon, Andrew 56

4 Building up Steam as Consumers: Women, Rice Cookers and the Consumption of Everyday Household Goods in Japan / Helen Macnaughtan Macnaughtan, Helen 79

Part II Tradition, Modernity and the Growth of Consumption

5 Japanese Modernisation and the Changing Everyday Life of the Consumer: Evidence from Household Accounts / Satoru Nakanishi Nakanishi, Satoru, Tomoko Futaya Futaya, Tomoko 107

6 Sweetness and Empire: Sugar Consumption in Imperial Japan / Barak Kushner Kushner, Barak 127

7 Kimono Fashion: The Consumer and the Growth of the Textile Industry in Pre-War Japan / Penelope Francks Francks, Penelope 151

8 Reviving Tradition: Patients and the Shaping of Japan's Traditional Medicines Industry / Maki Umemura Umemura, Maki 176

Part III Spaces and Pathways of Consumption

9 Getting on a Train: Railway Passengers and the Growth of Train Travel in Meiji Japan / Naofumi Nakamura Nakamura, Naofumi 207

10 People and Post Offices: Consumption and Postal Services in Japan from the 1870s to the 1970s / Janet Hunter Hunter, Janet 235

11 Mail-Order Retailing in Pre-War Japan: A Pathway of Consumption Before the Emergence of the Mass Market / Isamu Mitsuzono Mitsuzono, Isamu 259

12 From Corporate Playground to Family Resort: Golf as Commodity in Post-War Japan / Angus Lockyer Lockyer, Angus 284

13 History and the Study of Consumerism: A Historian of the West Looks to Japan / Beverly Lemire Lemire, Beverly 306.

ISBN:

9780230273665

0230273661

OCLC:

767719866