"The change in lifestyles of the high-growth era included a revolution in kitchen design revealed by these two photographs. In the first [top], a typical, poorly lit rural kitchen of about 1953, a hibachi is used to boil water and cook rice. In the second [bottom], from 1965, the 'bright' new kitchen of a newlywed urbal couple boasts an electric rice cooker, refrigerator, toaster, and gas range."

From: Gordon, Andrew (ed.). Postwar Japan as History. Los Angeles and Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.