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Material Culture
Material culture is a term for the stuff and things of daily life. It embraces the things we frequently use or take for granted, in addition to our physical surroundings. A more sophisticated approach includes publicity, commercial, and marketing transactions. In Japan’s case, although scholars have given some attention to early modern and 19th Japanese daily life and customs, little work exists for the 20th century. Fortunately, museum directors and curators have provided considerable assistance in staging shows, exhibits, and symposia which feature material culture.
For Occupied Japan, we will employ a simple definition and look for stuff and things, such as the following:
Housing, or what passed for housing in the rubble and debris of defeated Japan or in various places of the countryside.
Household furnishings and decorations.
Various interior living and working spaces.
Pots, pans, and the kitchen sink or outside wells.
Food and drink of whatever kind.
Bowls, bottles, plates, cups, and chopsticks for eating and drinking.
Clocks, pencils and ink pens, and calligraphy brushes.
Farm tools and equipment.
Clothing: female, male, children’s everyday and ceremonial apparel.
Footgear: geta, zori, and leather or canvas shoes. Also, socks.
Hairstyles and cosmetics.
Cigars, cigarettes, and tobacco pouches.
Posters advertising daily goods, luxuries, or entertainment.
Musical instruments.
Grocery stalls and department stores.
Toys and trinkets
Altars and incense burners
Stamps, currency, tickets and ticket stubs
Buses, trams, trains, trucks, taxis, passenger cars
Technology: tools, machines
References
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Ames, Kenneth, et al. Material Culture: A Research Guide. Lawrence, Kan: University of Kansas Press, 1985.
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Friedel, Robert. "Some Matters of Substance," History from Things: Essays on Material Culture. Ed. Steven Lubar and W. David Kingery. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1993; 41-50.
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Kodama Kota. Guide to Edo-Tokyo Museum, English Edition. Tokyo: Foundation Edo-Tokyo Historical Society , 1995.
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Prown, Jules David and Haltman, Kenneth. American Artifacts: Essays in Material Culture. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2000.
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Schlereth, Thomas J. Cultural History and Material Culture: Everyday Life, Landscapes, Museums. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1990.
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Schlereth, Thomas J. (comp. and ed.) Material Culture Studies in America. Nashville, Tenn: American Association for State and Local History, 1982.
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Tsurumi, Shunsuke. Chap. 10, "Everyday Life during the War," An Intellectual History of Wartime Japan, 1931-1945. London: KPI Ltd, 1986; 85-93, 129.
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