/ARTS WEEKLY/ART-JAPAN: Nostalgia for Showa Period Is In

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Mar 17 2004 (IPS) - Nostalgic for the heady fifties and sixties when Japan embarked on its post-war economic miracle, 68-year-old Hidetoshi Yokokawa goes back to the past through his Showa Retro Products Museum, which displays collections of items from that era.

”The museum is a success as visitors are increasing these days,” says its proud owner. ”More people are sharing my fascination and pride of that time.”

Showa, meaning ‘Enlightened Peace’, marks a long and turbulent period in Japan’s modern history.

Showa marked the reign of Emperor Hirohito who led Japan during its harsh colonisation of much of Asia in the 1930s, entry into World War II and defeat in 1945, and later the post-war years when the nation rose again to become the second largest economy in the world.

Analysts point out the current Showa renaissance is remembered most for the best times of this period – Japan’s envied advance into high-technology manufacturing and, especially for the older generation like Yokokawa, the nationalistic appeal of the powerful Showa Emperor’s army that swept into the Korean peninsula, China, and most of South-east Asia.

Today, many still look back and say Japan proved itself to be the only Asian military that could stand up against the Western colonialists in the region.

”The Showa Emperor still commands a huge popular appeal,” says Yokokawa. ”People like me view him as a strong character with the ability to stand up for Japan. Not like politicians today.”

Showa products come in all shapes and sizes. Exhibits in Yokokawa’s Museum, which opened in 1997, are intriguing examples of how Japan carefully copied the manufacturing techniques of industrialised western countries and then came up with its own products in the early and mid-fifties.

Some of the popular exhibits on display are Japan’s first radios – bulky and framed with wood, hand-operated washing machines, and television sets set in handcrafted settings.

On the arts and theatre front too, the collections are varied and have appeared in Showa museums that have popped up across Japan these past few years.

For example, the Showa Lifestyle Museum, which opened here in 1999 and is a converted stately home, has a wide collection of posters, magazines and other paraphernalia that carry photographs of Japanese film stars, pop singers and records of old western jazz artists and famous musical productions.

”Much of post-war art reflects the end of war and a resurgence of western culture in Japan, when during the war it was prohibited to even speak English, the language of the enemy,” says Kanako Nakayama, 55, a fan of Showa products.

Indeed, most of the celebrated artists of that time appear like U.S. film stars. Posters depict Japan’s femme fatales who have traded traditional kimonos for skin-tight glittering dresses from Paris or New York, and sport short perms.

Nakayama says the museums have rekindled her love for the Showa era. ”The search for materialism and affluence among the ordinary Japanese produced a pulsating energy. My parents worked hard and bought a refrigerator, television and washing machine,” she reminisces. ”Everyone believed we had a great future, quite the contrast to the gloom of today”s economic recession.”

Animation during the Showa period depicts this mood.

Astro Boy, a cartoon series in the 1960s, covers the adventures of a superstar robot that kills off enemies and protects ordinary folks. It owes its birth to the production of Japan’s first robot that time.

Osamu Tezuka, Japan’s celebrated cartoonist, created the wonder robot. The late cartoonist is quoted as having said, ”I am more attached to him (Astro Boy) than my own son. That’s because Astro Boy, as my alter ego, went through experiences much like my own when I was growing up after World War II.”

Cashing in on the Showa boom are new shop owners who report that retro goods contributed a whopping 8.5 million U.S. dollars in sales last year.

Decks Tokyo Beach, a commercial centre in Tokyo, has a floor dedicated to replicas of Showa products that include candy, furniture, toys and clothing of that period.

More than 2.7 million customers thronged into the shops on the floor last year alone.

Koji Kubo, 55, manager and a collector himself, says a large proportion of the customers are middle-aged men who were responsible for the original products when they entered the job market at that time.

”The replicas are now snapped up by this generation because it brings back nostalgia for their youth and achievements,” he says.

The attraction of the Showa period for youth, on the other hand, is the uniqueness of old Japan, says Kubo.

Ryu Ina, a sociologist at Hosei University, says the Showa boom is an opportunity for the older generation to relive the days when they worked without taking a break to rebuild lives and help Japan catch up with the West.

”People worked so hard those days and ran after material wealth with hardly any time to think. These people, now facing retirement, can tell their children about those times thanks to the Showa renaissance,” he explains.