OSPERITY, STRENGTH AND CULTURE PART ONE Chapter | Prosperity, strength and culture: 1860-1940 Thestory of Japan, from the 1860s up tothe eve ofits involvement in the Second World Miar,is dominated by bothitsimpactonthe West (in terms ofits influence on the Modern Movement in painting, architecture and design), and by itsborrowing from the West intheareasof modemtechnology and industry. Although atthe turn ofthe century the West tended tosee Japanasa rather primitive country inspite ofits highly developed aesthetic sensibility, Japan was,in fact, dramatically transforming itselfintoone ofthe world’s leading industrial powers. ‘Modern Japan took the first steps towards becoming. highly sophisticated industrial nation soon after it opened its doors totrade with the USA and Europe in the 1850s. For more than 250 yearsithad experienced period oftotal isolation underthe rule of the Tokugawa shoguns, during which, although sendy and significant domestic commercial progresshad taken place, notorcientrading had been permitted. tapan had reaped no savantages trom Une scientific, technulogical svnd industrial breakthroughs made in Fao ol al line avn political, the cansnlry wa alill dominated by a feudal system which had changed litte for two and ahalf centuries. However inthe area of handicralls, regional specializations tid develoved und national markets were establish ‘Tradllonal Japanese westhele ideals were Maintained in these yenrot steals, although a new and uncharacierisie flamhayance also-cmergedin the new att form whieh ounsned with ne nse otthe merchant lars in this period, ‘Tho sours of solution served, meretore,t0 comolidate lapan'straditinnal areas production but there was lite development inthe‘new' industries inshipbuiling, for ‘example, mechanized teatile production, and metal fabrication. In the 1850s, when the acceleration of international trading and the coming of steamships caused Europe and Americato entreat Japan to open its doorsto them, all this was to change. Between 1854. the yearin which the American Commodore Perry signed a trade agreement with Japan — and 1868 -the year ofthe so-called ‘Meiji Restoration’, when the shoguns handed over powerto the Emperor-the preconditions for ‘change were laid down. Asa symbol of what swasto come, onthe occasion ofitstrade agreement, America presented Japan with a ‘model locomotive, an eleetrictelegraphand adaguerrotype camera, ‘This Japanese wood: block print isentitied “Foreignersat Namamugt being Japa Toreigners before the Meiji period wasso strong that they were notallowed in the county. 20PROSPERITY, STRENGTH AND CULTURI Awood-block print rom the nineteenth century. by Yoshitoshi.Thisshows the nda tur n Japanese!ROSPERITY, STRENGTH AND CULTURE In Japan, the 1870s and 1880s were decades of intense modernization and, above all, ofalmost fanatical Westernization, Western dress and interiors were introduced asaresult ofthe dissemination ofimages fromthe West. They were, inthe words of Yoshida Mitsukuni, ‘symbols of progress....It naturally became the norm thal the higher a pperson stood in the élite the more often he wore Western clothing and, by extension, the ‘more frequently he sat on chairsat high tables typical ofthe Western style ofliving: ABritish architect was commissioned to design a buildingin Tokyo called the ‘Rokumeikan’ which functionedasa centre {or social gatherings of Japanese and foreign diplomats. Here, tis claimed, Japanese ladies dressed in bustles were instructed in the principles of European cooking, ‘The relationship with the Western powers Anearlyradio,preduced in the 1920s by ne Hayakawa tectre Company, originally a metalworking, ceonerrn. changed Is ime 1o'Sharp’ today one ofthe leading Japanese ‘manufacturersof electrical and electronic goods, 22 was double-edged, however While, on the one hand, Japan needed allies in Gr Britain, France and Germany fortrade purposes, on the other it feared being seen as akind of sub-colony: Primarily as a means of self-defence, and inan attemptto establish ltselfasan equal power with those industrialized countries, Japan devoted much ofits newly found wealth to building Uupanarmy anda navy. Afierce sense of nationalism motivated the peoplein these ‘years, ona par with that expressed i European countries, ‘The programme of mode concentrated on the establishment of industries,and on the development ofa ‘compulsory mass education system modern commercial infrastructure—a banking system, railways, harbours, lighthouses, dockyards, telegraph offices, printing presses and newspapers, and post offices. Many items previously unknown in chas cigarsand cigarettes, were introduced into Japan. Numerous foreign ‘expertsand technicians amongthem railway and marine engineers,and agricultural experts—were hired towork in the last three decades ofthe while many young Japanese were sent abroad to Europe and the USA to study. The governmenttook an active role inthis programme of ‘modernization, setting up model factoriesto encourage Japanese entrepreneursto follow suit. In some cases, factories were ‘Sumitomo and Yasuda). These zaibatsus, which in some cases originated in prosperous merchantfamiliesin the Edo I, were to become very powerful and important. The opportunities forentrepreneursto set inthe Meiji yearsand, elyafterwards were enormous, Many took advantage of them, to profit from the new technology that was suddenly available in Japan. Among the new ‘manufacturing companies established in these years were a few fairly modes organizations which were to goon to become lants of he consumer goods industry in the years following the Second World War. What later became the Seiko grouwas originally established by Kuitaro Hattori who set up the Hattori Seiko Co. 1d in'Tokyo in 1881. This company concentrated on the production of precision machinery. Eleven years ater, Hattori founded Seikosha which manufactured timepieces, although the watch division ithelf was not established until 1957. Similarly,the Toyoda Company formed in 1897 manufactured automatic wooden Jooms. Again, it was not until the 1950s that the company diversified its production, this time into motor cars, with the formation of its now famous Toyota division. Tokuji Hayakawa founded his small snap and metalworks businessi year of the Meiji period. By the 1920sithad PROSPERITY, STRENGTH AND CULTURI ‘manufacture. The printon the left showssilk thread being refined; onthe right workisin progressing i-making factory. ly labour-intensive ivi become the Hayakawa Electric Co. Lid, concentrating its efforts on the production of cats’ whiskers radios. Much later, the ‘company changed tsname to Sharp’ after the Ever-Sharp’ propelling pencil that ithad started to manufacturein 1915, Another leading electrical company, Matsushita, was formed in 1918, the year of Japan's post-First 23ee PROSPERITY, STRENGTH AND CULTURE World War economic boom. Itbegan modestly with Konosuke Matsushita making adaptor socketsin his own hon expanded in the inter-war years to become a ‘major industrial for Japan isa single crop country wh depended on the production of rice for centuries. Italso needed to import nearly all ltsraw materials and heavy machinery. To obtain these, foreign trade was vital. Exports, inthe period 1868-97, increased twenty-fol, inreturn forthe raw materialsand foreign machinery needed for manufacture and modernization The image ofits production that Japan projected in the Westin the second half ofthe nineteenth century was not, however,one associated with modern ife but rather with overtly traditional values, Westerners perception of Japan was coloured by the richnessand exoticism of, first, prints, and later the densely patte Kimonos, laequerwork, screens and fans that they imported with such fervour from th 1860s onwards. This aestheticcontrasted violently with the essential values ofthe ordinary Japanese people. Japanese manufacturers were quick, however, to exploit the taste forall things Oriental that developed firstin Europe, and a litle later in the USA.In the second liaifof te nineteenth ‘century, they produced highly decorated z0ods especially for those marketsand had exported themin vast numbers tothe ‘countless warehousesthat denttin such 00s, The eruze for Yaporusme'tirs took hold in Une 1850s aud 1800s among the ste paintersof Uneday and filtered Into England through the agency of men stich asJames MeNeill Whistler, wu had worked in Paris before moving to London. Partly because the Japanese could only send small, lightweight zoods on the long journey ‘aud vary because ofthe Vieworian Gsle lor the exotic, the European marker was, Boondes|, aller 1868, with aricharray of ecarative Japanese goods, among thea fans, buddhas, luequerswork, embroidery loasunaé enamel, paper, sunshades and Fildingescreens. The frst analorstiow of the 1802 eghibition where fir Rutherford Aleuck displayed his own collection of aariefacix which included « range of Pati avant-p The‘Ever Sharp’ propelling pene produced in 1915} the Hayakawa Company ‘The Japanese Court atthe International Exhibition held London in 1862, ve stand displayed the first examples of traditional Japanese gouds tobe sent In London b anadiece, and was highly {nential in helpin create the vogueforall things Japanese whieh doveloped inthe 1870sand Iss ceramics, prints, fansand textiles, The most striking features of he decoration onall the items were the sy natural iAsense of asy Doth of which found their way into n domestically manufactured British decorative art in the second halfof the nineteenth century The vogue for influenced the stylistic preferences ofa lange section ofthe British middle-class market hy the 1880s. A number of London stores, amongthem Whiteleys, Debenham and Freebody, Swan and Edgarand Liberty, opened Oriental deparimes demand. Ofthese, Liberty was most committed to the fashion and its owner, Arthur Lasenby Liberty, visited Japan in 1888 imagery and the str stocatertothe apaneseware had 24