Gordon, Andrew 2012

Fabricating
Consumers:
The sewing machine in modern Japan
Contents.
Andrew Gordon 01
Selected Publications 02
Fabricating Consumers 03
Reviews 04
Structure of the Book 05
"Fabricating" consumers? 06
Sewing Time 07
Singer 08-15
Two-layered Life 16
Woman's Role 17
True Stories 18
Monpe 19
Fabricating Consumers 20
 01

Andrew Gordon.
Born on May 6th, 1952
American japanologist
Scholar of modern Japanese history
One of the leading experts on Japanese labor history
Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History at Harvard University
 02

Selected Publications.
“New and Enduring Dual Structures of Employment in Japan: The Rise of Non-Regular Labor, 1980s-
2010s,” in Social Science Japan Journal 20, no. 1 (2017): 9-36.
Fabricating Consumers: The Sewing Machine in Modern Japan (University of California Press, 2011).
Nihonjin ga shiranai Matsuzaka mejaa kakumei [Matsuzaka’s Unknown Major League Revolution] (Asahi
Shinsho, 2007).
A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present (Oxford University Press, 2002) -
3rd edition published in 2013.
The Wages of Affluence: Labor and Management in Postwar Japan (Harvard University Press, 1998).
Postwar Japan as History (University of California Press, 1993).
Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan (University of California Press, 1991).
The Evolution of Labor Relations in Japan: Heavy Industry, 1853-1955 (Harvard University Press, 1985).
 03

Fabricating Consumers: The

Sewing Machine in Modern
Japan.

Published by University of California Press in November 2011

Reviews.
04

Reviews in Journals for Asian/Japanese studies and (Business) History, e.g. :

“The Business History Review”,
“The Journal of Japanese Studies”,
“Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies”)
most of the ones accessible through Göttingen Library are from 2013

Overall resonance: Positive, most reviews consider it a valuable contribution

specific points praised:

richness of sources
focus on the (especially female) consumer - instead of only supply side as
often happens in business history
examination of global trends through the lense of one specific object
Structure of the book.
05

Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
Part One: Singer in Japan
1. Meiji Machines
2. The American Way of Selling
3. Selling and Consuming Modern Life
4. Resisting Yankee Capitalism
Part Two: Sewing Modernity in War and Peace
5. War Machines at Home
6. Mechanical Phoenix
7. A Nation of Dressmakers
Conclusion
Appendix: Some Notes on Time-Use Studies
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
“Fabricating” Consumers?
06

verb adjective
The consumers are being The consumers fabricate
fabricated something themselves

Part One: Part Two:

Singer in Japan Sewing Modernity in War and Peace
Sewing time. Min per day.
07

1941 1951 1970s

180-210 139 33-60

Singer: timeline.
08

1851 1900 1920 1937

Foundation of Singer opens the first ~ 800 Singer Import-export
Singer Company store in Tokyo shops in Japan Control law

1880 1904 1932 1938

Singer claims almost 51 Singer shops Salesman strike Singer sales in Japan
half of the global sewing in Japan fall to zero
machine market
Why Singer?
09

Price
Technological superiority
Appealing design
Good reputation
Effective advertisement
Why Singer?
10

Price
Technological superiority
Appealing design
Good reputation
Effective advertisement

The Singer magic lay in "its direct selling organization knocking on

people's doors all around the world" (P.43)
Singer System. Organization.
11

head office

central offices

regional / branch offices

retail stores / local offices

Singer System. Staff.
12

canvasser
salesman (sarariiman)
collector

"woman teacher" (onna kyōshi)

maintenance & repairs

customer
Singer System. Relationships.
13

Success required keen understanding of the social world of their clientele, including an understanding among male
sellers of the female customers' lives and desires that was not easy to come by. Yamamoto Tosaku, a Singer
salesman who would in 1932-33 lead the dispute of Singer employees, recalled in a 1948 discussion that most
sales during his time with the company (1917-1933) were to well-to-do families:

"First we would look into the entryway to see what sort of footwear there was, and
maybe the daughter of the house is 3 or 4 years old, so we'd plan to come back in
several years to try to make a sale." [...]
Another discussant, Sekine Harukichi, recalled working one home for eight or even ten years. Yamamoto added that

"to sell even one machine, you needed to butter up the cat, too. The cat wasn't
stupid! If you kicked the cat, the deal was off!"
Singer System. Trade-in policy.
14

A late nineteenth-century American ad emphasized Singer's

willingness to take in old machines, boasting that "such [imperfect
competitor] machines ought to be put out of existence. We,
therefore, offer to exchange our new and latest improved Machines
for old Sewing Machines of every kind, on liberal terms. Such old
Machines as are thus obtained by us will be destroyed." (P.48)
After Singer.
15

> government gets full control of imports and of access to

foreign currency
1937 import-export control law > sewing machine import is allowed only for military use
> Singer was denied access to dollars or pounds and therefore
was unable to import new machines or parts for any purpose

1938 raise of local producers: Mitsubishi, Yasui (later, Brothers), Pine (later, Pine and Janome)

1949 JIS, Japanese Industrial Standards, > matching Singer quality

> standardising machine parts
are set by Japanese producers

1957 Japan becomes the world's leading 1 million out of 1.6 million sewing machines
imported into the US were made in Japan.
producer of household sewing machines:
二重生活。
n i - j ō s e i k a t s u 16

Two-layered life.
the term refers to the simultaneous presence of goods and practices decribed as "Western" and
"Japanese" in realms of food, housing, and dress. (P.96)

struggle to find “Japaneseness” in modernity

gendered debate on the adoption of Western dress: aesthetics, sexuality, practicality, safety
-> both pro and con put forward values of modernity/efficiency
good wife and a
17

wise mother in
service of family,
nation , and
empire
The good wife and wise mother
served family and society by the
modern girl
persuit of education and, where
necessary, employment. Fulfilling
safe shopper
her domestic role was understood
to be a public duty. (P.34) skilled consumer
prudent household manager
実話。 self-reliance (jikatsu)
j i t s u w a

self-sufficiency
self-cultivation

"True Stories".

Attracting female readers

Inspiring hope for the future
Reflecting upon existing social roles
Debating modern values
Supporting woman's independence and self-reliance 18
"Standard Dress"
for women.

もんぺ。
Monpe.
19
Fabricating
20

Consumers.
1947 1951 Late 1950s

400 2400 7000

sewing sewing sewing
schools schools schools

45 000 360 000 500 000

students students students
Questions.
1. Is home sewing still important in your country? Who does it for how long and why?
2. Can the Singer story tell us something about the limits of marketing? Did the full adoption
of the new sewing technique depend on fashion/norms changing or did producers create
the need for the machine through marketing?
3. How can contemporary online-marketing compare to the system of salesmen and local
stores that Singer/Japanese machine manufacturers employed?
4. What are other consumer durables (like the sewing machine) whose purchase is tied to
women’s roles (in and outside the household)?
Thanks.