{"id":148,"date":"2020-04-10T16:18:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T16:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/?p=148"},"modified":"2022-02-11T12:05:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T12:05:03","slug":"domestic-work-as-a-civic-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/2020\/04\/domestic-work-as-a-civic-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"Domestic Work as a Civic Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japanese\u00a0homes underwent\u00a0<\/span>significant shifts\u00a0<\/span>in the late nineteenth and early\u00a0<\/span>twentieth<\/span>\u00a0century.\u00a0<\/span>Such changes can be viewed through\u00a0<\/span>John Agnew\u2019s conditions for a meaningful location<\/span>\u00a0where h<\/span>e emphasizes\u00a0<\/span>location, the\u00a0<\/span>physical<\/span>\u00a0point on a map, the locale<\/span>, the\u00a0<\/span>setting which\u00a0<\/span>facilitates<\/span>\u00a0social bonds and sense of place,\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>emotion<\/span>al<\/span>\u00a0connection<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>associated<\/span>\u00a0memories<\/span>.<\/span> [1]<\/a>Japan\u2019s <\/span>industrialization\u00a0<\/span>facilitated\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>development\u00a0<\/span>of collective privacy amongst the family and the idea of\u00a0<\/span>the ‘<\/span>happy home\u2019\u00a0<\/span>amongst\u00a0<\/span>the middle and upper classes<\/span>.<\/span>[2]<\/a>\u00a0Meiji\u00a0officials\u00a0<\/span>active<\/span>ly<\/span>\u00a0engage<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0with women, encouraging\u00a0<\/span>the cultivation of\u00a0<\/span>what Jordan Sand terms\u00a0<\/span>\u2018t<\/span>he housewife\u2019s l<\/span>ab<\/span>oratory\u2019<\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>s a<\/span>\u00a0necessary\u00a0<\/span>part of\u00a0<\/span>the Japanese ‘happy home\u2019<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>By this, he means <\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>professionalization<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of d<\/span>omestic\u00a0<\/span>housework for women<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>who<\/span>\u00a0became\u00a0<\/span>nut<\/span>rition<\/span>, he<\/span>althcare<\/span>, and hygiene\u00a0<\/span>experts\u00a0<\/span>educated and t<\/span>rained to\u00a0<\/span>pr<\/span>otect\u00a0<\/span>bourgeoise<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>households against outside threats<\/span>.<\/span>[3]<\/a>Thus,\u00a0what John Agnew would see as the locale of\u00a0middle-class\u00a0Japanese\u00a0homes\u00a0is altered\u00a0considerably\u00a0during this period.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Meiji adjustments saw the rise of familial privacy meaning the ousting of people like laborers, maids, and other members of the household previously included in daily a<\/span>ctivities\u00a0<\/span>like cooking, cleaning, and overall production<\/span>. As industrialization encouraged a separation of work and home life, the collective family’s privacy was important and thus the criteria for household members were redefined. <\/span>T<\/span>his\u00a0<\/span>new\u00a0<\/span>hous<\/span>e<\/span>hold\u00a0<\/span>order\u00a0<\/span>place<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>housewife\u00a0<\/span>in an<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>all-seeing<\/span>\u00a0p<\/span>osition wher<\/span>e\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>household a<\/span>ctivities\u00a0<\/span>c<\/span>ame\u00a0<\/span>under her\u00a0<\/span>purview.\u00a0<\/span>Thus, the state deploy<\/span>ed<\/span> the ho<\/span>usewife<\/span> as its agent advancing the state through her work and embedding her duties into a socio-economic context.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, this shift laid the groundwork for a system where women\u2019s care of her household went beyond familial bonds but a duty to the state, a view still supported in the 1940s. In the immediate post-war years, food was scarce, and the government encouraged women to be more economical than ever before, avoiding waste as much as possible. Magazines disseminating ideas of using all food materials, including items not normally consumed for example sweet potato stems, in new recipes were common.<\/span>[4]<\/a>Once again, housewives and their managerial skills took on a new value to help the state in caring for its citizens in a tumultuous period. Housewives were encouraged to waste nothing however upon the subsequent rise in economic growth, increased consumption saw these habits challenged. Once the so-called \u2018consumption revolution\u2019 in the 1950s and 60s took off, the state encouraged women to buy more goods for their families and homes and enjoy the benefits of the progress of Japan embodied in such commercialism.<\/span>[5]<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The state\u2019s emphasis\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0household\u00a0made\u00a0women\u00a0a vital tool for\u00a0its agenda.\u00a0 Repeatedly encouraging women to take control of their homes in what they deemed productive ways, Japan relied on women\u2019s role as household managers to monitor households across the country. While this\u00a0encouragement\u00a0of\u00a0household\u00a0work largely limited female talents to the domestic sphere, the education which opened to educated women in such affairs\u00a0facilitated\u00a0social interactions with\u00a0other women of similar\u00a0means and\u00a0provide a\u00a0springboard future woman\u00a0could use to branch off into different industries. Thus, while not ideal the seed for female expertise in a chosen field was planted and would develop over time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Tim\u00a0Cresswell,\u00a0\u00a0Defining Place: a short introduction<\/em>\u00a0(Malden 2004), p. 7<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Itsuko Ozaki, \u2018Society and Housing Form: Home\u2010Centredness\u00a0in England vs. Family\u2010Centredness\u00a0in Japan\u2019,\u00a0Journal of Historical\u00a0Sociology\u00a0<\/em>\u00a014\u00a0(2002),\u00a0<\/em>p.\u00a0 341<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Jordan Sand,\u00a0House and Home in Modern Japan:\u00a0Architecture, Domestic Space and Bourgeoise Culture, 1880-1930\u00a0<\/em>(Cambridge 2005), p. 55<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Eiko Maruko\u00a0Siniawer,\u00a0Waste: Consuming Postwar Japan<\/em>\u00a0(New York 2018),\u00a0pp.\u00a021-22<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid.,<\/em> p. 46<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japanese\u00a0homes underwent\u00a0significant shifts\u00a0in the late nineteenth and early\u00a0twentieth\u00a0century.\u00a0Such changes can be viewed through\u00a0John Agnew\u2019s conditions for a meaningful location\u00a0where he emphasizes\u00a0location, the\u00a0physical\u00a0point on a map, the locale, the\u00a0setting which\u00a0facilitates\u00a0social bonds and sense of place,\u00a0the\u00a0emotional\u00a0connection\u00a0and\u00a0associated\u00a0memories. [1]Japan\u2019s industrialization\u00a0facilitated\u00a0the\u00a0development\u00a0of collective privacy amongst the family and the idea of\u00a0the ‘happy home\u2019\u00a0amongst\u00a0the middle and upper classes.[2]\u00a0Meiji\u00a0officials\u00a0actively\u00a0engaged\u00a0with women, encouraging\u00a0the cultivation of\u00a0what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domestic-space","category-japan","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spatialhistory.net\/cities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}