{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e","title":"Time, Consumption and Everyday Life Practice, Materiality and Culture","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":null,"requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e","id":"1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e","uuid":"1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e","title":"Time, Consumption and Everyday Life Practice, Materiality and Culture","normalized_title":"timeconsumptionandeverydaylifepracticematerialityandculture","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":null,"isbns":[],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":236,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Time%2C%20Consumption%20and%20Everyday%20Life%20Practice%2C%20Materiality%20and%20Culture","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/1dc0854c-957b-4fb1-af9a-bb4fdb76b77e/search"},"page":{"printed_page":177,"pdf_page":176,"physical_index":176,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"4f7d3e4dbc951f20bada6cbc24133629fc6976ec5436b8f771e2ab9c2a4f0704"},"chapter":"List of Tables and Figures","content":"A second type of business that has been thriving as a result of post-war changes to the ritual system are companies involved in the production and publication of advice literature. A vast array of books and magazines feed the demand for information that used to be passed on in the community and in the home. A large percentage of this literature specializes in key life cycle events such as births, graduation ceremonies, weddings and funerals. Advice typically focuses on what clothes and accessories to wear, the way to behave ‘properly’ during the specific event, and the kinds of gifts to exchange. It is surprising that, by comparison, the advice literature surrounding ‘annual events’ is virtually non-existent. One reason for this might be that other businesses have successfully transferred this knowledge to the general public. Moeran and Skov, for example, mention that ‘the Japanese advertising industry has paid particular attention to the celebration of annual “events”, so that important points and stages in people’s lives have come to be marked by increased and specialized forms of consumption’ (1997: 199). Similarly, during my ethnography ‘annual events were linked with a range of products and advertised in magazines as well as on billboards and posters hung inside trains and buses. Local shops and supermarkets, the focus of this chapter, on the other hand, promoted and sold ‘festive goods’ for domestic celebrations of ‘annual events’. The relationship between commerce and ‘annual events’ is not new in Japan, and records from the late eighteenth century, for example, mention special urban markets where rural sellers supplied materials and ingredients necessary for ritual events (Ogino 2000). In contemporary Japan, local businesses are suppliers of seasonal goods, which are generally accompanied by written explanations that elucidate the origin of the ‘annual event’ concerned as well as their ‘proper’ use. By consuming these commodities in the home, anyone can participate in and reap the benefits of ‘annual events’.\n\nDuring my ethnography it became clear that Ishikawa’s classification of ‘annual events’, introduced earlier, needed to be updated for the twenty-first century (Toyama 2000). Local festivals linked with agriculture continue to be organized at religious institutions throughout Japan. However, most agricultural feasts held in urban areas have either become difficult to sustain remnants of past practices or widely advertised tourist attractions, and for my urban informants this category of ‘annual events’ had very little resonance. Special deities days, celebrated at community shrines or temples, continue to attract large local audiences. However, those actively involved were primarily elderly informants, especially those who co-habited with their children and acted as representatives of their extended family. By comparison, auspicious ‘sekku’ days in which young people are central, such as the Girls Festival (3 March), Boys Day (5 May) and Tanabata (7 July) are far more popular. Moreover, among rites of passage, those that focus on children, such as the Seven-Five-Three festival (when boys of 5 and girls of 7 and 3 visit religious institutions) or school graduation ceremonies, are widely celebrated. Both are rare occasions for children to wear traditional dress. The continuous pull of these latter two types of events is also linked with the fact that children learn about and actively engage in activities surrounding these festive occasions in school. Their popularity provides further evidence for my earlier claim that social relationships surrounding children and schools carry more weight than local community ties. Moreover, the main target audience of newly created ‘annual events’ such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day, which I will return to below, is also children and youth.\n\nSeasonal and Commercial Rhythms\n\n177","previous_page":176,"next_page":178}