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# Time, Consumption and Everyday Life Practice, Materiality and Culture
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Seasonal and Commercial Rhythms of Domestic Consumption A Japanese Case Study Inge Daniels
Introduction: Intermingling Rhythms of Consumption
[I]n contemporary Japan, changes of the seasons are related to cycles of consumption, and certain images – like those of mount Fuji and cherry blossoms – are used as a means of persuading people to buy things.
Moeran and Skov 1997: 189
In a seminal essay published in 1997, Moeran and Skov demonstrate that the Japanese advertising industry cleverly mixes and collapses key representations of the natural world to promote a diverse array of commodities. They argue that these advertisements challenge the existence of a unique Japanese perception of nature because seasonal ‘images are made to symbolize as wide a variety of events and emotions as possible’ (1997: 198). In this chapter, I will also examine the interrelationship between seasonal and commercial cycles in contemporary Japan, but, unlike Moeran and Skov, my focus will be on domestic consumption practices. In the domestic arena the cyclical, natural rhythms of bodies, of days and nights, months and years, seasons and plants, intermingle with linear, social rhythms of work, child care, leisure and travel (Lefebvre 2004). Through an ethnographic investigation of contemporary Japanese urban homes, I aim to explore, firstly, how seasonal rhythms and commercial rhythms of commodities interact within this amalgamate of domestic rhythms, and, secondly, how this complex, ongoing dialogue both creates and marks time, and animates the Japanese home.
This chapter builds on multiple ethnographic encounters I had with Japan over the past ten years. However, the specific data presented were collected during multisited fieldwork in thirty urban homes in the Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) between November 2002 and October 2003.1 My research, firstly, complements a body of anthropological literature that investigates consumption in contemporary Japan (Clammer 1997; Moeran 1996). However, it differs from these previous studies in that, following recent trends in material culture research, it focuses on consumption practices in the domestic arena. Secondly, my study draws on a body of social research that discusses the temporality of everyday life inside the home. This literature has explored four main areas of study. These are: (1) the balance between home and work and the so-called urban ‘time squeeze’ (Jarvis 2005; Southerton 2003); (2) the changing aesthetic outlook of the home (Clarke 2002; Daniels 2001; Hecht 2001); (3) domestic processes of divestment and disposal and the ephemeral qualities of things (Daniels 2009; Gregson and Beale 2004; Marcoux 2001); and (4) the relationship between domestic spirituality and temporality (Uberoi 1999). My study will touch upon theme 2 and 3, but its main contribution lies in expanding on theme 4 by suggesting, firstly, that the mundane everyday might be at the base of the experience of transcendence (Daniels 2003), and, secondly, that commerce does not negate spirituality (Reader and Tanabe 1998).
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Apart from ethnographic data, I will also draw on promotional leaflets (chirashi) that are produced by local businesses, ranging from high-quality department stores to local supermarkets and convenient stores, and are distributed by post on a weekly basis. Five people participating in my study agreed to collect these leaflets during one year from November 2002 until October 2003. Most chirashi advertise the latest food bargains, but they also promote a variety of other goods such as furniture, houses, Chinese medicine and gravestones. Whereas Moeran and Skov (1997) argue that the advertisements they studied, published in magazines or displayed on billboards nation-wide, did not reflect actual changes of seasons, my analysis of the collected leaflets reveals, by contrast, that local businesses cleverly synchronize their sales of specific goods with seasonal rhythms. The purchase of a number of raw foods such as bamboo shoots, mushrooms and oysters continues to be seasonal. However, in this chapter I am concerned with so-called ‘festive commodities’, food and decorations, used in domestic celebrations that are part of the yearly ritual cycle. These goods are advertised in weekly pamphlets, but they are also promoted in elaborate displays erected in commercial sites. The life cycles of these commodities and the rhythms of promotion and innovation are cleverly interwoven with the everyday rhythms of shopping.
A Uniquely Japanese Sense of Seasonality?
Anyone who spends a considerable amount of time in Japan will at some point be confronted with the statement that the Japanese have a unique, harmonious relationship with nature that comes to the fore in their sensibility to the four seasons. Throughout this chapter I aim to unpack and challenge many components at the base of this essentialist assumption. However, even the most sceptical of observers must admit that at first sight the Japanese seem to be more aware of – or at least more interested in – the changing rhythms of nature than other industrialized nations. The yearly excitement surrounding the first cherry tree blossoms is one highly visible example, but during my ethnography I observed more subtle manifestations of seasonal awareness. In all the urban homes studied, the arrival of seasonal foods such as water melons, mountain vegetables or mandarins, often gifts, caused real excitement and resulted in lively discussions about particular smells and tastes. Moreover, as temperatures rose, clothing, furniture and interior coverings associated with winter were exchanged for their summer counterparts; portable heaters and hot carpets were replaced by fans, rugs and blinds. Moreover, textile objects such as futons, sitting cushions and even slippers made of heavy, warm materials such as wool or felt were substituted for copies made in cotton, rattan or straw.
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The Iwaiis’ domestic interior stood out because of the exceptional attention paid to seasonal change. Unlike my urban participants, the Iwaiis, both in their mid-sixties, lived in a large house in small rural town in the south of Nara Prefecture. Mr Iwaii has a successful forestry business and Mrs Iwaii operates a kimono shop in the front of their home. This was the only home where at the start of June extensive seasonal changes were made to the Japanese-style rooms. Decorated paper sliding doors were replaced by doors made of rush, while tatami mats were covered with lighter rattan mats. Moreover, wooden sliding panels to keep out insects were inserted in the window frames, while bamboo or rattan blinds were attached to the outside of all the windows. Still, it was the display of seasonal goods on top of the shoe closet in the Iwaiis’ spacious hallway that exposed the exceptional degree of Mrs Iwaii’s seasonal awareness.
Mrs Iwaii called the items she displayed in her hallway ‘seasonal things’ (kisetsu na mono) because, in her words, ‘well, according to the seasons, I make various changes. I place them in the hallway because they enable me to create a seasonal mood.’ Mrs Iwaii has a large collection of seasonal things consisting largely of miniatures that she had brought home from frequent trips. Approximately every four weeks, she carefully selects a new item, and the seasonal effect is always completed with a fresh seasonal flower. In mid-June 2003 Mrs Iwaii replaced a miniature helmet, associated with virility and commonly displayed during the period leading up to Children’s Day on 5 May in homes with male children, with an auspicious wooden daruma doll,2 followed by a set of two insects made of rush, deemed appropriate for early summer, in turn replaced by a set of miniature deer, messengers of the deities linked with the famous Kasuga Taisha Shrine in Nara, and so forth, and so on.
The range of seasonal objects in Mrs Iwaii’s possession as well as her commitment to make regular changes to the hallway display contrasted sharply with the attitude of my other urban participants. One example is Mrs Terayama, a part-time nurse in her late forties, who lives with her husband and teenage daughter in a small flat in the centre of Itami City. She displayed a mixture of things in her hallway: a group of four chubby, ceramic cats with their paws raised to invite luck, a group of ballet dancers made in origami place in a glass display box, which was a wedding present, and a figurine her husband brought home from a trip to China. On a scale of seasonal awareness, Mrs Terayama and Mrs Iwaii would be situated at opposite ends. Many of my other female participants, but particularly those over 45 years old, aspired to follow Mrs Iwaii’s example. However, in practice, expressions of seasonality primarily consisted of replacing representations of zodiac animals once a year.
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Seasonal Knowledge and the Traditional Arts
In her opinion, Mrs Iwaii gained her exceptional seasonal skills through working for many years alongside her mother-in-law in the family’s kimono shop. Patterns, colours and the materials kimono are made of have to be in tune with the seasons, but also the particular occasion and the age (and the gender) of the wearer. In her extensive research about Japanese-style dress, Liza Dalby, an American anthropologist-cumgeisha, repeatedly discusses the complex relationship between kimono and the awareness of the seasons (Dalby 2001 [1993]). Seasonal kimono codes change almost monthly with the appearance of new plants and flowers, as the following list of appropriate motifs for each season illustrates: January–February: pine, plum, bamboo; March–April: cherry, butterflies, wisteria; May–June: iris, willow, birds; July–August: plovers, waves, shells; September–October: plumed grass, maple, chrysanthemum; November– December: bamboo in snow, pine needles and gingko (Dalby 2001 [1993]: 237). In post-war Japan, kimono ceased to be worn on an everyday basis, and this kind of knowledge has, therefore, become the prerequisite of professionals. The large body of advice literature as well as specialized magazines that target women who want to wear kimono illustrates this shift.
The fact that Mrs Iwaii is a keen student of the Japanese tea ceremony also contributes to her seasonal proficiency. The Iwaiis’ house was the only one in my sample with a special room dedicated to the formal Japanese tea ceremony. In this ceremony seasonality based on performative knowledge (Moeran and Skov 1997: 199) is, firstly, demonstrated by the choice of the decorations placed in the decorative alcove, the focal point of the otherwise sparse Japanese-style room. Mrs Iwaii’s tearoom was immaculate, and in June 2003 an ink painting of a blooming pomegranate tree decorated the scroll, while a lone iris was placed in a vase. A second way in which students of the tea ceremony can show seasonal proficiency is through their selection of traditional Japanese sweets served to guests. In her study of traditional sweet shops, the Japanese folklorist Oshima summarizes the yearly cycle of seasonal sweet ingredients as follows: January: narcissi or daffodils; February: plums; March: peaches; April: cherry blossoms; May: azaleas; September: balloon flowers or bell flowers; October: Japanese bush flowers; November: chrysanthemums (Oshima 2000: 71).
It should be clear by now that the production and selection of appropriate representations linked with seasonal change requires knowledge of and practical skills grounded in traditional Japanese aesthetics. Within this context it is interesting to refer to Ackermann’s (1997) argument that the concept of the four seasons is used to visualize universal principles of cosmic order that should be obeyed in order to avoid calamities. Throughout Japanese history the ruling elite has drawn on these natural representations linked with correct social behaviour in order to establish their authority. Ackermann calls this phenomenon ‘authoritarianism behind the veil of aesthetics’ and singles out masters of the tea ceremony as well as presidents of large companies as those who continue to successfully exploit this ideology (1997: 40–42). Indeed, in contemporary Japan seasonality is also employed to create social distinctions. Indeed more than half the married women in my sample, all over 45 years old, had at some point in their lives practised the tea ceremony or another of the traditional Japanese arts such as calligraphy or flower arrangement.
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The Annual Cycle of Events
Mrs Iwaii’s hallway display consists of a sequence of images and objects that constitute the yearly cycle of seasonal change. The more ubiquitous displays of representations of zodiac animals, on the other hand, form part of a sequence of twelve years embedded within a larger sixty-year cycle of growth and decay. Both examples as well as the intricate series of seasonal motifs and changing natural patterns used in the production of Japanese sweets and kimono textiles, introduced earlier, are closely associated with cosmic principles of change and transformation at the base of East Asian thought, whereby specific phenomena are considered to be ‘part of a sequence, these sequences in turn constituting the “backbone” of a traditional canon of images’ (Ackermann 1997: 44). All these examples also reveal that the Japanese notion of seasonal change is far more complex than a simple awareness of the four seasons. In Japanese language literature the yearly cycle of change and transformation is commonly referred to as ‘annual events’ (nenjû gyôji).
In his seminal Dictionary of Folklore, Yanagita Kunio, the father of Japanese Folklore Studies, defines nenjû gyôji as ‘festive days that annul pollution’ through ‘offerings made to the deities that are afterwards consumed among the community (Yanagita 1951: 449). In other words, on specific days of the year a group of people, whether the household, the local community or the whole nation, would hold purification rituals to increase spiritual energy. Key Japanese folklorists such as Yanagita and Wakamori have equated these cycles of regeneration or reproduction, at the base of Japanese traditional cosmology, with the Durkheimian sacred (hare) versus profane (ke) model. However, more recently, Japanese anthropologists have questioned this approach by pointing out that hare and ke, and also the third concept of kegare (pollution), often left out of the discussion altogether, are ‘inter-relative and supplementary’ (Ito 1995: 126).
Ishikawa (2000) distinguishes between five different types of celebrations that constitute the yearly ritual cycle. These are: (1) events linked with the cycle of rice cultivation; (2) festivals to celebrate spirits and ancestors (New Year and Obon);
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(3) the five auspicious days concerned with the celebration of life and reproduction grounded in Chinese Taoist ideas (9 January, 3 March, 5 May, 7 July, 9 September); (4) specific days to celebrate Shinto and Buddhist deities; and (5) rites of passage. However, during the last century these ‘annual events’ have changed dramatically. Firstly, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1872 meant that the date for each ritual occurrence has become fixed and as a consequence many of the events no longer correspond to actual seasonal changes in nature. A second factor that had a far greater effect on people’s perception of and involvement in ‘annual events’ was the progressive industrialization and urbanization of Japanese society throughout the twentieth century.
Before the Second World War more than 70 per cent of the population lived in rural farming communities consisting of extended families that operated as agricultural production units depending on mutual collaboration for their survival (Asahi Shinbun 2003). The whole community participated in ‘annual events’ that were organized around local shrines and temples. Moreover, knowledge about domestic ritual observances was passed on through the generations (Ogino 2000: 65). By contrast, the majority of Japanese born after the Second World War grew up in nuclear, (sub)urban families, commonly organized along strict gender roles. Women were housewives and mothers who stayed at home, while men were the main breadwinners who worked long hours as white-collar workers (salariiman) (Ishikawa 2000: 5).3 Although community or neighbourhood networks continue to exist in both rural and urban areas, it is fair to say that for most urban Japanese school and work associations have become equally – if not more – important (Daniels 2008). As a result, ritual knowledge is no longer transferred through the extended family or the local community; the next section will focus on how commercial companies have managed to fill this gap.
Commodification of Ritual Practices
In his excellent ethnography of contemporary funeral services in urban Japan, Suzuki explores the effects of commodification on the ritual system. He pays attention to ritual processes of regeneration (hare-ke-kegare), discussed earlier, which he describes as ‘a tricyclic circulation of an increase in vitality or energy and a depletion of energy’. Hare, the source of energy, can thus be interpreted as acting as a pump ‘that eliminates kegare (enervated) and fortifies ke (normal spiritual energy)’ (Suzuki 2000: 29). Suzuki reveals that in contemporary Japan, like in other industrialized societies, most people die in hospital. The removal of the process of dying from the home and, by extension, the decrease of funerals organized by the local community has had two main consequences. Firstly, everyday practical knowledge about funeral rituals has been largely lost and, secondly, community solidarity reiterated through these life cycle rituals has decreased. Professional funeral companies that offer assistance with the entire process have successfully filled the void. Their monopoly on ritual knowledge allowed these companies to obscure their profits, but new types of funeral practices have also resulted in new forms of dependency that are based on ties between individuals and occupational solidarity (Suzuki 2000: 217).
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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’.
During 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.
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Finally, commemorations of ancestors continue to be important ‘annual events in contemporary Japan. These celebrations held twice-yearly during the New Year and Bon (mid-August) period are particularly pertinent for my discussion as their main focus is the home. Until the end of the nineteenth century it used to be common for the extended family to return to the house of the main family branch on both occasions to pay respect to the ancestors enshrined in domestic Buddhist altars. However, as a result of a campaign to create State Shinto under the Meiji government (1868–1912), New Year became associated with Shinto and auspiciousness, while Bon celebrations were linked with Buddhism and death (Rupp 2003: 106–107). In 2003, New Year was celebrated by all those participating in my study, while only half my informants commemorated their ancestors during the Obon period. Statistics confirm these findings (Ishii 1994: 24–25) and I have therefore chosen to explore the relationship between commercial and domestic rhythms of consumption during festive periods by focusing on the New Year’s celebrations. The focus will be on two ‘festive goods’ that were widely advertised in the leaflets during the weeks leading up to New Year 2003, namely decorations and food.
New Year’s Celebrations and Product Innovation
New Year is a key period in the Japanese ritual cycle of regeneration, when a series of purification rituals are performed in order to rid oneself of last year’s misfortune (Daniels 2003). Among participants in my study the feeling of starting the year anew was most strongly associated with carefully attending to any outstanding business.4 Moreover, in the days leading up to the New Year the house needs to be thoroughly cleaned. The fact that cleaning products are heavily advertised during this period attests to this. However, my data also suggest that the importance of the special New Year’s house cleaning ritual (ôsôji) has somewhat diminished because of the regularity of everyday domestic cleaning routines. Still, the fact that in many homes husbands and children were drawn into the New Year’s cleaning also sets it apart from more mundane routines (Ishii 1994: 48).
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Decorations: Hybrid Ropes
Once the house is clean and last year’s business had been dealt with, New Year’s decorations, which temporally transfer the home into a sacred space, are put up. A typical New Year’s decoration is the sacred rope or shimenawa. These are straw ropes (nawa) decorated with paper festoons (shime) and an orange-type fruit that are used to demarcate sacred space (Figure 11.1).
Except for the four students in my sample, all other participants hung a shimenawa outside their home during the New Year’s period. Half of these ropes were hybrid objects: half Christmas wreath, half sacred rope. Decorations for the New Year advertised in the pamphlets included pine arrangements and sacred ropes, but most prominent were the hybrid New Year’s Wreaths (Figure 11.2).
The hybrids come in a large variety of sizes and styles, ranging from models to hang outside the house to miniatures that can be attached to car windows or even bicycles. The pamphlets stress the convenience of these kinds of ‘festive goods’ because they can be left outside throughout the Christmas and New Year’s period (Hashidate 2002: 48). However, Mrs Terayama, who hung a hybrid rope outside the door of her flat in Itami City, offered another explanation for their increased usage. She explained that their housing association had forbidden ‘traditional’ ropes because the straw and grains attracts birds. Whatever the case, one important factor to take into consideration is that sacred straw ropes place a burden on the inhabitants of the home concerned because they belong to a category of objects that need to be ritually disposed of at religious institutions at the end of the New Year (around 7 January) in order to avoid calamities. By contrast, many informants saw no ill in using the same hybrid New Year’s wreath during consecutive years.
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The example of the straw rope demonstrates that certain cultural forms may become obsolete, while others are replaced with new products that fit in better with people’s changing social and economic circumstances. In turn these forms might be replaced by yet others that might consequently be invented anew or disappear altogether. The market both responds to and plays an active role in this incessant process of obliteration and innovation.
Food: Auspicious Rice Cakes
The main New Year’s decoration inside the homes studied was the so-called kagamimochi (mirror-rice cake) display which consists of two large pounded rice cakes of different sizes placed on top of each other and a number of decorative elements with auspicious qualities. The rice cake display, a typical New Year’s offering, is generally placed on top of auspicious plants such as seaweed and fern leaves, while paper festoons are draped across, and the display is topped off with a mandarintype fruit. The various auspicious ingredients vary according to regional as well as household preferences (Matsushita 1991). In the Kuwaharas’ home in Itami City, for example, the kagami-mochi was placed on top of a large piece of dried seaweed and further decorated with a chestnut, a dried persimmon and a clay bell in the shape of a sheep, the zodiac animal celebrated in 2003 (Figure 11.3). The whole display sits
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