Why is Japanese interior immature?

Yuichiro Noguchi
Aug 26
5 min read

It was also covered in the previous column "The Close Relationship between Fashion and Interior" (https://www.inthelightinteriors.com/post/epsode_44/), but based on a certain data The annual cost of Japanese interiors calculated in is only about 15,000 yen. While the amount spent on fashion is 90,000 yen a year, I think it is a number that shows how much Japanese people are not interested in interiors.

The Westernization of Japanese residences began in the Meiji period, but first Western-style buildings began to be built in foreign settlements, and then Western culture was incorporated into the residences of the upper class of Japanese people.

In 1916, Mr. Nobusuke Hashiguchi, the owner of "Amerikaya", and Ms. Tsukiko, a female educator, established the "Housing Improvement Association" as saying, "In order to improve life, it is necessary to first change the home, which is a vessel of life." The Housing Improvement Association publishes Japan's first housing magazine "Housing" based on "HOUSE&GARDEN", which was published for housewives in the United States, and conducts various educational activities such as housing design competitions and the publication of housing-related books.

The magazine "Modern Living" was founded in 1951. Although signs of post-war recovery began to be seen and the food shortage was gradually being resolved, it was a time when it was far from rich, and even the places where many people lived were poor. The title of the first issue of ML magazine, which was born with "I want to improve my life in Japan even a little" is "My house that is narrow but fun - a minimum housing for couples". The description said, "Even if it is small, the furniture and daily utensils in the room can be freely combined and decorated. There, a unique way of living will be born. There is a description, and it is an unchanging value even today.

Between "Amerikaya" and "Modern Living", even after half a century, there is something in common with the idea that people want to improve their lives even a little, and that does not change even today. In both eras, the lives of the common people were so poor that they could not be compared to today, and therefore the earnest desire to "improve their lives even a little" was the background of such a thing.

Until the early Showa period, Japan was a super disparity society that could not be compared to today. There is an aspect of the sharp gap between rich and poor, which has become the driving force for people to go to war. After the war, Japan lost many people's place to live due to air raids due to the war, and it was required to build a large number of houses cheaply and quickly. Even after the period of high economic growth, the demand for new construction will increase year by year due to nuclear families, but as a result, they will produce a large number of poor quality houses.

In 1972, when Akio Nitori, the founder of Nitori, visited the United States for an inspection, he was surprised that the local living environment was very rich compared to Japan, and furniture and miscellaneous goods that could live as richly as the United States in Japan It seems that he decided to sell it.

In this way, there are always people in Japan who want to "improve the quality of living", but I think the current situation in Japan is the result of people's demand for cheapness and quantity rather than quality. Houses built at low cost deteriorate faster than in Europe and the United States, and it is normal to rebuild in 30 years. It is natural that the interiors used in such Japanese houses are also disposable.

Even if you look at the history of interior decoration, Japan's unique culture, which continued until the Edo period, was greatly transformed by the Westernization of the Meiji period, and only people living in the upper class enjoyed it, and the general public was full of daily life. You can see it. And considering that such a situation continued until around the 1970s, no matter how much they appeal for the enrichment and quality of life, such a culture cannot take root among ordinary people.

I became interested in interiors when I went to the United States when I was in my 20s. I learned about European and American culture through second-hand clothes in Japan, but when I actually started living there, not only clothes, but also furniture, tableware, cutlery, etc., everything related to life was distributed as a second hand (second-hand goods) and widely rooted in people. I learned about the culture.

Life in the United States in the 90s was full of new and beautiful homes or the latest home appliances like in Japan, but rather things made a short time ago. Even so, it was enough to live, and everyone was living like that, so I didn't feel any dissatisfaction. Among the older things, there are designs that I have never seen in Japan before, and that is much more interesting, and those experiences have led my interest to interiors.

One day, a glass shop in a slightly stylish town in Los Angeles caught my eye. It is a vintage furniture store like an art gallery that stands out among Los Angeles, where there are many shops. Inside the glass store, an old chair with a wonderful design that had never been seen before was displayed as if it were a work of art. I don't remember what the chair was at that time, but it was very impressive and I will never forget that emotion even after nearly 30 years.

"I'll buy a new one when the latest home appliances come out", "I'll switch when a new car comes out", "I want to build a new house even if my home", but it was an American life that was not related to life surrounded by such new things, but the bridge of "American shop" mentioned at the beginning Just like Mr. Nobusuke Kuchi and Mr. Akio Nitori of "Nitori", my experience in the United States will be the opportunity to think about wealth later.

If you live in Japan, it is valuable to be branded goods, new products, and the latest and high-performance products, and you tend to have the illusion that having such things is rich, but "true wealth" has nothing to do with such things. I feel it.

If you use your home and furniture carefully, you can pass it down from generation to generation, and you should keep things with really great universal designs, not disposables. "True wealth" is nothing more than something born from creating good things that are useful for people's lives and a culture that tries to value them.

In the past, Japan was mocked by Europe and the United States as a country that made imitations, but it may be based on the idea and culture that "it will be disposable anyway, so you can easily copy the design". People don't spend money or effort on things that are known to be disposable, and things that are made in this way will not impress people.

IKEA and 100 yen shops are always very busy next to the line at brand stores. The IKEA parking lot, where luxury foreign cars are lined up, feels like a sight unique to Japan. As a result of people's pursuit of cheapness and quantity over quality, this country is so full of things that words such as separation and minimalism are popular. We Japanese may have acquired wealth in the material sense, but it may still be a long way to know "true wealth".