Reviewed by:

• Mass Media, Consumerism and National Identity in Postwar Japan by Martyn David Smith
• Penelope Francks (bio)

The starting point for this study is the contention that, in the modern world, national identity is no longer defined in the political or military terms of the past, but rather in relation to “the pursuit of the good life [End Page 958] through consumption.” What we are, as individuals and citizens, has come to be determined by our consumption choices in a conflicted process, mediated through popular culture, rooting national identity in the practices of everyday life. Nowhere has this been more the case than in post– World War II Japan, where devastating defeat necessitated the search for something to replace the discredited forms of prewar nationalism. In this context, economic growth and rising living standards proved to be the goals which could unite an impoverished and divided country, redefining it as a prosperous, democratic, and modern nation.

To date, however, little scholarly attention has been paid to the forms in which these goals were embodied in day-to-day consumer practice, with economists tending to focus on supply-side studies of industrial growth and cultural historians engaged in a much more ethereal analysis of Japanese expressions of modernity. Nonetheless, as Smith argues, the pursuit of economic goals necessarily involved the reformulation of Japanese identity in terms of the goods and practices of individual consumption that embodied improved living standards. This exposed issues and anxieties inherent in the attempt to reconcile democratic freedom and autonomy with the unavoidable internationalization of the postwar world and the limitations imposed by Japan’s dependence on the United States for military protection.

The popular media played a key role in the process of imagining and defining the forms of both national and individual identity. Hence Smith seeks to illuminate the issues involved by means of material taken from weekly and monthly magazines aimed at segments of the emerging middle-class consumer market: young working women, housewives moving to the cities’ newly-constructed housing estates, and so on. His chapters summarize opinion pieces and roundtable discussions, beginning with food but moving on to matters less obviously grounded in everyday consumption practices: overseas travel, national symbols, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and the political and international-relations issues facing Japan from the late 1960s. By the conclusion, the discussion has entered the realms of theoretical debate over the nature of Japanese nationalism and the “theories of the Japanese” that explicitly attributed Japan’s economic success to a unique national identity.

The magazines which provide the book’s evidence were financed by advertising revenue and presumably did seek to promote and reflect the emerging consumer lifestyle in which new forms of national identity might find expression. However, the articles selected for summary, which may or may not be representative of the overall content of the magazines, are in large part opinion pieces that provide little real evidence as to what their readers might actually be buying and using. So, we have the magazines hosting discussions and offering expert opinions on student protests, the Vietnam War, the flag and the national anthem, even advice on how to date foreigners during the Olympics, but little evidence of how national [End Page 959] identity became grounded in the actual consumption of goods. In the period covered, overseas travel, meeting foreigners, even taking part in a demonstration were activities barely accessible to most people, unlike ordinary consumer goods. What do the magazines tell us about the fashion, food, electrical goods, and so on which might more realistically have embodied modern identity for their readers? The one concrete example concerns rice and its place in a Japanese diet increasingly subject to global influences, with the focus on policies, subsequently largely abandoned, promoting a more diverse and less rice-centred diet.

Hence, although the magazines’ evidence of popular attitudes may be of interest to those engaged in debates over the nature of modern nationalism, the book seems to represent a missed opportunity in relation to the production and consumption of the actual goods and services in...

审核人：

• 马丁·史密斯（Martyn David Smith）在战后日本的大众传媒，消费主义与民族认同
• 佩内洛普·法兰克斯（生物）

这项研究的出发点是争辩说，在现代世界中，民族认同不再由过去的政治或军事术语来定义，而与“追求美好生活”有关[End Page 958]通过消费。” 我们作为个人和公民的身份，是由我们在冲突过程中的消费选择所决定的，而这一过程是通过流行文化来调解的，将民族身份植根于日常生活的实践中。在第二次世界大战后的日本，没有什么比这更重要的了。在第二次世界大战后的日本，毁灭性的失败迫使人们寻找某种东西来代替战前民族主义的信誉不良。在这种情况下，经济增长和生活水平的提高被证明是可以团结贫穷和分裂国家的目标，将其重新定义为一个繁荣，民主和现代的国家。

然而，迄今为止，对于这些目标体现在日常消费者实践中的形式，学术界很少关注，经济学家倾向于将重点放在对工业增长的供应方研究上，而文化历史学家则更多地参与其中。对日本现代性表达的空灵分析。但是，正如史密斯所说，追求经济目标必然涉及日本人身份的重新表述，即体现生活水平提高的个人消费的商品和习惯。这暴露了调和民主自由与自治与战后世界不可避免的国际化以及日本依赖美国提供军事保护所施加的限制所固有的问题和忧虑。

大众媒体在想象和定义民族和个人身份形式的过程中发挥了关键作用。因此，史密斯试图通过针对新兴的中产阶级消费市场的细分市场的每周和每月杂志的资料来阐明所涉及的问题：年轻的职业妇女，搬到城市新建房屋的家庭主妇等等。他的章节概述了意见片和圆桌讨论，从食物开始，然后转向日常饮食习惯中不太明显的问题：海外旅行，国家标志，1964年东京奥运会以及1960年代后期日本面临的政治和国际关系问题。结论是

提供书籍证据的杂志是通过广告收入资助的，大概是试图促进和反映新兴的消费者生活方式，在这种生活方式中新形式的国民身份可能会有所体现。但是，为摘要而选择的文章，可能会或可能不会代表杂志的整体内容，大部分都是意见书，几乎没有提供真正的证据来说明读者可能实际购买和使用的物品。因此，我们有一些杂志就学生抗议，越战，国旗和国歌进行讨论并提供专家意见，甚至还提供了有关在奥运会期间如何与外国人约会的建议，但几乎没有证据表明他们的国籍[End Page 959]身份根植于商品的实际消费。在此期间，出国旅行，结识外国人，甚至参加示威游行都是大多数人几乎无法参加的活动，这与普通消费品不同。这些杂志对时尚，食品，电子产品等告诉了我们什么，对读者来说，这些可能更现实地体现了现代身份？一个具体的例子涉及大米及其在日式饮食中的地位，日益受到全球影响，重点放在政策上，随后大都被抛弃，促进了饮食的多样化和以米为中心。

因此，尽管对于那些辩论现代民族主义本质的人来说，这些杂志的流行态度证据可能是令人感兴趣的，但该书似乎代表了与实际商品和服务的生产和消费有关的错失机会。 。