Objects of War
From 1940, even Mitsukoshi began to reflect the transformation of material culture due to the war. The sphere of everyday life became increasingly narrow and bare.
Acknowledging that now only the Axis "West" could now be mentioned in a positive light, German and Vichy French women were praised for wartime stylishness, while listings of their films replaced references to Hollywood. Folk Craft Movement (Mingei Undô) wares had been featured by Mitsukoshi for some time, but they were prominently highlighted during this period as representative of a romanticized national identity. Moreover, although the store was previously celebrated childhood as a distinct and semi-independent space, children's material culture was redefined in these wartime journal issues as sober, disciplined, and aligned with the war being waged by adults.
Meanwhile, store began to repackage, redesign, and offer new kinds of goods reflecting Japan at war. The first few images in the carousel below feature “care packages” (imonbukuro) to be sent to soldiers. Mitsukoshi offered ready-made sets as well as further suggestions, claiming special expertise in knowing the “right” combination of what was practical and what was fun, both of which were described as “necessary.” Other items directly connected with war, such as air raid equipment, were also presented.
Inevitably, however, given the hunger of the military for any and all materials, the Japanese world of objects, their production, circulation, and use, began to drastically contract. Mitsukoshi, the former source of everything one could ever want, began to tout self-sufficiency and do-it-yourself in the pages of its journal. Finally, the Mitsukoshi began to be stripped of any metals (such as in escalators and even shelves), so that it could not operate as even a shadow of its former self by the final years of the war.