Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T03:59:15.001Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

TRANSCULTURAL POLITICS OF DEPARTMENT STORES: COLONIALISM AND MASS CULTURE IN EAST ASIA, 1900–1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2016

Jeesoon Hong*
Affiliation:
Sogang University E-mail jh274@sogang.ac.kr

Abstract

This study presents a transcultural mapping of department stores in modern East Asia from a socio-political perspective centered on colonialism and nationalism. Department stores in the region exhibited a coeval culture, as suggested by the common use of the term “hyakka/baihuo/baekhwa.” While focusing on the common impact of Japanese colonialism, this study examines mainly Mitsukoshi in Tokyo; Wing On and Sincere in Shanghai; and Mitsukoshi, Minakai, and Hwashin in Seoul. It consists of four parts. The first part traces the translingual-scape of “hyakka” and shows how the modern universalism celebrated in the term, in reality, contributed to shaping an exclusive social group. The second part expands the etymological survey of “hyakka” into the physical dimension and analyzes items for sale at department stores, select lifestyles, and social group formations. The third part illuminates the patriarchal, militaristic managerial styles that developed under the influence of Japanese imperialism. The last part delves into Japanese department stores' colonial expansion within East Asia. This study employs a transcultural methodology to highlight multidimensional connections and coeval localities as well as differences, though it is often differences that are highlighted by research that involves straightforward country comparisons.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

A Gija 1932 A Gija, A 기자 Reporter, A. “Bulyaseong punggyeong je il baekhwajeom pyeon, chanlanhan yuhaengpum ayang e mulyok eul dameun cheongchun'an, selsgeol ui useum sok e sumeun nunmul” 不夜城風景 第一 百貨店 篇, 찬란한 유행품 아양에 물욕을 담은 青春眼, 쎌스걸의 우슴속에 숨은 눈물 (Bustling Night-scape Series no. 1—Department Stores, The Youth's Eyes Filled with Worldly Desires for Glamorous Fashion Goods—Sales Girls' Tears behind Smiles) in Dong'a Ilbo (November 22, 1932) p. 3.Google Scholar
Anderson 2006 Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. London: Verso, 2006.Google Scholar
Asakawa 1941 Asakawa, Tōshi 朝川 東錫 (formerly Han Dongseok 韓東錫). “Sanggongeopja ui hwalro wa jeomulga jeongchaek” 상공업자의 활로와 저물가정책 (Way out for Merchants and Industrialists and a Low-Price Policy) in Samcheonli 13:4 (April 1941).Google Scholar
Aso 2014 Aso, Noriko. Public Properties: Museums in Imperial Japan. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Benjamin 1999 Benjamin, Walter. “Paris, the Capital of the Nineteenth Century <Exposé of 1935> .” In The Arcades Project, trans. Eiland, Howard and McLaughlin, Kevin, ed. Tiedemann, Rolf. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999, pp. 3–26.Google Scholar
Benson 1988 Benson, Susan Porter. Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores 1890–1940. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Berry 2013 Berry, Chris. “Shanghai's Screen Culture: Local and Coeval.” In Public Space, Media Space, eds. Berry, Chris et al. , pp. 110–34. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.Google Scholar
Chae 1931, 1989 Chae, Manshik 채만식. “Changbaekhan eolguldeul” 창백한 얼굴들 (Pale Faces, 1931) in Chae Manshik Jeonjip 7채만식전집 (Complete Works of Chae Manshik). Seoul: Changjak gwa Bipyeong sa, 1989.Google Scholar
Chan 1998 Chan, Wellington K. K.Personal Styles, Cultural Values, and Management: The Sincere and Wing On companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong 1900–1941.” In Asian Department Stores, ed. MacPherson, Kerrie L., pp. 6689. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Chen 2007 Chen, Pingyuan 陈平原. “Daixu—Zuowei ‘wenhua gongcheng’ yu ‘qimeng shengyi’ de baikequanshu” 代序--作为‘文化工程’与‘启蒙生意’的百科全书 (Preface—Encyclopaedia as a “cultural project” and “Enlightenment business”). In Jindai Zhongguo de baikecishu 近代中国的百科辞书 (Encyclopaedia of Modern China), eds. Pingyuan, Chen and Liena, Mi [Millena Dolezelova-Velingerova]. Beijing: Beijing Daxue Chubanshe, 2007.Google Scholar
Creighton 1991 Creighton, Mille R.Maintaining Cultural Boundaries in Retailing: How Japanese Department Stores Domesticate ‘Things Foreign.’Modern Asian Studies 25:4 (1991), pp. 675709.Google Scholar
Dirlik 2005 Dirlik, Arif. “Architectures of Global Modernity, Colonialism and Places.Modern Chinese Literature and Culture 17:1 (2005), pp. 3361.Google Scholar
Elman 2004 Elman, Benjamin A.From Pre-modern Natural Studies, gezhixue to Modern Science, kexue in China.” In Mapping Meanings: The Field of New Learning in Late Qing China, eds. Lackner, Michael and Vittinghoff, Natascha, pp. 2574. Leiden: Brill, 2004.Google Scholar
Featherstone 1998 Featherstone, Mike. “The Flâneur, the City and Virtual Public Life.Urban Studies 35:5–6 (1998), pp. 909–25.Google Scholar
Fujioka 2011 Fujioka, Rika. “Japanese Department Stores: A Failure in Globalisation” (Paper presented at the British and Japanese Enterprise: Technology, Knowledge, Culture and the Challenges of Globalisation (Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 8–9 August 2011)). http://eastasianbusinesshistory.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/fujioka-cardiff.pdf [Accessed June 3, 2012].Google Scholar
Gerth 2003 Gerth, Karl. China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2003.Google Scholar
Han 1936 Han, Seungyeon 한승연. “Baehwajeom gwa yeonsoejum” 백화점과 연쇄점 (Department Stores and Chain Stores). Shin dong'a 6: 5 (May 1936), pp. 8492.Google Scholar
Hanser 2008 Hanser, Amy. Service Encounters: Class, Gender and the Market for Social Distinction in Urban China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Harootunian 2000a Harootunian, Harry. History's Disquiet. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Harootunian 2000b Harootunian, Harry. Overcome by Modernity: History, Culture and Community in Interwar Japan. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Hatsuda 1993 Hatsuda, Tōru 初田 亨. Hyakkaten no tanjō 百貨店の誕生 (The birth of the department store). Tōkyō: Sanseidō, 1993.Google Scholar
Hayashi 2007 Hayashi, Hiroshige 林 廣茂, trans. Sungho, Kim 김성도. Minakai Baekhwajum 미나카이 백화점 (Minakai Department Store) originally Maboroshi no Minakai Hyakkaten 幻の三中井百貨店. Seoul: Nonhyung, 2007.Google Scholar
Hochschild 1983 Hochschild, Arlie Russell. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Hwashin 1977 Hwashin Industry Ltd. 화신산업주식회사. Hwashin 50 nyeon sa: 1927–1976 화신 50 년사: 1926–1976 (50-year History of Hwashin: 1927–1976). Seoul: Samhwa chulpansa, 1977.Google Scholar
Jeon 2010 Jeon, Wooyong 전우용. “Choicho ui baekhwajum Hanyang sanghoi, mangguk kwa hamgge sarajida” 최초의 백화점 한양상회, 망국과 함께 사라지다 (The first department store, Hanyang sanghoi, perished together with the country), Jung'ang ilbo, July 1, 2010, http://jjlife.joins.com/club/club_article.asp?mode=&ctg_id=&page=134&total_id=4282090 accessed 3 July 2012.Google Scholar
Joguang (a) 1939 Joguang editors (a). 朝光編輯者. “Janggijeon ha ui jungsosanggong'eopja ui byeon—baekhwajeom pyeon, Hwashin, jeonmu Lee Giyeon” 長期戰下의 中小商工業著의 辯—百貨店篇, 和信, 專務 李基衍 (Medium and Small Traders and Manufacturers' Defense Series—Department Stores Part, Hwashin, Interview with Managing Director of Hwashin, Lee Giyeon). Joguang 5:2 (February 1939), pp. 8688.Google Scholar
Joguang (b) 1941 Joguang editors (b). 朝光編輯者. “Shin cheje wa gyeongje hwaldong” 新體制와 經濟活動 (Roundtable: The New System and Economic Activities). Joguang 7:1 (January 1941), pp. 164–75.Google Scholar
Joseon 1940 Joseon, shik'eun josa bu 朝鮮殖銀調查部 (Investigation Department of Joseon Foster Industry Bank). Shik'eun josa wolbo 殖銀調查月報 (Foster Bank Investigation Monthly) 26 (July 1940).Google Scholar
Kim Byeongdo 2006 Kim Byeongdo, and Joo Younghyuk, 김병도, 주영혁. Hanguk Baekhwajum yeoksa 한국 백화점 역사 (The History of Korean Department Stores). Seoul: Seoul National University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Kim Inho 2006 Kim Inho, 김인호. Baekhwanjum ui munhwa sa: geundae ui tansaeng gwa yokmang ui sigonggan 백화점의 문화사: 근대의 탄생과 욕망의 시공간 (Cultural History of the Department Store: The Birth of Modernity and Time and Space of Desires). Paju: Sallim Publisher, 2006.Google Scholar
Kobayashi 1935 Kobayashi, Gisaburō 小林儀三郎 ed. Sansei 三正 7. Tokyo: Sansei kai jimusho, 1935.Google Scholar
Kobayashi 1983 Kobayashi, Hideo 小林英夫. “1930 nyeondae Joseon ‘gong'eophwa’ jeongchaek ui jeongae gwajeong” 1930 년대 조선' 공업화' 정책의 전개과정 (The ‘Industrialisation’ Process of Joseon in the 1930s) in Hanguk geundae geongje sa yeongu (Study of History of Modern Korean Economy). Seoul: Sageogeol, 1983.Google Scholar
Kracauer 1995 Kracauer, Siegfried. “Farewell to the Linden Arcade,” pp. 337–42. The Mass Ornament. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Lackner 2004 Lackner, Michael and Vittinghoff, Natascha, eds. Mapping Meanings: The Field of New Learning in Late Qing China (Sinica Leidensia). Leiden: Brill, 2004.Google Scholar
Lambert 1938 Lambert, Richard S.The Universal Provider: A Study of William Whiteley and the Rise of the London Department Store. London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. 1938.Google Scholar
Leach 1984 Leach, William. “Transformations in a Culture of Consumption: Women and Department Stores, 1890–1925.The Journal of American History 71:2 (1984), pp. 319–42.Google Scholar
Lee 2004 Lee, Gyeonghun 이경훈. “Yobo, Mobo, Gu Bo—Shikminji ui sam, shikminji ui paesheon” 요보, 모보, 구보—식민지의 삶, 식민지의 패션, in Ilje ui shikmin jibae wa ilsang saenghwal 일제의 식민지배와 일상생활 (Colonial rule of Japanese imperialists and everyday life), ed. Yeonsei daehakgyo gukhak yeongu won 연세대학교 국학연구원 편, pp. 189231. Seoul: Hyean, 2004.Google Scholar
Liu 1993 Liu, Lydia H.Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity-China, 1900–1937. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
MacPherson 1998 MacPherson, Kerrie L. ed. Asian Department Stores. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Matsuda 1938, 1984 Matsuda, Isao 松田 伊三雄. Naikitekiyō 内規摘要 (Summary of Bylaws). Minakai yōran 三中井要覧 1938, 1984, p. 197.Google Scholar
Miles 2010 Miles, Steven. Spaces for Consumption. London: Sage, 2010.Google Scholar
Mitsui 1900 Mitsui, Gofukuten Hishogakari 三井呉服店秘書係. Mitsui gofukuten genkōjōkiruishū 三井呉服店現行條規類集 (Mitsui Dry Goods Store's Current Regulations). Tokyo: Mitsui gofukuten, 1900.Google Scholar
Mitsukoshi 2005 Mitsukoshi, 三越. Kabushikikaisha Mitsukoshi hyaku nen no kiroku 株式会社三越 100 年の記録 (100 years' records of Mitsukoshi Co. Ltd). Tokyo: Mitsukoshi, 2005.Google Scholar
Mitsukoshi 1990 Mitsukoshi, 三越. Kabushikikaisha Mitsukoshi hatsijūgo nen no kiroku 株式会社三越 85 年の記録 (85 years' records of Mitsukoshi Co. Ltd). Tokyo: Mitsukoshi, 1990.Google Scholar
Mitsukoshi 1935, 1938Mitsukoshi, 三越. Sansei 三正 7 (1935) and 20 (1938).Google Scholar
Mitsukoshi 1932 Mitsukoshi, 三越. Dai Mitsukoshi rekishi shashinchō 大三越歴史写真帖 (The Photo Album of Great Mitsukoshi's History). Tokyo: Mitsukoshi, 1932.Google Scholar
Mitsukoshi 1927 Mitsukoshi, 三越. Eigyōhōkokusho 営業報告書 (Business Report) 46 (1927).Google Scholar
Mitsukoshi 1911–1913 Mitsukoshi, 三越. Mitsukoshi 三越 1:8–3:2 (1911–1913).Google Scholar
Mitsukoshi 1909–1910 Mitsukoshi, 三越. Mitsukoshi Times みつこしタイムス 7:1–8:13 (1909–1910).Google Scholar
Mitsukoshi 1899 Mitsukoshi, 三越. Hanagomoro: Mitsui gofukuten annai. 花ごもろ: 三井呉服店案内 (Introduction to Mitsui Department Store). 1899.Google Scholar
Miyano 2002 Miyano, Rikiya 宮野力哉. Etoki hyakkaten bunkashi 絵とき百貨店「文化誌」(Illustrated Cultural Records of Department Stores). Tokyo: Nikkei, 2002.Google Scholar
Moeran 1998 Moeran, Brian. “The Birth of the Japanese Department Store.” In Asian Department Stores, ed. MacPherson, Kerrie L., pp. 141–76. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998.Google Scholar
NCR 2012 NCR co. Japan. http://www.ncr.co.jp/library/register/reg05.html [Accessed July 1, 2012].Google Scholar
Nishitani 2007 Nishitani, Fumitaka 西谷文孝. Hyakkaten no jidai: nagaku kurushii jidai o norikoe hyakkaten ga kagayaki o torimodosu 百貨店の時代 : 長く苦しい時代を乗り越え百貨店が輝きを取り戻す (Epoch of Department Stores: Department Stores Restored to Their Splendour Overcoming the Painful Long Era). Tokyo: Sankei Shinbun Shuppan, 2007.Google Scholar
Oh 2004 Oh, Jinsuk 오진석. “Ilje ha baekhwajeom eopgyeo ui donghyang gwa gwangyeo'in deul ui saenghwal yangshik” 일제하 백화점업계의 동향과 관계인들의 생활양식 (The Business Trends of Department Stores and the Lifestyles of the Related People under Japanese Imperialism). In Ilje ui shikmin jibae wa ilsang saenghwal 일제의 식민지배와 일상생활 (Colonial Rule of Japanese Imperialism and Everyday Life), ed. Yeonsei daehakgyo gukhak yeongu won 연세대학교 국학연구원 편, pp. 123–88. Seoul: Hyean, 2004.Google Scholar
Ōmi 2006 Ōmi, shōnin hakubutsukan 近江商人博物館 (Ohmi Merchant Museum). Nakaē yon kyōdai to Minakai hyakkaten 中江四兄弟と三中井百貨店 (Nakae four brothers and the Minakai Department Store), 2006.Google Scholar
Otis 2007 Otis, Eileen. “Virtual Personalism in Beijing: Learning Deference and Femininity at a Global Luxury Hotel.” In Working in China: Ethnographies of Labor and Workplace Transformation, ed. Lee, Ching Kwan, pp. 101–23. London & New York: Routledge, 2007.Google Scholar
Otis 2003 Otis, Eileen. Serving the People: Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in China's Emerging Service Sector. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis, 2003.Google Scholar
Park 1932 Park, Heungshik 박흥식. “Suji ga matneun saenghwal” 수지가 맞는 생활 (The Life That Is Financially Balanced). Shin donga 1:2 (1932), pp. 4041.Google Scholar
Sand 2003 Sand, Jordan. House and Home in Modern Japan: Architecture, Domestic Space and Bourgeois Culture, 1880–1930. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2003.Google Scholar
Shanghai Baihuo Gongsi 1988 Shanghai, Baihuo Gongsi, Shanghai Shehuikexueyuan, Jingji Yanjiusuo, Shanghai shi Gongshang, Xingzheng Guanliju 上海百货公司, 上海社会科学院经济研究所, 上海市工商行政管理局. Shanghai jindai baihuo shangye shi 上海近代百货商业史 (The commercial history of Shanghai's modern department stores). Shanghai: Shanghai Shehuikexue Chubanshe, 1988.Google Scholar
Shanghai Shehuikexueyuan 1981 Shanghai Shehuikexueyuan, Jingji Yanjiusuo 上海社会科学院经济研究所. Shanghai yong'an gongsi de chansheng, fazhan he gaizao 上海永安公司的产生,发展和改造 (The Birth, Development and Transformations of Shanghai Wing On Department Store). Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1981.Google Scholar
Shangyebu 1989 Shangyebu, Baihuoju 商业部百货局. Zhongguo baihuo shangye 中国百货商业. Beijing: Beijing Daxue Chubanshe, 1989.Google Scholar
Shinsegye 1987 Shinsegye, baekhwajum 신세계백화점. Shinsegye 25 nyun ui baljachui 신세계 25 년의 발자취 (25 years' footprints of Shinsegye). Seoul: Shinsegye, 1987.Google Scholar
Sohn 2006 Sohn, Jeongsuk 손정숙. “Ilje shigi baekhwajeom gwa ilsang sobimunhwa” 일제시기 백화점과 일상 소비문화 (Department stores and everyday consumer culture under Japanese imperialism). Dongyang Gojeon yeongu 25 (2006), pp. 237–60.Google Scholar
Tamari 2006 Tamari, Tomoko. “Rise of the Department Store and the Aestheticisation of Everyday Life in Early 20th-Century Japan.International Journal of Japanese Sociology 15 (2006), pp. 99118.Google Scholar
Whitaker 2011 Whitaker, Jan. The Department Store: History, Design, Display. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2011.Google Scholar
Xianshi Gongsi 1925 Xianshi Gongsi, 先施公司 (The Sincere Co., Ltd.). Xianshi gongsi ershiwu zhou jinian ce 先施公司二十五周紀念冊 (The Sincere Co., Ltd. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary, the original English title.) Hong Kong: Hong Kong Shangwuyin Press, 1925.Google Scholar
Yen 1998 Yen, Ching-hwang. “Wing On and the Kwok Brothers: A Case Study of Pre-War Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs.” In Asian Department Stores, ed. MacPherson, Kerrie L., pp. 4765. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Yeo 2001 Yeo, Richard. Encyclopaedic Visions: Scientific Dictionaries and Enlightenment Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Yoshimi 1992 Yoshimi, Shun'ya 吉見 俊哉. Hakurankai no seijigaku: manazashi no kindai 博覽会の政治学: まなざしの近代 (The Politics of Expositions: A Modern Perspective). Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 1992.Google Scholar
Young 1999 Young, Louise. “Marketing the Modern: Department Stores, Consumer Culture and the New Middle Class in Interwar Japan.International Labor and Working-Class History 55 (1999), pp. 5270.Google Scholar