Events

Building up Steam as Consumers: Women, Rice Cookers and the Consumption of Everyday Household Goods in Japan

Helen Macnaughtan
Thursday 3rd May
Room P21 of the Cardiff Business School
5.30pm - 7.00pm

The seminar will be followed by a reception with free food and drink
 
The topic under consideration is Building up Steam as Consumers: Women, Rice Cookers and the Consumption of Everyday Household Goods in Japan. The speaker is Helen Macnaughtan.

This paper investigates the story of the development of the first automated electric rice cooker in Japan. In doing so it places this product within a broader historical context of Japanese home appliances as well as within the context of consumption and specifically the role of Japanese women as consumers.

The analysis will focus on the rice cooker's development and impact in the Japanese market during the post-war years as a key example of the importance of everyday household appliances within the history of gender and consumption in Japan.

The paper seeks to show that although the rice cooker was in many ways a humble product, it had a revolutionary impact on everyday lives for women, and has also had market sustainability as a key and unique appliance in Japan.

Helen Macnaughtan is Lecturer in International Business and Management (Japan) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Her key research interests are in the field of Japanese economic and social history, specifically employment, gender and labour markets in Japan, as well as the field of International Human Resource Management.

She is the author of the book Women, Work and the Japanese Economic Miracle: the Case of the Cotton Textile Industry, 1945-1975 (RoutledgeCurzon, 2005). The seminar paper is based upon a chapter contributed to the book The Historical Consumer: Consumption and Everyday Life in Japan, 1850-2000 edited by Penelope Francks & Janet Hunter (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

Please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to attend by sending an email to CJSC@Cardiff.ac.uk Also please let us know if there is anyone else you know who you think would like to attend. Please be sure to include your name and affiliation in your response, and confirm whether you will be able to attend the reception or not.