Modernization and Consumer Culture in the Early 20th Century Japan: The History of Mitsukoshi Department Store

This paper examines how consumer culture in Japanese society has developed in the context of modernization. Focusing on department stores in particular, it examines the way that department stores, which proposed new lifestyles that provided people with information and experiences. They acted as new public spaces in cities and played an important role in the process of modernization of Japanese society. The paper focused on the development of Mitsukoshi Department Store, which became the first and leading Japanese department store, from around 1900 to the 1930s.