Japan is nostalgic for a past that was in part worse than its present
The country has lost the dynamism of the Showa period, and retained its stultifying mores
THE YEARS slip away as one walks through the gates of Daiba Itchome Shotengai, a 1960s-themed shopping district in Tokyo’s bay area. Children munch on dagashi, cheap and old-fashioned Japanese snacks. A couple of 20-somethings take turns at dialling a rotary telephone. A newspaper headline on the 1964 Tokyo Olympics reads dreamily: “Clear blue sky—opening ceremony of the century”. A model of an under-construction Tokyo Tower, the building that would come to symbolise Japan’s post-war recovery and economic boom, stands in one of the hallways.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Showa retro”
Asia June 24th 2023
From the June 24th 2023 edition
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