The Dwelling Life during Japan's Growth into a Major Economic Power through the Case of "Kurashi-no-Techo"

Through the years it has been a practice to inspect pictures of one's dwelling life during the years following WWII. This report uses the record of dwelling life appearing in the magazine, Kurashi-no-Techo in issues that appeared over the 15-year period from 1974 to 1988, from the end of high economic growth to the height of the Bubble Economy at the point just before the Showa Era ended. The following factors became clearly evident. With the rising call to save energy and save resources, general consciousness of the environment rose. The focus of the average person shifted to include not only life at home, but outside the home as well and to regional areas. Despite the fact that there was material abundance, the quality of housing was low and efforts became directed at raising the quality level of housing. However, as land prices shot upwards, this became harder and harder, and the housing market was subjected to high loans and land sharking. Meanwhile, the focus began to shift away from things and more toward riches of the spirit and rich human relationships along with growing tendencies to create life styles that placed more importance on being one's self. Regarding multi-unit dwellings, there was a search for not only functionality, but a growing search for personal amenities, for possibilities of living together with elderly persons and for greater diversification of life styles.