Stress Points: Policy and Practice in the Japanese Furniture Industry

‘Stress Points’ examines the relationship between local communities, industrial policy and global economic, cultural and political forces, through an extended exploration of public sector initiatives for developing and strengthening local furniture industries in Japan, c. 1890-1960. The project employed diverse research methods including oral histories, artefact analysis and archival research in situ in four regions – Yamagata, Shizuoka, Hiroshima and Tokyo – to detail and analyse the impact of policy on individual experience, and of local culture, environmental factors, human networks and geopolitics on policy development and implementation. Key foci included the relationship between furniture manufacturers and local, regional and national industrial research institutes, technical education and the interaction between manufacturing communities and the United States through the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945-52. To date outcomes include several reports for industry and government, a peer-reviewed article in conference proceedings and a book manuscript and journal article in development.