Japan’s Quiet Revolution: When Buying Nothing Becomes Everything

Our thanks to Gerry for this (video, 8:03), which he describes as “refreshing advice for the quiet man inside all of us”.

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4 thoughts on “Japan’s Quiet Revolution: When Buying Nothing Becomes Everything”

My wife loves a series of programmes where a house is emptied and all the stuff is set out in a warehoused. The family then has to get rid of 40% or 50%. Now of course no one ever points this out. But in every single case I’ve seen the vast majority of the stuff is either the wife’s or the wife’s purchases for the children. Where the man has stuff its often CDs, Football memorabilia or tools, usually re-discovered because its been packed away or relegated to a Garage or garden shed. Now of course this shouldn’t surprise as we know the overwhelming majority (usually at between 80 to 90% depending on criteria) of consumption of stuff is by women. Hence practically all advertising is targeting various female “segments” and therefore most output on TV and the like is tailored to female tastes. Christmas highlights this beautifully as the nearby internationally known shopping Mall is a sea of determined female shoppers often with a somewhat reluctant/bewildered husband/boyfriend “in tow” (being retired one pleasure is a coffee in a good vantage point to watch human behaviour).

More scientifically the long running “Time use surveys” used by economists observe that single men living on their own spend far less time than the equivalent single women do on chores like cleaning, cooking, shopping etc. Looking at the data closely what one sees is the males typically “treat it like a job” while the females weave in all sorts of extra elements. One can probably think of single men whose abode remains much the same with the decor, soft furnishings, ornaments changing little whereas the equivalent female changes things according to season, fashion, festivals (specially Xmas) keeping whole industries going as they accumulate huge amounts of “stuff”. When we worry about “consumers” we are in fact talking about women.

On a practical front one can see the advantages of not importing vast amounts of stuff to feed the need to follow “trends”, for in reality little of it is made here. And lets be honest generally it wouldn’t require much change in male behaviour.

Somehow I suspect the huge interests in keeping females persistently dissatisfied, so that they constantly buy stuff to feel good, better, beautiful, on trend, thinner, confident, popular, younger …. (the list is endless); will not be happy should they start to emulate male patterns of consumption. As the feminists point out men earn the money, but they hide that its the women who “spend” it.

It’s said Christianity is a religion organised by men; for women. Really Capitalism is an economic system created by men (as the feminists say) for women. The thought experiment of what would happen if all men went on strike demonstrates how vital they are to what we call civilisation. Similarly think of what would happen if women went on a shopping strike. How much of a modern “consumer society” would pack up if it relied on men to make those purchasing decisions. Funny how the feminists are really reluctant to trumpet the vital role of women in spending money. I wonder why?

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Meanwhile yet another indication of “Preference Theory” Fed-up Brits want out of the Rat Race by 53 – with women most keen to leave – Daily Star Admittedly a survey by a Pilates Company in London is hardly representative of the general population but it is yet another example of the generally different commitment to work and careers. “Women are leading the exodus, with nearly a quarter (24%) hoping to escape the rat race before they turn 50.” No surprise there then “work life balance” inevitably never includes more actual work. I’m particularly amused by the way this desire to work less is presented.

““The growing ambition among women to take greater control of their working lives reflects wider trends in entrepreneurship and demands for workplace equity, showing a workforce actively seeking more empowered futures.”

A word salad smokescreen to cover the desire to work less and be semi retired. Particularly intrigued by “workplace equity” which in this context seems to mean doing less work than more work centred colleagues without less pay. ” Of the women polled, 44% have ambitions to be their own boss” Which again suggests not an urge to work hard to build a growing business but an opportunity to work less and create a “work life balance” (bad news for all those special funds for women entrepreneurs, the investment unlikely to see big returns).

One can’t help sensing the whiff of entitlement in the whole thing, as if somehow the world owes women ” a career they truly love” while paying them well (so they can buy all the stuff). It reminded me of the startled expressions of my former (female) colleagues, as they idly plotted going part time or taking early retirement, when I asked “what if John (or whatever their husband’s name) wants to retire early or work par time?”. Of course they hadn’t even considered this possibility.

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