Japanese Adverising Design


Symbolism


The bowl of rice, hashi, tatami....these are symbols of Japanese
tradition,origins, quiet, nuance. They betoken a nostalgia for a
time beforeinternationalization, rapid economic growth. Many
Japanese do not use chopsticks correctly anymore, and may
not even eat rice every day. Yet these items are powerful
symbols. An ad of the sort of shown here, which would appear
in magazine or commuter train station, both being crowded,
noisy settings, cam employ those settings to make the pitch
that the simple pleasure of enjoying a bowl of rice can return
one to the essentials of being human and of being Japanese.




Copyright Orie 2000