MIMESISINTERNATIONAL		HASEKURA LEAGUE INTERCULTURAL STUDIES EDITIONS		 n. 7		 Editorial Board
Raffaele Milani (University of Bologna), Rolando Minuti (University of Florence), Ikuko Sagiyama(University of Florence), Andreas Niehaus (Ghent University), Judit Arokay (Heidelberg University),
Harald Fuess (Heidelberg University), Ivo Smits (Leiden University), Franco Mazzei (University ofNaples “L’Orientale”), Giangiorgio Pasqualotto (University of Padua), Matilde Mastrangelo (Sapienza
University of Rome), Glenn Hook (University of Sheffield), Ozaki Akihiro 尾崎彰宏 (TohokuUniversity), Nagaoka Ryūsaku 長岡龍作 (Tohoku University), Satō Hiroo 佐藤弘夫 (TohokuUniversity), Satō Yoshimichi 佐藤嘉倫 (Tohoku University), Takahashi Akinori 高橋章則(Tohoku University), Paul Ziche (Utrecht University), Bonaventura Ruperti (Ca’ Foscari University ofVenice), Georg Stenger (University of Vienna)

REVOLUTIONARY TIMESA Comparative View of the Long 1960s
in Japan and Italy
Edited byAdachi Hiroaki, Christopher Craig,
Marco Del Bene, and Enrico Fongaro

MIMESISINTERNATIONAL© 2022 – Mimesis International – Milan
www.mimesisinternational.com
e-mail: info@mimesisinternational.com
Isbn: 9788869773952
Book series: Hasekura League Intercultural Studies Editions, n. 7© MIM Edizioni Srl
P.I. C.F. 02419370305
Cover image: Roger Wollstadt, Tokyo – Bullet Train, https://www.flickr.com/photos/24736216@N07/3429753993/in/set-72157623081490477/
Back cover image: courtesy Archivio Video Fotografico Storico di Autostrade per l’Italia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Marco Del Bene

7

PART 1
THE POST-RECOVERY ORDER:
SOCIAL CHANGE AND THE POLITICAL SYSTEM IN THE
LONG 1960S
Social Changes and the Political System in Italy

15

Social and Political Characteristics ofHigh-Speed Economic Growth in Japan

31

Umberto Gentiloni SilveriAdachi Hiroaki

PART 2
CHARTING THE COURSE:STUDENT AND OTHER MASS POLITICAL MOVEMENTS
Political and Social Movements andItalian Republican History (1960s-1970s)

55

The Japanese Student Movement and Its Changein the Long 1960s

69

Emmanuel Betta
Kosugi Ryōko

PART 3
WRESTLING WITH PROSPERITY:MASS CONSUMPTION, RESISTANCE, AND SOCIALCHANGE
The Birth of Consumerism and the Transformationof Retail Venues

Elena Papadia

89

Characteristics of Japanese Consumerism:
A Focus on High-Speed Economic Growth

Harayama Kōsuke

105

PART 4HIGH CULTURE, POPULAR CULTURE, AND MASS MEDIA
IN AN AGE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH
Popular Culture as a Source for Assessing Social Changein Italy and Japan in the Long Sixties

123

Cultural Transformation in Japan During
Its High-Speed Economic Growth141

Marco Del BeneTakaoka Hiroyuki

Marco Del BeneINTRODUCTION

The magnitude of economic, political, and societal changes
that took place in Italy and Japan during the Long 1960s isso extensive that producing a comprehensive analysis is adaunting task. Nevertheless, it is a useful and necessary task
to undertake since it is surprising how these two countries, sodistant geographically and - at least apparently – culturally, havefollowed similar historical paths, particularly after the end of theSecond World War.
The 1960s in Japan was a decade of dramatic change thatwent beyond the formal structures of society, politics, and theeconomy to provoke fundamental transformations in values andconsciousness. The most visible of these developments occurred
between 1960 and 1970; however, the roots of change reachedback into the previous decade and the processes of which they
were a part continued into the following. Together, this period
comprises “the long 1960s”.
The long-cherished idea of studying the “long 1960s” from acomparative perspective between Italy and Japan began to takeshape in the spring of 2019 in Sendai at Tohoku University, when
the first workshop on Japan and the “long 1960s”, A Global
Perspective on an Era of Revolutionary Change, was held. Onthat occasion, the participants agreed to pursue a comparative
approach to the study of contemporary Italy and Japan basedon the many similarities - as well as the equally significant
differences - between the historical and social paths of thesetwo countries. The perspectives of future development for thiscomparative approach appeared to be very promising for bothraising new research paths and for deepening the investigation

8

Revolutionary Timesof ongoing research projects. These possibilities were again
the focus of the special panel on the “Long 1960s” in Italy andJapan: The Possibility of a Comparative Historical Approachat the 6th Hasekura League symposium, Yonaoshi: Envisioninga Better World, in March 2021. In preparation for futurecomparative research on Japan and Italy, scholars from the twocountries gathered and discussed the themes of social change andthe political system, student and social movements and culturalchanges.
Italy and Japan faced similar challenges during the long 1960s,
each experiencing eras of fast economic growth, instrumental forthe final leap towards “modernity”. Both countries underwent
radical demographic, social, cultural, political, and institutionalchanges. On the political front, Italy and Japan, while formally
democratic systems, were characterized by what was calledin Italy the “alternanza bloccata” [blocked alternation] or“bipartitismo imperfetto” [imperfect two-party system]. Bothterms described a paralyzed political system with no alternationin power. In Italy the Christian Democracy Party (CD) and its
allies held power while the Italian Communist Party (ICP) nevermanaged to achieve a voting majority, despite the significant
electoral support it enjoyed. The so-called “1955 system” ofJapan, based on a similar confrontation between the Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) and Japanese Socialist Party (JSP), wasalso a case of an “imperfect two-party system”.
In both countries, political conflict gave rise to extreme formsof violence, both right-wing and left-wing, a phenomenon that
became more apparent when the New Left movements emergedin Japan and Italy in 1956 following the crisis of the traditional left
triggered by Krushev’s criticism of Stalinism and the Hungarian
revolution. It does not seem a coincidence that Japan and Italy(and of course also Germany) experienced years of strong
political tension and violence, each not only seeing particularly
lacerating social changes in the postwar period, but also marking
the eastern and western borders of the “iron curtain”.
A solely political interpretation of the “Long Sixties”,
however, is not adequate. The revolutionary changes in economy,M. Del Bene - Introduction

9society, and culture were profoundly interconnected. The rapid
development of the economy brought about major changes inthe social and demographic structure. Social changes triggered,or perhaps were anticipated by, changes in costume and incultural production. Criticism of the cultural establishment led
to the emergence of new “subcultures” and new artistic formsof expression, and it often happened that the ideas and symbols
created in the arts influenced political action. This is why,besides adopting the Long 1960s perspective, it is necessary toapproach the study of these years with an interdisciplinary andglobal approach.
If research on the “Long 1960s” in Italy and Japan is to be
dealt not only from a political standpoint but also from cultural,
economic, social, and ideological perspectives, is it possible totransform such a complex multidisciplinary approach into anoperative practice? Moreover, is it feasible for a period with
an elusive nature such as the “Long 1960s”, whose starting andending points are vague and change according to the perspective
adopted? When, for Italy and for Japan, did the Long 1960s begin
and end? This is a question to which it is not possible to provide
an unambiguous answer. Considering this inevitable vagueness,
we can perhaps be content to say that it was a historical cycle thatbegan in the first half of the 1950s and ended in the second halfof the 1970s. We might wonder whether, from such premises, acomparative approach between Italy and Japan is of any value.
The essays collected in this volume are intended to be an initial
reply to such questions, and a contribution to the development ofa comparative perspective of the histories of Italy and Japan in
the tumultuous period of change of the Long 1960s. We decided
to address the problem from four different perspectives, each
discussed by a scholar from Italy and a scholar from Japan.
Part one, The Post-Recovery Order: Social Change and thePolitical System in the Long 1960s, features Umberto Gentiloni
Silveri’s “Social Changes and the Political System in Italy”
and Adachi Hiroaki’s “Social and Political Characteristics ofHigh-Speed Economic Growth in Japan”. For Gentiloni Silveri,
political and social change were inextricably interwoven in10

Revolutionary Times

Italy’s Long 1960s, a period often associated with the word“miracle”. While this term was often misused and does notadequately describe the complexity of the events that took place
in Italy, it does remind us that these were exceptional years,
characterized by tremendous and unparallel vitality. Adachi
points out that this was also economically and socially a “goldenera” in Japan. The steady and prolonged period of high growthfrom 1955 to 1973 caused drastic changes in the social structureof Japan that accompanied the creation and calcification of theso-called “1955 System”.
In part two, Charting the Course: Student and other Mass
Political Movements, Emmanuel Betta offers “Political and Social
Movements and Italian Republican History (1960s-1970s)” andKosugi Ryōko “The Japanese Student Movement and Its Change
in the Long 1960s”. According to Betta, 1968 was a year ofpivotal importance, but during the entirety of the long 1960s themobilisation of citizens was instrumental for watershed changes
in Italy’s social structure. The reform of the anachronistic
psychiatric hospital system by Franco Basaglia, the legalizationof abortion, and the new National Health system are signature
examples of such changes. Kosugi focuses on the Japanese
student movement in the long 1960s, an approach necessary totreat not only the movements themselves but also the nature ofcultural changes and strife as an expression of social change. This
provides a broader perspective, connecting political activism
and cultural change with the social changes Japan experienced.
Part three, Wrestling with Prosperity: Mass Consumption,Resistance, and Social Change, presents Elena Papadia’s“The Birth of Consumerism and the Transformation of RetailVenues” and Harayama Kōsuke’s “Characteristics of Japanese
Consumerism: A Focus on High-Speed Economic Growth”.
Papadia reminds us that Italian families in the early 1950s had a“hunger for consumption”. The establishment of large-scale retail
distribution in Italy began during the 1960s, a late start comparedwith other European countries. The assimilation of the new USlike consumption this enabled replaced people’s needs with their
desires as a reason to spend. Harayama notes that in postwar

M. Del Bene - Introduction

11

Japan consumerism started in a state of deprivation and became
tightly connected with democracy as a reaction to economic
control by the State. Consumer associations, accordingly,assumed an important role in representing consumer interest.
Part four, High Culture, Popular Culture, and Mass Media in
an Age of Economic Growth, is comprised of Marco Del Bene’s“Popular Culture as a Source for Assessing Social Change in Italy
and Japan in the Long Sixties” and “Cultural Transformation in
Japan During Its High-Speed Economic Growth” by Takaoka
Hiroyuki. Del Bene emphasises the importance of popular
culture products as evidence for historical research. From thisstandpoint, comics, being both a visual and textual medium
and having achieved “adulthood” during the Long 1960s, areparticularly useful. The political debate over comics among
Italian politicians allows for an assessment of their values,priorities, and prejudice. Takaoka focuses on the relations
between rapid economic growth and Japanese culture. The
disconnection of “high” and “popular” culture produced a “dualeconomic structure”, just as differences in the size of industries
resulted in a “dual economic structure”. Within popular culture,
Japan’s manga culture should be considered a “long revolution”,
even exceeding the temporal framework of the long 1960s.