Reiko Aso and Kurashi no Techo: The Silent Wall Between Mother and Daughter in the 1970s

Reiko Aso and Kurashi no Techo: The Silent Wall Between Mother and Daughter in the 1970s

Reiko Aso remembers "Kurashi no Techo" as "the magazine my mother used to read. This casual remark is not merely a reference to generational differences in taste, but quietly illuminates the stratification of family and consumer culture in 1970s Japan.

Reiko Aso was a fashion model and a glamorous presence on TV and in magazines at the time. Her positioning of Kurashi no Techo as a "mother's magazine" was based on the magazine's strong image of "domesticity" and "common people. Launched during the turmoil of the postwar period, the magazine kept its distance from commercialism, carried no advertisements, and continued to look at things from the perspective of consumers.

Especially in the 1970s, after the rapid economic growth of Japan, mothers sought "correctness" and "practicality" in their daily lives. This was embodied in the form of product tests, and countless housewives picked up a copy of Kurashi no Techo and tried to learn the "right choices. For these women, the magazine was a compass for their daily lives and a book of ethics.

On the other hand, Reiko Aso and the younger generation were more free, more improvisational, and more in tune with the waves of culture. Television, music, fashion-these were "dynamic worlds" that were quite different from those of Kurashi no Techo. Therefore, it is a very natural distance for her to say that she did not know much about this magazine, and at the same time, it symbolizes the quiet disconnection between the "place of home" and the "place of entertainment.

This disconnection also lies behind the atmosphere of the time, when the existence of fashion models was still viewed by society in a different direction from that of family values. For this reason, behind Aso's indifference, there seems to be a kind of respect and tension toward something that should not be touched.

The 1970s. The "Kurashi no Techo" had a firm place in the home, and the world of entertainment shone brightly outside of it. Reiko Aso's words speak more eloquently than anything else about the quiet wall between the two.