Making Social Life of Things in Iran: Tracing Route and Meaning of Japanese Products

This presentation will investigate the social transformations in Iran during the latter half of the 20th century, with a focus on goods. It aims to review Iran's modernisation, previously perceived as Westernisation, in light of global socio-economic shifts. The analysis will centre on the exportation of Japanese goods to Iran, from the perspective of trade routes and product image.

The main focus of this study is home appliances. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese trading companies employed a streamlined process for delivering their products to the Iranian market. This involved a shift away from dealing in small quantities with various baazar merchants, towards the establishment of local subsidiaries by the same business partners, leading to the mass export of Japanese products. To attain a substantial market share, the initial goal was not to gain acknowledgement for Japanese products but to acquire sales channels. Furthermore, changes in the supply routes from Europe to the Middle East market played a part as well. Although Japanese products spread through sales channels as replacements for European goods, their market share rose by producing merchandise that conforms to the demands of local lifestyles. Looking at this product development from a social perspective, the consumer culture that Iranians regarded as "Western life" was, in fact, a manifestation of "modern Iranian life" enabled by Japanese products localized to their country.