The paradox of authenticity

The Korean Product Showroom of Mitsukoshi department store in colonial Seoul

Bibliographic Data

ID3614136
AuthorsYounjung Oh (0000-0002-9523-2626, Seoul National University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume57
Issue4
Pages1246-1276
Publication date2023-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x22000518
OpenAlexW4362473945
LanguageEN
References cited20

Mitsukoshi, a famed Japanese department store, opened a Korean Product Showroom in its Keijō (Seoul) branch in 1930. The Korean Product Showroom was the only space decorated in 'Korean style' within the Keijō Mitsukoshi building, which was designed in Neo-Renaissance style, much like its flagship store in Tokyo. This showroom offered Korean artefacts as luxury souvenirs aimed at Japanese tourists. The most popular items sold in the showroom were Koryŏ-style celadon ware and lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl, which Mitsukoshi ordered from local workshops in Korea. Interestingly, the workshops were run by Japanese entrepreneurs and sometimes even employed Japanese artisans. This article examines the inauthentic authenticity of 'Korean style' and 'Korean products' that the Japanese produced and consumed in colonial Korea. It does not imply that only Koreans are entitled to represent Korean culture. There have been many studies asserting that Korean culture was destroyed and distorted from its 'original' forms by Japan's cultural genocide during the colonial period. This article neither is interested in repeating such criticism nor focuses on recuperating genuineKoreanness. Rather, it explores why the Japanese desired 'pure Korea' and how that desire shaped 'Korean style' and 'Korean products' through Keijō Mitsukoshi's Korean Product Showroom and its products

Advertising · Art · Art history · Business · China · Colonialism · Japanese art · Political science · Product (mathematics · Style (visual arts · Visual arts · Asian Culture and Media Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

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