I love visiting retro museums in Japan. I think the Showa period of Japan is fun to research and peruse as it contains so many building blocks that have morphed into today's capitolistic society. How were products advertised to people 60 years ago? What sort of products were people buying back then? It's interesting how something so sophisticated and advanced back then is mostly trash and garbage today.
The Showa Goods Museum 昭和レトロ商品博物館 in Ome (west west Tokyo) focuses on the commercialism of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. It's not a very big museum, like other retro museums I have visited. There's only one main room, and it was lined with displays cases that focused on different categories of products, such as stationery, toiletries, medicine, cigarettes, coca-cola, games, and sweets. The entrance had display cases with candy, soda, and cameras.
After looking through all of the cases, I think my favorite product was a pair of upscale fancy face masks. I love the design of the man and woman on the cover of the box. In the 50s, this style was probably considered peak fashion. But now the colors have faded, the box is rotted and tore, and the mask looks like its about to fall apart. It's a real metaphor of fashion through the passage of time.
Their replica movie poster paintings were their most prized possessions, though. Or maybe they were restored originals? They had a recent photo that showed a man painting them. (I did not read the fine print.) These posters were incredibly vivid and striking.
Upstairs, they had an exhibition room which focused on the Japanese folk tale, Yuki-Onna 雪おんな, literally translated as Snow Woman. There were diorama displays showing each of the key scenes from the tale, various copies of books that reprinted the tale, photos of an author, and some inspired art.
Almost all Japanese folktales, including Yuki-Onna, originated hundreds of years ago, so I don't think it really fit with the Showa theme. However, it is one of more popular tales and authors in the early 1900s (before Showa) wrote the modern version of it. Maybe it was super popular in Showa times.
Entry for the Showa Goods Museum was only 350円, but you could buy a 500円 combination tickets for another museum just down the block, the Showa Gentou-kan 昭和幻燈館. Gentou basically means a slide as part of slide projection. The front face of the store sold headshots of many actors and actresses of the 60s and 70s.
The main part of Gentou-kan was a showcase all of this cat artwork, and the best part about the displays were the parody Kanban signs. I got photos of all sixteen of them.
Perhaps surprisingly, the shop only had one small piece of merch connected to the signs. It was the Bread Kanban Sign, but they went a step further than the original by changing パン (bread) to ニャン (meow). I probably should've bought it, but I refrained.
Overall it was a cute museum, but it seemed far away from everything else. I don't think it'd be worth the trip on its own. But, if you were already in the area, I think the small 350円 entry fee is an easy sell.
