2. Appropriation of production

From the images of the town projected in brochures and other media it appears irrelevant who the producers of the products are. Household economic specialisation is not taken into consideration: the producer is a global ‘farmer’, who sells to co-operatives and local businesses. Villagers as farmers or nokyou are presented in the abstract. They are producing ‘the town’s products’, but it is the town office and JA who acquire the image of the product and present it as part of the image of the town and its global development. The homogenisation of the diverse local produce in town-making hides the fact that households have specialisations which vary according to season and demand (both internal and external to the town), and affect the internal organisation of the household[67] and how each member extends her/his relations to the larger community:

Takamura is a traditional family. Takamura Yoshi is sixty-four years old. He is both a farmer and a road engineer, offering his services to a company outside town. His links with the road companies make it possible for him to have a say at the town’s meetings. Kimiko is Yoshi’s wife. She is in her late fifties. In recent years she has more than doubled her household tasks. Since early in their marriage, she has helped in all domestic and rice-related tasks. However, when town making started Takamura converted several fields into large gardens of kiwi and sudachi, and the care of these became Yoshi’s task.

In the autumn Kimiko takes care of making bancha (roasted tea), picking and all the processes of roasting. Her husband helps her when he is around and sometimes her mother-in-law also helps, although she is too elderly now. Earlier in the season and in spring, she also collects maple and cheery leaves. They recently acquired a packaging machine. They package their own trays of leaves, which they sell at the onzen and in one restaurant of the prefecture. Furthermore, she has acquired new tasks in the town as she helps the women’s group to entertain the elders – although not as regularly as other younger housewives directly connected to onzen, town office and school.

Kimiko sees herself as having a crucial role in the household, which is acknowledged by her in-laws. Despite the fact that Yoshi is household head and Kimiko speaks of him with respect, there is no household decision and task in which she is not involved (with the exception of her husband’s hobby of chasing momiji, taking pictures of leaves, in autumn). Although her family is very ‘traditional’ she participates in some village-town administrative meetings, which in the past only Yoshi attended. Yoshi, who until recently was a toya, kannushi and head of village, participates in most of the town’s events, helping out. He does whatever is needed, from putting out tables, offering tea to guests, and making gifts of sake when there is a large ceremonial town making event or festival. Although his household is an important asset to the town, he also maintains a large degree of independence from it. He has refused a post as administrator in town events, although he will probably have to do it sometime in the future. In the last years he has been offered tasks at town meetings, usually reading out and taking minutes.

Kimiko commented that since the beginning of town making, she only sees Takamura late at night. Recently their production of leaves and fruits has been going mostly to the local Onzen, where it is sold to tourists. Their names as producers do not appear on the final package. Their production is appropriated for the good of the town. Kimiko’s and her husband’s work, skills and connections outside the town are also used for the benefit of the town, and to that extent their internal household diversification reflects that of the town.

Household production, specialisation of production and roles, is invisible in most accounts of town making. It is not the household but the town that acquires the prestige of being the main ‘producer’ of omiyage goods, fruit and leaves. The local administration can appropriate the produce of household business by mystifying the actual producers, who are mainly women. Work and help is compensated with small prestations. Women who work in town-related activities receive tokens of ‘thanks’ such as onzen tickets, leftover food, and towels. These prestations are described as things that ‘help’ the household in minimising expenditure on their purchase – although most households can acquire these products by themselves and some give them away (see Chapter 3).

The Nakamura are a young family with three children. Nakamura started a business of mushroom growing in 1992. After their training in mushroom production, they applied to move to Kamikatsu, where they built up a small mushroom farm.[68] As the demand for mushrooms increased in the prefecture, and new technology made production faster and easier, Nakamura’s company rocketed. Two more families joined in. In a few years they had a small business working at full blast. Nakamura spent over 18 hours a day, seven days a week in the production of mushrooms, both spouses and children working around the clock to pick, weigh and package mushrooms.

The economic success of mushroom cultivation challenged the town and JA. Other farmers started mushroom growing at home. Surplus mushroom cubes (artificial compost for growing mushrooms in the shape of a cube) are offered to the school as ‘gifts’ for the children.[69] In 1996, as the business was expanding, the JA, with the help of the town office and outside investors, opened the town’s mushroom growing and packaging factory, offering direct competition to smaller households. Mushrooms became one of the products of the town, being widely advertised in the prefecture’s media. The town constructed one of the biggest chain production-packaging buildings[70] in the region.

A large party was thrown at the opening of the building. A Shinto ceremony preceded the event to ensure the auspiciousness of the business. Nine prestations of best quality sake were made at the altar by different investors and politicians. Money did not feature in the ceremony. A giant racoon dog holding shitake was offered by the business investors and JA as a ‘good-luck’ charm, after being unwrapped in the formal opening of the mushroom ‘packaging-farm’. The largest and most expensive party ever was thrown for everyone, where politicians, businessmen and households connected with the business were invited. Prestations of wrapped commodities, along with information about the enterprise, were left in bags on each seat during the ceremony for all the assistants, with the main prestation being the lavish feast and drinks that were a return for the sake, the investment, and generally to celebrate the event. The name of the donors was clearly visible on the wrapping. The ‘participation gifts’ were well-wrapped and the content was not visible. I was referred from one secretary to another before being politely sent away with no answers.[71]

Hierarchy was an important issue, with all members placed according to rank and political prestige around the main table. Layering of gifts was as profuse as in cases below but wrapping sealed the object. The participants carried the bags, waiting for the inaugural speech. After the inaugural speech by the mayor and the main investors, a Kampai (toast) was offered to the success of the firm. Nakamura and the rest of the families involved in the mushroom business were also invited and treated to free food and drink. As in many other town events, the highest in rank were the first to leave the party. Their participation in the feast is mostly symbolic. In a very similar way to the kannushi in festivals, they attend only to make the speech, to present gifts, make toasts, have some of the food and drink, listen to a little music and go. They clearly have no further contact with the recipients of gifts and those at the periphery of the business, like Nakamura. Nakamura was one of the last to leave and was not upset at the decision to have a new packaging industry, despite the effect it would have on his own businesses. The mushroom business is getting bigger, we do not have enough hands to package it. We hope we will make a good town’. As people left, large quantities of food remained, and the catering services gave people boxes of take away food. When I was leaving the field, another factory had opened. It is not yet clear what effect the large packaging factory will have on smaller household production and mushroom sales in general.

The importance of the appropriation of the packaging and the presentation of the produce as a ‘town produce’ is crucial for making the town. However, despite its positive overtones, the process of packaging is no longer in the hands of the small producer of mushrooms. Takamura and Nakamura, despite having no interest in the political production of the town, relate as households in different ways to the process of town making. Takamura is largely in control of his own household production, and close to the town office, while Nakamura is clearly marginal, having had to cede one of the crucial aspects of production, packaging, to the JA and the households who manage the enterprise. Their relationship to prestations is also quite different, with Nakamura being the main recipient of town and JA prestations, while Takamura retains part of the character of dominant donor by avoiding being made into a recipient. The two households are similar in that the women in them have acquired new responsibilities, being crucial in the specialisation of the household and its interdependence with the town. The two households are alike in that both have their time appropriated by the town through communal work and meetings, and in that women’s work and prestations are ranked below those of their husbands.

[67] Around 85% of middle age women, usually the wife of the household head, take care of most of the new products, as well as the traditional horticultural garden and rice. Recently, women are also working in road making as addition to their tasks in production and household maintenance.
[68] Mushroom cultivation is made with stocks of earth in cubes, which hold the funguses that allow the mushroom grow. These cubes allow around 24 mushroom each that has to be picked up as soon as the mushroom is ready. The fungus has a life span of several weeks in which the cubes must be replaced by new ones. The cubes are placed in large green houses where they are kept at humidity and warmth level. Once the mushroom has been picked it is left into a series of containers into a packaging building. The mushrooms are picked by hand and put into plastic containers wrapped with leafs, weighted and wrapped in cellophane ready for sale.
[69] Other gifts for children at school from private households were pens with the name of each children engraved in each pen. Many small prestations like this are given seasonally from households - some of which have no children - to the school.
[70] Although originally a private enterprise, Business as such are like the onzen have several main sources of investment - private, town’s and extra-local, in order to assure a balance of power between investors.
[71] This happened also in most ceremonial town making events. The refusal to tell me about the commodity reflected the kind of attitude to ‘unwrapping’ and making not gifts but commodities visible. Unwrapping the gift was thus an action of removing the meaning of gift-value created with the wrapping. I only managed once to overcome the skilful moves of secretaries and get some answers. In Elders day, after pestering all three secretaries I was told to meet an early forties women at the town office - who had been clearly avoiding me in previous occasions -. Using polite language the secretary gave me no clear answers and sent me away. I could see from where I was standing that she had a full list of the purchased items. In my third approach to her the secretary gave out two of the several items: (a futon, a collection of bath towels). Later at home of some of the informants I was impressed with the ease that informants unwrapped, torn and throw away the wrapping with little consideration. The reaction from one of them was clear: ‘yappari, towel desu’(Again a towel). The prestations were put into another room until they could be used.