New Books in East Asian Studies Angus Lockyer, "Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
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Apr 4, 2025 Angus Lockyer, historian of Japan who studies exhibitions and development, discusses Japan's long love of expos. He traces 150 years of shows from Edo markets to Osaka 1970 and Osaka 2025. He highlights regional fairs, private railways, colonial displays, and how expos reshaped industry, infrastructure, and public memory.
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Study Who Invests Not Just What Is Shown
- When studying exhibitions, focus on who invests and why rather than only official narratives.
- Lockyer advises analyzing diverse stakeholders—governments, organizers, exhibitors, visitors—to see expos' practical functions.
Exhibitions Are Investments Not Just Symbols
- Exhibitions are best understood as investments rather than only representations.
- Angus Lockyer shows governments, organizers, exhibitors, and visitors all invest for very different, often instrumental reasons beyond the expo's stated story.
The Gold Shachi That Traveled to Vienna
- Nagoya's gold shachi was sent to Vienna in the 1870s to grab attention at international exhibitions.
- The female shachi toured abroad, nearly sank on return, and became a lasting regional identity symbol back in Nagoya.
