As I introduced earlier, Sazae-san is one of the most famous cartoons in Japan. This manga reflects the lifestyle of Japanese people who lived in 1950-1960’s. A lot of things dramatically had changed since the war ended. Some were too poor to raise children, others were looking for jobs to earn money. On the other hand, TV broadcasting was introduced and the rapid growth of economy is called “high growth period.”
In the late of 1950’s, many Japanese households had own three modern appliances: a television, a refrigerator, and a washing machine. These appliances are called “three sacred treasures” (三種の神器・Sanshu-no-jingi)
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Three sacred treasures are a sword, a mirror, and a jewel that the first Emperor of Japan had. They are regarded as things that the God granted to the Emperor. Three modern appliances are compared to these in that they were so useful that they completely changed their lifestyles at that time.
In 1950’s, there were few people who own their televisions at home. In general, electrics retail stores display a television and turned on to watch sumo wrestling and baseball games. People gathered in front of the television to watch the games.
Now, let’s take a look at some cartoons here.
The number of households that owned their televisions was dramatically increasing. About 90 % of Japanese had a television by 1960 and they enjoyed watching sports, especially sumo wrestling.
