Suburban Taste: Hankyu Corporation and its Housing Development in Japan 1910-1939

The cultural production of Japanese suburban housing between 1910 and 1939 was informed by changing perceptions of family and self in relation to domestic space and the everyday. This article focuses on the Hankyu Corporation, an Osaka-based railway company that presented itself as a cultural authority for middle-class families in a wide range of enterprises, including the construction of suburban estates. By revisiting its publicity, including a monthly magazine and housing catalogues, we demonstrate the complex process through which Hankyu narratively visualized and materialized an image of suburban life in its housing designs. We address the subjective nature of taste in influencing and shaping consumer choices around the spatial production of neighborhoods and the conduct of daily life in the suburbs.