Abstract
The situation surrounding industrial design in Japan changed dramatically before and after World War II. Design occupied an important position in the establishment of industrial promotion in the modern nation. Nonetheless, the position of “design” in Japan was not an ideal situation. The above is what I discussed in my 2010 doctoral dissertation, “A Study of the Birth and Activities of JIDA as a Professional Collective Organization: A Closer Look at JIDA's Official Journal up to the 1960s. Design and the profession of designer have existed in Japan since prewar times. However, society did not recognize how it differed from that of a painter or engineer, and the designers themselves were still reexamining the difference. In the 1950s, Japan had been defeated in World War II and was in urgent need of reconstruction of towns and industries. The following are some examples of designers' involvement in such a period.
