Studies of Change of Consumer Culture in the 21st Century

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In order to study how consumer behavior in 21st century will change itself, two research projects were conducted: 1) Traditional and ritual consumer behavior, and 2) Transformational consumer behavior. In the former, tea ceremony was investigated. In the latter, interviews with Genpatsu refugees in the Nihonmatsu camp were conducted. In the first study, we could observe how traditional consumer identity was formed and maintained. In the second study, based on the field study in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, the theme of materialism and consumer identity was revealed. We found that as the refugees were materialistically supplemented they do not need to fulfill themselves by ordinary consumption. Taken together, when consumer ’s basic needs are met, ritual consumption works to reinforce their identity, whereas consumers will be forced to change their consumer identity in the disastrous life event.