But this paternalism always had a dual purpose, being
designed to also create a labour force that was its
funder’s moral and productive ideal. Both China and
Japan have extreme work cultures – another thing they
share with the Victorians. Those entering the job market
in the former face 12-hour days and six-day working
weeks, while the figure of the Japanese salaryman, asleep
on the platform after missing the last train home, is well
worn. Indeed, Japan’s capsule hotel industry – surely
an antecedent of Gō Hasegawa’s House Vision project- was created to service these salarymen. In such a
context, what will be the cost of giving employers some
dominion over your ‘home’ life? Might company codes
of conduct be extended beyond your front door? Could
your cohabitants be mandated to rat you out for pulling
a sicky? In an age where buying into company culture
has become a perquisite to climbing the ladder, having
your boss as a landlord is a worrying prospect. ●
ghaa.co.jp
Let’s not forget that this isn’t the product of a new
sharing-economy start-up looking to attract progressive
millennials, however, but is in effect a company dormi-
tory. The people living is this space – and the exhibition
text strongly hinted that it could be put into practice at
multiple locations – will be colleagues, and their home,
even if only for short periods of time, will be a brand
property. What that means for office social structures is
hard to say. Many would initially be horrified to not be
able to escape their fellow workers, but perhaps such a
situation also offers the opportunity to build the sort of
internal camaraderie so often pinpointed as being the
key to today’s most successful businesses.
It’s certainly true that Muji’s proposal is treating
the symptom, not the cause, of the underlying issue. But
with the endemic inflation of house prices in key eco-
nomic centres, from London to San Francisco to Sydney
to Beijing, brands that are otherwise unable to source key
workers have little choice. It was the same for Victorian
industrialists, who had to build company towns in order
to bring workers closer to the site of production, be that
a factory or mine, than conditions would normally allow.
The challenge for Muji today, and many other companies
with bases in these cities, is strikingly similar.What will
be the cost
of giving
employers
some
dominion
over your
‘home’ life?
Each paired-back ‘room’ offers space for rest and
reflection, but is not presented as a place to dwell.
158 WORK