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Check out Boing Boing's photos from Showa Kan, a museum in Takayama, Japan, filled with common Japanese products dating from 1926 to 1989. Organized as separate rooms which are individually outfitted as household spaces, businesses and offices from specific time periods—classroom, doctor's office, bedroom, bike repair—the museum also holds a collection of vintage automobiles and signage. And the curation and exhibition practices are astonishing, says the writer:
I felt like I was in a giant thrift store bursting with Japanese products from the the mid 20th century. No guards were stationed in the many rooms crammed with household goods, educational equipment, tools, and other cultural artifacts. No items, as far as I could tell, were nailed down. This place would be a shoplifter's paradise (and a liability insurance abuser's motherlode) in the United States, but we were in Japan, where they don't seem to worry as much about that kind of thing.· My favorite museum in Japan: The Takayama Showa Kan [Boing Boing]