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The Implementation and Results of the Russel Wright Plan
These activities resulted in the selection of a total of 3798 products. Of these products, 51% could be exported immediately. Looking at the selected product types, it comes as no surprise that woodcrafts and ceramics were numerous because they were produced in larger quantities. However, it is clear that the invited staff also felt that distinctive Japanese techniques such as bamboo and lacquer should also be used in export products. Guidance provided by the American side was extremely practical and diverse and covered marketability, sales procedures (advertising, export procedures, etc.), and design methods (American tastes, development direction, ways of using regional differences, etc.) for
The detailed implementation history of this plan did not engage Wright himself despite the requests on the Japan side. However, it seems natural that Russel Wright's name would be used for the plan given that his drawing up of the original proposal and his level of participation through to implementation. |
In Japan, the Russel Wright plan was known as the "Japan Handicrafts U.S.-Bound Export Promotion Plan," and the project's promotion center was located in JETRO. Designers and traders from the U.S. were invited through government grants via the ICA. The project entailed the discovery and selection of traditionally produced goods (including those made of wood and bamboo, ceramic, glass, metal, and the like) that could contribute to Japan's exports to the U.S., transporting the products to the U.S., and exhibiting them. Of the plan expenses, the ICA paid for the travel and living expenses for the four American designers, the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency bore the travel and living expenses for the four dealers, and the Trade Bureau handled transportation and exhibition costs from the sample purchases.
The list below shows the eight people who were actually dispatched in 1960 along with their position and title at the time.
The invited staff jointed with Japanese designers, interpreters, and agency staff and was divided into four teams from March until July. They visited examination sites, exhibition halls, and factories all over Japan to select products that could be exported and provide guidance in the directions to take with designs. They engaged in a flurry of tireless activity as they carried out their discovery and guidance at a total of 106 sites in 47 prefectures by traveling over nearly all Japan (Fig. 10-13).
Japanese handicrafts in the U.S. This information and advice was particularly valuable to local Japanese manufacturers to whom overseas information was not readily available. By providing methods and constructive advice for selling that were otherwise difficult to obtain at public examination sites, these activities incited interest in selling to overseas markets and created opportunities for realizing it. After the tour, most of the items in class A and some in class B were collected at MITI as selected products in August, prices were set, and editing of catalogs was completed. A trial exhibition was held in Tokyo from October 13 to 19, and then 1797 products were sent to the U.S. on December 16 in a project of unprecedented scale.
In New York, the basement and first floor of the Japan Trade Center was used from February 28 to March 9, 1961 to hold a private exhibition entitled "Handicrafts of Japan" (Fig. 14). Not including items damaged en route from Japan, the site exhibited about 1788 products based on a design by the Japanese painter Genichiro Inokuma4 who resided in the U.S. This exhibition was opened as a trade show, and although the general public was not allowed admittance, 853 people visited the exhibition. In San Francisco, the basement and first floor of the Japan Trade Center was used on March 11 and 12 to hold an exhibition under the direction of Jerry Sission (Fig. 15). In these two exhibitions, visitors expressed specific interest in 256 products in New York and 433 products in San Francisco. In New York, business talks were started for 217 products. At the end of the exhibition, the dispatched staff held report presentations in six cities from April to May, and this brought the work of this plan to a close.
The Russel Wright plan was clear in its goals and in its process from selection to exhibition and business talks, and had a tremendous significance in educating domestic business people and garnering publicity for foreign markets. Both MITI, which sought a concrete policy for expanding exports, and the business world recognized the effectiveness of its methods. In its mission statement, the Japan Productivity Center mentioned the "invitation of leading authorities" including those in industrial design. For this reason, in fiscal 1960, plans for the following year were initiated and on February 24, 1961, in other words, prior to the New York private exhibition, the promotion committee provided an explanatory session for the prefectures and cities. In fiscal 1961 at the initiative of JETRO, a selection committee with representatives of MITI, the Industrial Arts Institute, and the Japan Designer Craftsman Association took charge of selection and guidance, and in 33 prefectures and cities, selection was carried out as in the previous year, so-called "2nd exhibitions" were held in Japan, and 349 items were sent to the U.S. for exhibition. In fiscal 1962, the plan was partly revised for export promotion operations including the European market, and it was implemented continuously through fiscal 1964 as the comprehensive "Japan Handicraft Export Promotion Plan." It can be said that the plan's effectiveness and systemization continued to live on. It was also a great opportunity for designers to learn by refining their improvements in Japanese design through the eyes of overseas buyers. In this sense, Wright's initial points were put fully into practice, and the issue of how Japanese design incorporates traditional elements began to be addressed.
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