From December 1954 to November 1973, Japan experienced rapid economic growth, which was referred to as the “Japanese post-war economic miracle”. This miracle growth made Japan the second largest economy on Earth and improved the livelihood and economic conditions of Japanese people. In one hand it brought Japanese people new lifestyle in one hand and in the other hand wiped or weakened traditional or ancient customs and manners both spiritually and tangibly. For example, Establishment of social security systems enabled people to defect from extended family system and popularisation of the electric appliances changed people’s behavioral pattern.<br />
This presentation investigates the process of the disappearance of Japanese traditional manners or customs or materials recorded in a four-frame comic strip Sazae-san (1946-1974) written by Machiko Hasegawa (1920-1992). This comic was originally serialised in the Fukunichi Shimbun, a local newspaper in Fukuoka prefecture and later moved to the Asahi Shimbun, one of the leading national newspapers in Japan. For a long term serialisation, traditional daily necessaries, old customs or many occupations, which appeared in Sazae-san, got away in the real life in Japan. In this meaning Sazae-san was not only a gag strip or a satirical comic but also a kind of a historical book which recorded the last of these materials. We will check scenes of Sazae-san describing these disappeared elements in daily life of Japanese ordinary people and examine social or folk backgrounds of such changes.<br />
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Key Words: Saze-san, high economic growth, disappeared materials, daily life, ordinary people