29 : Lunchbox of Suzuyo trading company

Also presented here are materials relating to Suzuki Yohei Shoten, a firm that once stood on the very site of this museum. The company undertook cargo handling and sales; the employee lunch boxes on display were used in daily operations. At Shimizu Port a wide variety of cargo—tea, yosegi-zaiku (marquetry), rice, and more—was processed, and the port became the first in Japan to sustain twenty-four-hour cargo handling, with work continuing through the night; boxed meals were therefore prepared for employees. Carefully preserved by the descendants of local shipping agents, these objects offer concrete evidence of Shimizu’s modernization and commercial practice, while conveying the rhythms of labor and everyday life along the waterfront.

Return to Room 1 List