SIMPLY NOT RED:
A Primary Color Fades Away From Public Places in Tokyo
APRIL 30, 1996
The color red is steadily disappearing from public places in Tokyo--fading away from subway trains, a well-known private express train, public telephones, passenger cars, and young fashion. In its place, serene ecological colors, such as dark blue and brown, are becoming popular. Now that the period of rapid economic growth and the so-called economic bubble have come to an end, it seems that the continued current sluggish business conditions are changing the tone of what colors are in vogue.
Changing Colors
The Marunouchi line, the second-oldest subway in Tokyo, begins at Ikebukuro, one of Tokyo's major transport terminals, and travels through the heart of the city to Shinjuku and Ogikubo. Ever since services began in 1954, the symbol of the line was the brightly painted red color of its carriages. New carriages that began to be introduced in 1988 are natural, unpainted stainless steel, however. All of the older-style red carriages were removed from the main line by March 1995. Remaining ones on a branch line are scheduled to disappear by the end of April 1996.
A red exterior was also the selling point for a private line express train service started in 1957 that speeds 90 kilometers from Shinjuku to the tourist resorts of Odawara and Hakone. However, the new carriages to be introduced from the end of March are a reddish gray instead.
The red is disappearing from mailboxes too. Beginning in 1990, green, gray, and chocolate-colored boxes have been appearing in response to local calls for colors that match the townscape. Red also used to be the predominant color for outside public telephones, which only took coins. As the use of prepaid telephone cards spread, these old red telephones were gradually replaced by green public telephones. By March 1995 the red phones had disappeared completely. The newest public telephones, equipped with digital communication functions, are gray. They convey an image of technological innovation.
During the latter 1970s and early 1980s, perhaps influenced by the popularity of the bright red Porsche model, red was also a favorite choice for domestically produced sports cars. However, the collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s was accompanied by a sudden drop in the popularity of red sports cars. According to one private research organization, in 1983 red was the most popular color for domestic car exteriors, with a 20.5% share of the total. But by 1993 this figure had fallen to a mere 0.4%, with subdued colors, such as gray and navy blue, prevailing. The same trend is evident in young fashion.
Ecological Colors
This perspective suggests that each time period has its own fashionable colors. According to an analysis by the research organization, fashionable colors after the end of World War II, as well as at the end of the period of economic growth in the early 1970s, gradually altered from bright primary colors, typically red, to more somber, natural colors. Then in the 1990s, following the collapse of the economic bubble, ecological colors, basically shades of dark blue and brown, have become standard.
Primary colors emphasize the existence of the object itself. As these colors arouse the buyer's desire to purchase, they are perfect for periods of rapid economic growth. The analysis reported that in times of slow economic growth, like the present, people look for spiritual rather than material satisfaction. They want to immerse themselves in a calm atmosphere, a feeling that is reflected in the colors people prefer.