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3. Wrapping commodities and the morality of debt (2443 words) |
 | Chugen gifts, like seibo, are said to ‘repay debts’ accumulated during the year: people must ‘thank’ all those people to whom they owe something. |
| Hanako also has to make arrangements for giving chugen to people she wants to maintain good relations with such as providers who offered better deals when they had no reason to, neighbours who bought things from their shop, customers who made large investments in their business, and all her kin and most neighbours. |
| Her chugen shopping is her means to create a sphere of relations of obligation that give faces, feelings and moral attributes to individuals who would be faceless and market-led. |
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