2021年4月

Economy

Saturday, April 30 1921: Dainippon Beer Hakata Plant

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, April 30 Completion of construction of Dainippon Beer Co., Ltd.’s Hakata Plant (Current Asahi Breweries Hakata Factory). With three brands of Ebisu, Sapporo, and Asahi, Dainippon Breweries was the biggest at the time. There were speculations that the contracted price of 55 sen with Kirin and Kabuto would be lowered by 20% due to a decrease in demand caused by the postwar recession. The president is “Beer king of Japan” Kyohei MAGOSHI. 1906 (Meiji 39) Three companies of Nippon Beer (President Kyohei Magoshi), Sapporo Beer (President Shibusawa Eiichi), and Osaka Beer (President Torii Komakichi) were merged to establish Dainippon Beer Co., Ltd., and Magoshi assumed the...

Social

Thursday, April 28 1921: Kitahara Hakushu married for the third time.

1921 (Taisho 10) Thursday, April 28 Poet and children’s lyricist Kitahara Hakushu gets married for the third time. I divorced my ex-wife Ayako Eguchi last May. His third wife, Kikuko (Maiden Name: Sato), was a brilliant woman who had graduated from Oita Girls’ High School and became the last wife of Hakushu who had been said to be “big baby”. When Hakushu and Kikuko first met, Hakushu was 35 and Kikuko was 31. For 21 and a half years, Kikuko brought peace to the family and devoted herself to supporting her husband who lost his eyesight in 1937 (Showa 12). Kikuko’s newlywed life was hard, and she spent days entertaining...

Birthday

Thursday, April 28 1921: Kyohei FUJITA, a glass craftsman, was born

1921 (Taisho 10) Thursday, April 28: Kyohei FUJITA, a glass craftsman, was born in Okubo-machi, Toyotama-gun, Tokyo Prefecture. He studied chasing at Tokyo Fine Arts School (The present Faculty of Art, Tokyo University of the Arts), but he switched to glass craft in the middle. He aimed to express the traditional beauty of Japan with glass materials, and studied European glass techniques such as Venetian Glass. He established his own field of glass art with his own decorative glass art called “modern Rinpa school” which is a mixture of colored glass and gold leaf, and he was called “Kazaribako”. He received the Onshi Prize of the Japan Art Academy for...

Social

Wednesday, April 27 1921, anecdotist KANDA the second died

1921 (Taisho 10) On Wednesday, April 27, anecdotist Hakuzan KANDA the second died at the age of 77. He was born in 1843 (Tenpo 14) and his real name was Kinjiro TAMAGAWA. He became a disciple of Hakuzan KANDA the first at the age of 15 and succeeded to Hakuzan at the age of 1870 (Meiji 3) and 28. He was good at Suikoden. 1904 (Meiji 37): He transferred the professional name to Kanda Matsuyama (Hakuzan KANDA the Third) before he died, and changed his name to the first Shori KANDA. These professional names have been handed down to the present day. The third Kanda Shori, who succeeded to the...

Social

Monday, April 25 1921: Toyama Prefectural Railway opened

1921 (Taisho 10) Monday, April 25: Toyama Prefectural Railway opened. Initially, the operation kilometers between Minami-Toyama Station and Kamidaki Station were 6.6 km, and in August the distance was extended to Iwakuraji Station, which was 12.4 km. In the Taisho period, there were railroads operated by prefectures not only in Toyama but all over Japan. In 1943 (Showa 18), this section was merged into the Kamidaki Line of the Toyama Chiho Railway. Tsukioka Station, located in this section, was the climax of the 2011 movie (Heisei 23) ‘Railways – For Adults Who Cannot Communicate Love’, directed by Masatoshi Kurakata and starring Tomokazu Miura.

Birthday

Sunday, April 24 1921: professional golfer Kobari Haruyoshi was born.

1921 (Taisho 10) Sunday, April 24: The birth of the professional golfer Kobari Haruyoshi. Throughout his life he lived in his hometown and was called “The God of Nasu”. After graduating from elementary school, he took an exam for the Japanese National Railways, but failed due to color blindness. 1936 (Showa 11) I applied for a caddie position at the Nasu Golf Club and became a caddie and trainee. 1940 (Showa 15) Although he was the first professional player in Tochigi Prefecture, he was drafted into the army after only 2 matches. Since he could not distinguish the colors, he became a radio operator without a battalion. He went to...

Art

Sunday, April 24 1921: Bunka Gakuin opened

1921 (Taisho 10) Sunday, April 24: The opening ceremony of the Bunka Gakuin in Ochanomizu was held. It was established by Isaku Nishimura, Tekkan Yosano, Akiko Yosano and Hakutei Ishii. All the students are girls and there are 43 students. The school will have 25 teachers, including Kosaku YAMADA, Natsu KAWASAKI, Ikuo ARISHIMA and Kyoshi TAKAHAMA. He advocated a new education called “a free and original school that does not comply with national school regulations” and continued a liberal education called “Small but good.” and “foster a sensitive person” and received no subsidies from the government. It was the first time in Japan that an equal education for men and...

Politics

Saturday, April 23 1921: Japanese League of Nations Association

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, April 23 The first general meeting of the League of Nations Association will be held at Tsukiji Seiyoken. Iesato TOKUGAWA President, Eiichi SHIBUSAWA Chairman, Juichi SOEDA and Yoshiro SAKATANI Vice Chairmen, Junnosuke INOUE as accounting director and other prominent members. 70 people attended, including Foreign Minister Yasuya Uchida, a guest of honor. There were voices calling for the Association to make proposals on specific issues such as disarmament, the withdrawal of troops from Shandong, the anti-Japanese movement in the United States, and the Yap Island issue, which were the diplomatic issues of Japan at that time. However, Eichi SHIBUSAWA and others avoided leaving these issues to...

Economy

Friday, April 22 1921: Another Commercial Bank go broke

1921 (Taisho 10) Friday, April 22 A promissory note of 15000 yen by Senoo Commercial Bank in Okubo-cho, Tokyo Prefecture was dishonored. Depositors rush into the bank due to a sudden shutdown. The deposit of 150,000 yen in public money in Okubo-cho became complicated. Later, a fraudulent loan of 500,000 yen to Jiro TAKAGI, a senior managing director of Japanese-English entertainment company, which was led by Inosuke SENOO, a senior managing director of the bank, was revealed. More than a year has passed since the post-war depression that began with the stock market crash on March 15 of the previous year, but financial unrest has not subsided and banks have...

Birthday

Friday, April 22 1921: Duke Keomka, professional wrestler, was born.

1921 (Taisho 10) Friday, April 22 Duke Keomka, a professional wrestler who was active in the United States, is born. A Japanese American born in Sacramento. His real name was Hisao TANAKA. It is useful as a heel that uses anti-Japanese feelings. He competed against many famous American wrestlers. The tag team with Hiro Mazda is also popular. Duke Keomka was in its prime in the 1960s. On October 31, 1961, he played against Buddy Rodgers, then NWA World Champion, and gained popularity. After that, he became one of the top wrestlers centering on the dispute with Fritz Von Erich. He won the NWA World Tag Team Championship four times....