2021年4月

Economy

Thursday, April 14, 1921: Mitsui will cut off 300 employees.

On Thursday, April 14, 1921, it was reported that Mitsui ordered 300 employees to stay at home because of the deepening post-war depression. This is 7.5% of the total 4,000 employees. The company subpoenaed 1/3 of U.S. branch employees and abolished special allowances, reducing salaries by 2 to 30%. The number of new graduates hired has been reduced from last year to just under 10. Mitsubishi also has 15 new graduates. It is becoming increasingly difficult for university graduates to find jobs. Yoshizuka Koichi, author of this blog, joined Mitsui as a new graduate in 1996, and at that time there were 160 people in her class. In 2020, it...
Social

Tuesday, April 12, 1921: Shiba Zojo-ji Temple new main hall

On Tuesday, April 12, 1921, the ridgepole-raising ceremony of the “Daiden”, the main hall of Shiba-Zojo-ji Temple, was held. The main hall of Zojoji temple, which burned down in 1909, was rebuilt over a period of 10 years. The event was attended by members of the Tokugawa family, Tokyo Mayor Shinpei Goto, Baron Yoshiro Sakatani and more than 5,000 ordinary visitors despite the unfortunate rain. Top priests of Zojo-ji Temple, Kanmu HORIO, who was the temple’s top leader “Daisojo” (94), attended the ridgepole-raising ceremony accompanied by nurses and died 13 days later. The grand palace was completed in 1923. Reconstruction costs amounted to 2 million yen. The main hall of...
Social

Tuesday, April 12, 1921: The first Japanese civic cooperative was formed in Kobe.

Tuesday, April 12, 1921: The first civic cooperative, the Co-op, was formed in Kobe. Toyohiko KAGAWA, a labor movement leader, led the foundation of “Kobe Purchasing Association”. We sell daily necessities such as rice and soy sauce. It started with 10 members, but by the end of the year it had 1,246 members. I went around the house of a union member on a black bicycle to ask questions. Even today, Co-op Kobe is one of the largest consumer cooperatives in the world and the largest in Japan with 1.68 million members. The citizens of Kobe are known for their use of the word “co-op san” in Japanese. Since its...
Birthday

Monday, April 11, 1921: Actress Hisako Yamane is born

Monday, April 11, 1921 Actress Hisako Yamane is born in Tokyo. Since my childhood, I have studied piano, nursery rhymes, Western dance and Japanese dance, and I went on to study at Ochanomizu Cultural School, the women’s department. Unlike Bunka Fashion College, which is famous for its fashion design, Bunka Gakuin was founded 100 years ago in April 1921 by Isaku Nishimura, Akiko Yosano, Tekkan Yosano and Hakutei Ishii. In 1936, when he was a student at Bunka Gakuin, he made his debut at the age of 15, signing a contract with P.C.L. Film Seisakusho. The PCL merged with three other film companies in the following year and became Toho...
Economy

unday, April 10, 1921: Okuragumi’s vice president, Shigekuro KADONO

On Sunday, April 10, 1921, Tokyo Nichinichi Newspaper reported a rumor that Okuragumi’s vice president, Shigekuro KADONO, who was the president of Okura civil engineering (current Taisei Corp.) was going to be appointed as ambassador to China. Kadono was the second son of Watari KADONO, chief retainer of the former Toba Domain. He graduated from Keio University with a degree in engineering from Imperial University and worked for Pennsylvania Railway in the United States. Later, in 1897, he got acquainted with Kihachiro OKURA and joined Okura Gumi, and worked as a branch manager of London for a long time. In 1909, he became the vice president of Okura group and...
Politics

Saturday, April 9, 1921: Saburo OKUSHIGE vs Seibei SAKAKIDA

Saturday, April 9, 1921: An Igo match between Saburo OKUSHIGE (59 years old), the chairman of the House of Representatives, and Seibei SAKAKIDA (57 years old), a member of the House of Representatives and a member of the Rikken Seiyukai Party, is reported in the Tokyo Nichinichi Newspaper. After the Diet session ended, Oku and Sakakida played three days and three nights of a game of go in Hakone, but Sakakida won all the matches. Sakakida once fainted after playing go 26 hours in a row. From the latter part of the Taisho period to the early part of the Showa period, igo spread and became popular nationwide. The number...
Economy

Friday, April 8, 1921: Tokuo Watanabe and Eichi Shibusawa

On Friday, April 8, 1921, Tokyo Nichinichi Newspaper reported on Tokuo Watanabe, who runs Eichi Shibusawa’s private company (Shibuya Family Company). Watanabe is a dormitory for students from Saitama, established by Shibusawa, as an early student to make them into friends. After working for Daiichi Bank managed by Shibusawa for more than 10 years, he became a manager. Later, he became a steward and a senior managing director of the Shibusawa family. Tokyo Nichinichi Newspaper 1921.4.8 Morning edition “Tokuo WATANABE, who was the manager of Daiichi Bank, recently became the senior managing director of Shibusawa Dozoku Company and went to Shibusawa office in Kabutocho every day to supervise the business...
Birthday

Friday, April 8, 1921: Imafuku Masao is born

On Friday, April 8, 1921, actor Imafuku Masao is born in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture. In 1940, after graduating from Fukuoka Prefectural (Kaho) Kaho Junior High School under the old system and the present Fukuoka Prefectural Kaho Senior High School, he became an engineer for Kyushu Airplane. Just after the war, he was asked by someone he happened to know in the black market to help with the sound effects of radio dramas, and he joined NHK Fukuoka Broadcasting Company Limited. After appearing in radio and television dramas in her hometown, he moved to Tokyo in 1966 and joined the Theater Research Institute attached to the Bungakuza Theater Company in Shinanomachi....
Social

Thursday, April 7, 1921: A lecture by Shigeo YAMAUCHI

Thursday, April 7, 1921: A lecture, “To get a good child,” by Shigeo YAMAUCHI (45), a biologist and a professor of Tokyo Higher Normal School, was published in the Tokyo Nichinichi Newspaper. The number of births decreases with the evolution of civilization. The gene of the excellent distant ancestor is transmitted to the human, and the acquired element or rearing environment is more important than the appearance and ability of the direct parent. The opinion of Shigeo YAMAUCHI is different from ethnic eugenics, eugenics thought, genetic eugenics (“divine country” philosophy) which prevail in the Showa period, and importance is attached to acquired rearing environment regardless of birth. “The reality of...
Social

Wednesday, April 6, 1921: Asakusa on fire

A fire broke out in Asakusa on Wednesday, April 6, 1921. The house of actor Tomiemon NAKAMURA in Tamachi 1-chome was the origin of the fire. The housekeeper went out to prepare breakfast and caught fire. Tokyo City Fuji Jinjo Elementary School (The present Fuji Elementary School, Taito Ward), a new school building completed four years ago, burned down. All the temples in Kisakata-cho went up in flames. The fire was extinguished in six hours. The number of victims rose to 6,500.