2021年

Birthday

Monday, July 25 1921: Model railway researcher Yamazaki Kiyo was born.

1921 (Taisho 10) Monday, July 25 Model railway researcher Yamazaki Kiyo (alias Yamazaki Yoshiaki) was born in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture. Yamazaki has had a strong interest in railways since he was a child. Before the war, he won the Model Railway Speed Competition and the Traction Competition sponsored by the magazine “Science of Children”. The “Science of Children” is still being published energetically, and in 2024 it will mark its 100 year anniversary. Yamazaki later graduated from the Faculty of Science at Tokyo Imperial University, and his passion for model trains grew rather stronger than subsiding as he grew older. At last, he launched the 1947 (Showa 22) magazine...
Politics

Saturday, July 23: The first Chinese Communist Party Congress was held

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, July 23 The first Chinese Communist Party Congress was held in the Shanghai French Concession. The place was Li Shucheng’s home in Wangji 106. Li Shucheng is a close friend of Sun Wen and one of the founders of the Chinese Alliance in 1904. Li has a younger brother named Li Hanjun. He was also known as Li Renjie, but his younger brother is known for his appearance in “Shanghai-yu-ki,” a memoir of Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s visit to China. In addition, Akutagawa visited China 100 years ago, from May to July, 1921 (1921), so Li Renjie may have met him in June, the month before the first...
Social

Friday, July 22, Kiyonari Kurasawa died at the age of 88.

1921 (Taisho 10) On Friday, July 22, Kiyonari Kurasawa, a scholar of Japanese classical history (Koku-Gaku), died at the age of 88. His other names were Kurasawa Yoshiyuki. If you have read “Yoake-mae (Before the Dawn)” by Toson Shimazaki, you may be more impressed by the name “Yoshiyuki.” Kiyonari or Yoshiyuki Kurazawa was born at Ono, Shinshu in 1832, in present-day Tatsuno-machi, Kamiina-gun, Nagano Prefecture. He devoted himself to Atsutane HIRATA and became a scholar of Japanese classical literature in his hometown of Shinshu. He went to Edo in 1854 and met famous Toko Fujita who was a scholar of Mito Domain. Exactly 10 years after Kurasawa’s encounter with Fujita...
Politics

Wednesday, July 20 1921: Kanji Ishiwara returning Japan from China

1921 (Taisho 10) Wednesday, July 20 There was a regular personnel change in the Army. 10 years later, in 1931, Kanji Ishiwara, as a staff officer at Kwan-tong Army, is known for the Manchurian Incident. In 1921, Ishihara was a 32 year-old captain. Ishiwara, who had been stationed in Hankou, Hunan Province for one year and three months as a member of the Central China Expeditionary Force Headquarters, returned to Japan through this personnel transfer and became a military science instructor at the Army War College. When Ishiwara was young, he did not pay attention to studying in Germany, which was the top goal for elite officers at that time,...
2021

New Party of Tokyo Governor Koike

Koike is the only powerful drug that has the potential to change the current politics, as the opposition cannot be expected to take over the LDP. “It seems that the media is spreading rumors about the revival of national politics as a joke, but it is not in my mind.” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike’s statement on her return to national politics at a press conference on July 9 can be taken as a de facto announcement of her return. This is because, as common sense in political terms, such expressions are rather idiomatic expressions used when one is “in the middle of the head.” This expression is often used by...
Social

Saturday, July 16 1921: The 49th graduation ceremony of the Naval Academy was held.

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, July 16 The graduation ceremony of the Naval Academy was held. Recently, there has been a discussion in Japan about changing the September entrance/new term system in accordance with world standards, but from the Meiji period to the Taisho period, September entrance and July graduation were also common in Japan. The reason for the April enrollment system was that Tokyo Imperial University and other imperial universities changed the system to April enrollment, exactly 100 years ago in 1921 (1921). The Naval Academy was also changed to enter in April and graduate in March. The Naval Academy was a four-year school, but starting this year, new students...
Birthday

Friday, July 15 1921: Chinese tragic heroine, Sun Weishi was born.

1921 (Taisho 10) On Friday, July 15, Sūn Wéishì was born in Nanxi County, Sichuan Province. His father was a revolutionary, Sūn Bíangwén. Mother is Yǔ Rénruì. Around the time when Sūn Wéishì was born, her father was the chief of the Sichuan Mint in the Republic of China, but in September 1922 he returned to Germany together with Zhū dé. Zhū is the father of the People’s Liberation Army. They met with Zhōu ēnái in Germany, who was also studying in Europe, and joined the Communist Party of China in Berlin. In April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek’s father, Sūn Bíangwén, was assassinated in the so-called 4.12 coup d’etat in Shanghai....
Politics

Tuesday July 12 1921: Prince Hirohito arrived in Rome

1921 (Taisho 10) Tuesday, July 12 Prince Hirohito, who is visiting Europe, arrived in Rome, the capital of Italy, the third country after France and Belgium. The day before, the battleship Katori arrived in Naples on board the Crown Prince’s flight, and the morning train arrived at Termini Station in Rome. At the station, Vittorio Emanuele III, the emperor of Italy, greeted them. The crowd in the station square cheered. The Italian emperor and the Japanese crown prince took a carriage to Quirinale Palace for a luncheon. Many Roman citizens gathered in front of the palace and were greeted with great splendor. The photo shows Crown Prince Hirohito greeting citizens...
Birthday

Monday July 11 1921: Yamanouchi Akira was born

1921 (Taisho 10) On Monday, July 11, actor Yamanouchi Akira was born in Azabu, Tokyo. His father was Ichiro Yamano, born in what is now Tochio City, Niigata Prefecture, and his real name was Koichi Yamauchi. In 1942 (Showa 17), Akira YAMANOUCHI, who was the second son of Koichi, founded the theater company “Young Friends” while he was a student at Waseda University. While still a student, he signed a contract with Shochiku Uzumasa Studios, and the following year he was chosen for the lead role in the movie “Kaigun” (Navy), Masato Tani, which attracted attention. In the same year, he graduated from Waseda in advance as an exception during...
Birthday

Saturday, July 9 1921: Sadanori YAMANAKA was born.

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, July 9: Sadanori YAMANAKA, a statesman, was born. He was born in Soogun Sueyoshi Village, Kagoshima Prefecture (present Soo City). After graduating from former Miyakonojo Junior High School (present-day Miyazaki Prefectural Miyakonojo Izumigaoka High School), Oshima moved to Taiwan and attended Taipei Second Normal School. While studying at Taipei Second Normal School, he met Tomonao YARA, who was a teacher at the school and later became a politician from Okinawa, which later became Yamanaka’s major political asset. After graduating from the school, Yamanaka worked as a teacher at a national school in Takaosu, but after serving in the Pacific War, he left for the front, and...