1921 (Taisho 10) Monday, May 2 China’s Jing-Sui railway opened. Gui-Sui station (now Hohhot Station) opened, and Beijing – Zhangjiakou – Datong – along with 653.6 km of Gui-Sui were connected by railway. In January 1923, 2 years later, the line will extend another 165 km from Gui-Sui to the terminal point of Baotou, and a loan of 3 million yen from Japan was used to construct this section. Before the New Shikoku Loan Program, which was established by the open door policy of the United States, Japan adopted the form of loans from Toa Kogyo, a private company. However, this loan has developed into an intense diplomatic problem. This...

1921 (Taisho 10) Sunday, May 1 Tokyo Dento, known to have been founded by Eichi SHIBUSAWA, purchased Yokohama Denki on the same day. As a result, the Enoshima Electric Railway Department (so-called Enoden), which had been managed by Yokohama Electric, came under the umbrella of Tokyo Dento. The number of passengers transported by Enoden, which became the Enoshima Line under the jurisdiction of the Katase Sub-Branch Office of the Yokohama Branch Office of Tokyo Dento, is rapidly increasing at this time, reflecting an increase in the local population. The number of passengers transported by 1921 (Taisho 10) increased to 1,613,000, and by 1925 (Taisho 14) after the Great Kanto Earthquake...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Monday, March 28, 1921: It is reported that the U.S. Department of the Treasury will no longer clear goods marked “Made in Nippon” among Japanese exports to the United States. The name of origin will be unified as “Made in Japan”. Until then, both “Nippon” and “Japan” were used for Japanese exports. The U.S. Customs authorities have notified us that the change will take effect on September 1. The term “Made in Nippon” is unfamiliar to us today, but I was surprised to learn that at the time, there was quite a mix of “Made in Japan” and “Made in Nippon. However, I was surprised to find out that there...

Sunday, March 27, 1921: Letter to the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun regarding the right of the eldest daughter to be educated. The birth rate in Japan peaked in 1920. It was normal for every family to have about seven brothers and sisters. Among them, the eldest daughter was often expected to take care of her younger brothers and sisters and was deprived of the opportunity to receive education herself. This article predicted that Japan’s birthrate would decline in the future due to the emphasis on education.