1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, November 26 The statesman Ito Tomoya died. He died early at the age of 48. On April 10, 1873, Tomoya Ito was born as the first son of Seiki Ito, a well-known local physician in Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture. His father, Kiyomoto ITO, was originally the third son of Mondo SUWA, a feudal retainer of Sendai Domain, but he studied Western studies in Edo, studied medicine under “Ito Genboku” and “Ito Bokusai,” who were famous disciples of Siebold, and was adopted by Hokusai ITO after he moved to Tsuruoka and opened a business there in 1868. At that time, cholera was frequently prevalent and caused many...

1921 (Taisho 10) Tuesday, November 22 The state-of-the-art battleship Mutsu built at the Yokosuka Navy Yard has been handed over to the Navy. The handover ceremony was held and he was registered in Sasebo Chinju-fu. Mutsu was the second ship of the Nagato-class battleship that we met at that time. In 1907, after the Russo-Japanese War, the first 2 ships of the 88 Squadron Project, which en 40 visaged the US Navy as a hypothetical enemy, were these 2 Nagato-type battleships. For budgetary support, the Imperial Diet expanded the fleet to 84 in 1916, 86 in 1918, and 88 in 1920. However, considering that the total expenditure of the Japanese...

1921 (Taisho 10) Thursday, November 17 Crown Prince Hirohito appeared in Hino and Hachioji to inspect a special army exercise. The Army Special Exercise is a military exercise conducted by the Army under the control of the Emperor. It was held every fall for 4 days. It was a large-scale one where more than two divisions fought against each other, and the people’s interest was high. The first meeting was held in 1892 (Meiji 25), and a total of 34 meetings were held until 1936 (Showa 11), the year before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. In 1921, the Army held special 10 exercises in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Saitama. It...

1921 (Taisho 10) Monday, November 14 Toshiko Yamane, Japan’s first female diplomat, was born in Sapporo. Her father was Jinshin YAMANE, a livestock scientist who was an assistant professor at Hokkaido Imperial University at that time. She was born the youngest of three brothers and sisters. Her brother is Otohiko Yamane, who inherited the research of his father Jinshin and later became a professor at the Faculty of Agriculture of Tottori University. Her father Yamane Jinshin transferred from Hokkaido Imperial University to Taipei Imperial University to become a professor. So they moved to Taiwan. In April 1934, she entered Taipei State High School for Girls at the age of 12....

1921 (Taisho 10) Sunday, November 13 Korekiyo Takahashi was appointed as the 20th Prime Minister and the Takahashi Cabinet was formed. It was called the “Inuki Cabinet” in which all the cabinet members remained as the successor to the assassinated Takashi Hara Cabinet. Prime Minister Takahashi doubled as Minister of Finance. He also became the fourth president of the ruling Seiyukai Party. Takahashi Korekiyo is not a party politician. However, in 1913, the third Taro KATSURA cabinet collapsed amid the growing movement to protect the constitution, and when he joined the next Gonbei YAMAMOTO cabinet as finance minister, he accepted Prime Minister YAMAMOTO’s persuasion and decided to join the party....

1921 (Taisho 10) The Washington Conference was held on Friday, November 11. It was an international conference that was held in Washington, the capital of the United States, on February 6 of the following year at the request of the President of the United States, Warren Harding. In addition to Japan and the United States, nine countries, including Britain, France, Italy and China, are participating. There were three items on the agenda. It’s as follows. (1) Naval disarmament, (2) Far East issues, and (3) Pacific issues. The Japanese side was responsible for the first topic (1) Vice Admiral Tomosaburo Kato, the Japanese plenipotentiary, for naval disarmament, and the remaining (2)...

1921 (Taisho 10) Wednesday, November 9 A memorial service for the recently assassinated Prime Minister Takashi Hara was held at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., just ahead of the Washington Conference which is scheduled to be held on November 11 soon. More than 200 people attended the memorial service, which was held at 4:30 PM amid heavy rain. On the mantelpiece in the drawing room, in addition to the Hinomaru national flag, a bouquet of pure white chrysanthemums and a photograph of Prime Minister Takashi Hara were displayed. Following a 30 second moment of silence, the three Japanese delegates to the Washington conference delivered their condolences. First, Kijuro SHIDEHARA,...

1921 (Taisho 10) Saturday, November 5 The Takashi Hara cabinet resigned en masse. Prime Minister Takashi Hara was assassinated at 7:25 PM on the concourse at the south exit of Tokyo Station. He was 65 years old. In response to this emergency, Foreign Minister Uchida (Yasuya) assumed the post of Acting Prime Minister. The next morning, an extraordinary cabinet meeting was held, and the resignations of all cabinet members were put together and immediately submitted to the Imperial Palace. The decision method of the prime minister at that time was recommended and decided by a certain important politician called Genro in the form of consulting with the Emperor. The three...

1921 (Taisho 10) Friday, November 4 Prime Minister Hara Takashi was attacked and killed by Otsuka Station operator Nakaoka Konichi on the concourse at Marunouchi South Exit of Tokyo Station. He was 65 years old. Prime Minister Hara was heading to the ticket gate under the direction of station manager Yoshikazu Takahashi to catch a 7:30 PM train from Tokyo Station to attend the Seiyukai Kinki Convention in Kyoto the following day. Then, at 7:25 PM, Nakaoka suddenly rushed out of the crowd and thrust his short sword into Hara’s right chest. He died almost immediately. Nakaoka was a day shift operator at Otsuka Station. The point change is the...

1921 (Taisho 10) On Thursday, October 27, 3 young military men from the same period of 16 years of the Military Academy gathered in Baden-Baden, a resort area in South Germany, and pledged to transform their army. It’s called the Baden-Baden Secret Agreement. This is said to have greatly influenced the course of Japan in the pre-war Showa period, and it has become an important event in the modern history of Japan. Three young soldiers gathered at Baden-Baden. Everyone was indignant at the realities of the Army. These three are as follows. Tetsuzan NAGATA, a military officer attached to the Swiss legation. Toshishiro Obata was a military attaché at the...