1921 (Taisho 10) On Friday, October 14. A celebration of the 50 year railway anniversary was held in front of Tokyo Station. Crown Prince Hirohito attended as Emperor Taisho’s representative. After a six-month visit to Europe on September 3, 20 year-old Crown Prince Hirohito returned home with tremendous popularity. The crowd gathered at Tokyo Station to see the Crown Prince at a glance and it was very crowded. Prime Minister Takashi Hara, Minister of Railways Hajime Motoda, and many other officials attended the ceremony and gave congratulatory speeches. Of course, there was also a word from Crown Prince Hirohito. They also commended those who had contributed to the railway and...

1921 (Taisho 10) Friday, October 7: Crown Prince Hirohito (20) attended the homage ceremony at Kazoku-kaikan Clubhouse, which is for aristocratic class in Japan. After watching “Ataka” at the Noh theater, he had a friendly chat with the members. Iesato Tokugawa (58), the President of the House of Peers and the President of the House of Peers, made a statement to celebrate his safe return from his long trip to Europe. Three cheers for the party. Kazoku Kaikan Hall is present Kasumi Kaikan Hall. At 1:40 PM, he was sent to the Kazoku Kaikan (the Peerage House) to celebrate his return to Japan. Upon your arrival, all the members who...

1921 (Taisho 10) Friday, September 30 Youlan, Aisin Gioro Pu Yi’s mother, committed suicide at the age of 37. He was born in 1884. His father was Ronglu, an influential person in the Qing Dynasty. She became the lawful wife of Zaifeng and Prince Chun and gave birth to Puyi, Fuketsu’s brothers and three other daughters. He collided with Empress Wen Jing (Jin Fei, a wife of Emperor Guangxu), who had power in the Forbidden City at that time, and committed suicide.

1921 (Taisho 10) Friday, September 16 The second son Mitsuru was born to Shinsui ITO, a young Japanese-style painter and printmaker who was 23 years old at that time, and his wife Yoshiko. Shinsui participated in the new woodblock print movement at that time including Goyo Hashiguchi, and he energetically published his works. In 1922 (Taisho year 11), the year following the birth of Man, his work “Sashi” distinguished himself by winning a silver medal at the Peace Memorial Tokyo Exhibition. It became popular for its bijinga (beautiful women’s pictures) with the unique soft expression of Japanese-style painting, which succeeded the orthodoxy of Utagawa school Ukiyoe. She was the model...

1921 (Taisho 10) On Tuesday, September 6, Shotaro Kokubu, the Vice Minister of the King Yi Bureau of Korea under Japanese rule, died suddenly. Kokubu is a well-known diplomat proficient in Korean, and served as an interpreter during negotiations between Japan and the ROK by Hirobumi Ito. When the Chosen Sotoku-fu was established in 1910 (Meiji 43), he became the head of the Personnel Bureau. Because of the strong trust of the Yi Dynasty, he transferred the former royal family of Korea to the Yi Dynasty Bureau under the jurisdiction of the Minister of the Imperial Household, and served as the second vice minister after the Minister of the Yi...

1921 (Taisho 10) On Saturday, September 3, Prince Hirohito landed in Yokohama after completing his European tour. Prime Minister Takashi Hara, Minister of State and other high-ranking officials boarded the battleship Katori from Yokohama Port to greet the Crown Prince. There were a lot of visitors at Yokohama Port. We took a train from Yokohama Station to Tokyo Station, and then returned to Takanawa Togu Gosho in a covered carriage from Tokyo Station. The whole roadside was filled with a crowd that had no room to stand, and the cheers of “banzai” never stopped. According to a message from Crown Prince Hirohito, the most impressive things during his visit to...

1921 (Taisho 10) Friday, September 2 Crown Prince Hirohito’s European tour ended successfully. The battleship Katori carrying Imperial Prince Hirohito arrived at Tokyo Bay one day earlier than scheduled. Kimigayo and banzai were welcomed by those who anchored in Tateyama Bay and filled the land and sea. According to the True Record of Emperor Showa, tens of thousands of visitors waved national flags and shouted “banzai” repeatedly along the bay’s coast. In the afternoon, about 30,000 elementary and middle school students from Chiba Prefecture held a flag parade. At night, a large procession of red lanterns is held at Tateyama Beach by residents of both Tateyama and Hojo. The crown...

1921 (Taisho 10) Wednesday, August 17 There was a news report that Jiro Miyamoto, an employee of the lumber department of Mitsui’s Ji-Ling branch office, was arrested by bandits and demanded a ransom. On August 11, Mr. Miyamoto, about 8 kilometers from Jilin across the Song Hua River, was attacked by 50 bandits and was taken with Chinese. He was the captain of the bandits who attacked, and he was called Cao Shang-Fei. Cao Shang Fei means “fly over the grass ”. It is a word to describe an animal or a person who runs at a very fast speed on the ground, and of course it is not his...

1921 (Taisho 10) Monday, August 15 Hikokichi Ijuin was appointed as the first director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Information Bureau. In April 1920, the previous year, the predecessor organization was established under the name of the “Information Department” in a non-governmental or informal manner. Since it was an informal organization, there was no support from the government budget, but now it has become an information bureau as an official bureau by government organization. It is a specialized public relations department that disseminates Japan’s domestic situation to foreign countries. It was established because the importance of public relations was recognized at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. In the current...

1921 (Taisho 10) Friday, August 12 Colonel Otawara Tataru, Commander of the Ad Hoc Naval Defense Force in Siberia, returned to his home in Tokyo. Colonel Otawara was assigned to Nicolaevsk as a temporary coastal defense commander in July of the previous year. After completing his one-year term, he was replaced by his successor, Hidetaro Akimoto. He returned to his home in Ichigaya-tanimachi and was interviewed by the media. In January of the previous year, the so-called “Nikolaevsk incident” occurred in Nikolaevsk, which was closed in the middle of winter. Local partisans killed 351 Japanese soldiers and 384 civilians, leaving a total of 735 victims. The administration of Prime Minister...