Social

Thursday, August 18 1921: Kokkatsu actresses and staff members criticized the company.

1921 (Taisho 10) On Thursday, August 18, actresses and staff members of Kokkatsu (Kokusai Katsuei), a film production company, held an unusual speech in which they criticized the company. Kokusai Katsuei was a new film company established 1 and a half years ago in December 1919. It was established by the so-called “bubble gentlemen” who raised money during the boom of World War I and the war boom. The president is Kisaburo KOBAYASHI who used to work at Nikkatsu. With two studios in Sugamo and Tsunohazu, we will be able to mass-produce as many as 120 films in 2 years’ time. However, due to the management turmoil and the economic...
Politics

Wednesday, August 17 1921: Mitsui employee arrested by horse-bandits (Bazoku in Japanese).

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...
2021

A female candidate has emerged as the next president of Rengo

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), a national trade union center with 7 million members, is having trouble over the appointment of its next president. At first, it was seen as a “decision” for Kanzuri, who has been nominated by her successor, Yasunobu Aihara, but even as Kozu’s term as chairman is about to expire in October, an abnormal situation continues in which the next chairman cannot be decided. Aihara to Give Up Chairmanship The Rengo’s executive nomination committee, consisting of the top eight members of its industrial unions, will select the next president (usually before the May holidays), make an official decision at its regular meeting in October, and...
Politics

Monday, August 15 1921: Hikokichi Ijuin was appointed as the first director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Information Bureau.

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...
Social

Sunday, August 14 1921: the annual summer festival, Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri, was held

1921 (Taisho 10) On Sunday, August 14, the annual summer festival known as the “Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri” was held at Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine in Fukagawa, downtown Tokyo. In one of the three major festivals of Edo, Gohoren (imperial carriage) performs togyo once every three years. Gohoren is an Omikoshi (portable shrine), which has a golden phoenix on top of the house. The Gohoren at Tomioka Hachiman-gu Shrine was a gilded mikoshi that was said to have been dedicated by a wealthy merchant Bunzaemon KINOKUNIYA in the Genroku era. Furthermore, there were 3 of them, but they were unfortunately destroyed by fire in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 (Taisho 12)...
Politics

Friday, August 12 1921: Colonel Otawara Tataru, Commander of Naval Defense Force in Siberia, returned.

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...
Social

Thursday, August 11 1921: Masana Maeda, a planner of Industrial policy in Meiji era, died.

1921 (Taisho 10) On Thursday, August 11, Masana Maeda, who had led the Meiji government’s policy of encouraging new industries, passed away. He was 71 years old. Masana MAEDA was born in 1850. His father was a doctor of the Satsuma Domain, Zen-an MAEDA. I was born as his second son. He studied Western studies under Shohei Yagi, who was a scholar of the Satsuma Domain at the age of 9. Shohei Yagi is an interesting person who was born in Tenpo 3 (1832), so he is 18 years older than Masana Maeda. So when Masana Maeda joined Yagi, his master Yagi was 31 years old. By the order of...
Birthday

Monday, August 8 1921: American actress Esther Williams was born.

1921 (Taisho 10) Monday, August 8 American actress Esther Williams was born in Inglewood, a suburb of Los Angeles, California. Her father was Louis Stanton Williams, a famous painter, and mother Bula, a psychologist. She was the youngest of their five children. She has been a competitive swimmer since high school and won the U.S. National Championships three times. Esther was expected to win a medal in the swimming event at the Tokyo Olympics, which was scheduled to take place in 1940 when she was 19 years old, but the Olympics itself has been cancelled. In 1941, a year after the Pacific War began, she was recruited by the film...
Social

Monday, August 8 1921: Huge Explosion at Hiroshima army arsenal.

1921 (Taisho 10) On Monday, August 8, an explosion occurred at the army arsenal on Mt. Hiji in Hiroshima City. There were 7 deaths and 21 serious injuries. Four huge explosions spread fear in Hiroshima. The 5th Division (Commander: Lieutenant General Yamada Rikutsui) was dispatched to Vladivostok for the Siberia Expedition and returned to Hiroshima in August 1920, but its ammunition was not strictly controlled, for example, a safety needle was disconnected on the way back. A report addressed to the Chief of Naval Operations (Shōichi Kanno), “Explosion Cause of Hiroshima Hijiyama Artillery” It is presumed to be a defect in handling. The explosion was caused by the dropping of...
Birthday

Sunday, August 7 1921: Guitarist, Manitas de Plata was born in a Gypsy Caravan.

1921 (Taisho 10) Sunday, August 7 The flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata was born in a Gypsy Caravan in southern France. His real name was Ricardo Barriardo. “Manitas de Plata” means “a small silver hand” in Spanish, and the artist’s name is derived from the nickname that praises his guitar skills in his words. Manitas de Plata is 11 years older than Jango Reinhardt, who is said to be the top gypsy guitarist in the world. Manitas de Plata inherited the craftsmanship of Jango Reinhardt and has been in the limelight since Jango’s death in 1953. In 1964, I was invited to Pablo Picasso’s atelier in southern France where I...