Old Tokyo

“During World War I Japan enjoyed a large economic boom because production capacity of major Western countries was mobilized for the war, and this boom boosted the development of the fire insurance industry in Japan.” – Large Fires and the Rise of Fire Insurance In Pre-war Japan, 2023

“Expansion of the fire insurance industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reflected progress of industrialization in Japan in that modern industries and large companies considerably increased the demand for fire insurance.

Fukoku Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. advertising postcard, Tokyo, c. 1930. | Old Tokyo "Just over two decades after the first Japanese insurer had been established, the domestic market was in a strong position in early 1900s, pushing foreign insurers to the margins and expanding oversea...

Fukoku Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. advertising postcard, Tokyo, c. 1930, had its beginnings in 1897 as the Otaru Cargo Insurance Co. Expanding beyond its cargo insurance limitations, the company received approval in 1919 to solicit general commercial insurance coverage concerns.

Launched on 7 February 1904, she was wrecked on 3 March 1907 when she struck a reef near the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula and the entrance to Tokyo Bay on her seventh journey.

S.S. Dakota was a steamship built by the Eastern Shipbuilding Company in Groton, Connecticut and owned by railroad magnate James J. Hill of the Great Northern Steamship Company. S.S. Dakota and her sister ship, S.S. Minnesota, were described at the time as the largest ships ever built in America.

The Wreck of the S.S. Dakota, 1907. | Old Tokyo "When the two huge 20,000-ton sister steamers Dakota and Minnesota, owned by the Great Northern Steamship Company of New York and Seattle, were offered for insurance at Lloyd’s they were treated on mu...

“Wreck of the S.S. Dakota“, 1907. The American-owned passenger liner ran aground a reef near the entrance to Tokyo Bay. The accident happened close enough to shore to avoid any deaths; passengers and cargo were evacuated before she sank.

Olympic swimmer Yokota Misao (using the stage name “Mizuo Misao”) made her Takarazuka debut in this production of Princess Turandot.

This 1934 stage production by the revue’s Moon Troupe ran from 6/29-7/29 at the Takarazuka Theatre in Tokyo on a triple-bill with Soukai Hikyoku (“The Secret Song of the Blue Sea”) and Takeshiba Douchuuki (“Takeshiba Road Memoirs”).

Princess Turandot was the first of several other Takarazuka musicals, most post-war, that made use of Gozzi’s original Turandot as a production model.

The Club company, which produced toothpaste, washing powder and cosmetics, was founded in Kobe in 1903 and was known for its energetic marketing to promote the company’s products.

“Princess Turandot”, Takarazuka Revue advertising postcard, Tokyo, 1934. | Old Tokyo See also: Takarazuka Gekijo (Theater), Tokyo Takarazuka Revue, “Parisette”, c. 1930. "Club Washing Powder" [クラブ洗粉] advertising postcards, c. 1910. Princess Turandot was based on Count Carlo Gozzi's Tu...

“Princess Turandot” [トゥーランドット姫], Takarazuka Revue advertising postcard, Tokyo, 1934. The image features the musical’s two stars – Kusabe Yoshiko (left, as Princess Turandot) and Nara Miyako (Prince Calaf) – bracketed at the bottom by a production patron’s advertisement for Club toothpaste.

Cities across the globe (Moscow, Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, etc.) are marked to show the reach of their reporting.

The map illustrates how the newspaper gathered and transmitted information worldwide through a modern communications network: telegraph, telephone, airplane, ship, railway, wireless photo transmission, and correspondents.

“Our company’s communication network extends widely across the world, stationing correspondents in major cities, and we take pride in being the fastest and most accurate news organization.”

““Domestic and International Communications Network” advertising postcard, Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, Tokyo, c. 1940. | Old Tokyo See also: Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun (Newspaper), Yurakucho, c. 1930. “How Newspapers Come to Be”, Tokyo Asashi Shimbun operations postcard series, c. 1935. The Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, founded in 18...

“Domestic and International Communications Network of Correspondents” advertising postcard, Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, Tokyo, c. 1940.

“They learn that their first duty is to be loyal to their Emperor and country, and to make themselves strong, brave, and manly, so that they can serve their Emperor all the better.”

– Boy Scouts Beyond the Seas, by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, K.C.B., 1913

“The Japanese are talking of forming some troops also, and I hope they will. But they already get some of the Scout training in their own schools and homes.

“Boy Scouts practising the motto ‘A good turn daily’”, c. 1920. (Colorized) | Old Tokyo "The Boy Scouts' movement in Japan dates from about 1913, when they were organized in different parts of the country, but they then were only juvenile cadet corps for military training or simply assoc...

“Boy Scouts practising the motto ‘A good turn daily'”, c. 1920. The Japanese caption (一日一善ノ實行) translates to ‘doing one good deed each day’.(Colorized)

Roseta hoter [sic], Tokyo, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo "Mr. M. Oshiro, the proprietor of the Oshiro Steamship Co., Tokyo, and some other business men, intend to purchase the Rosetta Maru and to convert her to a floating hotel. The ship will be anchored in...

“Mr. M. Oshiro, the proprietor of the Oshiro Steamship Co., Tokyo, and some other business men, intend to purchase the Rosetta Maru and to convert her to a floating hotel. The ship will be anchored in Yokohama and sometimes in Shinagawa.”

– The Japan Weekly Mail, January 26, 1907

Evening illuminations, Peace Commemorative Exposition, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 1922. | Old Tokyo See also: Peace Commemorative Exposition, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 1922. "Preparations for the Tokyo Peace Exposition which is to be held next spring in Uyeno Park are advancing apace. "A large force of offi...

“Festive lighting of the 2nd Section”, Peace Commemorative Exposition, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 1922, with the Peace Tower at center.

Through as series of expansions and mergers, the company was renamed Nankai (‘South Sea’) in 1897.

The original Osaka-Sakaikan route in 1884 was extended to Izumisano in 1897 and then onward to Wakayama in 1903.

50th Anniversary commemorative postcard, Nankai Railway Co., Osaka, 1934. | Old Tokyo The privately-owned and operated Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd. was founded on June 16, 1884 as the Osaka-Sakaikan Railway, the first railway company in Japan to be established purely by private ca...

50th Anniversary commemorative postcard, Nankai Railway Co., Osaka, 1934. The privately-owned and operated Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd. was founded on June 16, 1884 as the Osaka-Sakaikan Railway, the first railway company in Japan to be established purely by private capital.

Caption: “The secret is to use Fine Rubber. Not only does it increase your height, but it’s also neat and tidy, and completely invisible. Wherever you go, it’s popular and discreet.”

“Stand Tall”, Fine Rubber zori inserts advertising postcard, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, c. 1930. | Old Tokyo See also: Nippon Tabi Co. Ltd., Kurume, Fukuoka, c. 1930. “Pulling the sled”, c. 1950. Unknown woodblock artist. Zōri (Japanese sandal) wearers sometimes added "fine rubber" heel pads or lifts to enha...

“Stand Tall”, Fine Rubber zori inserts/lifts advertising postcard, c. 1930, a synthetic rubber product manufactured by the Small Goods Rubber Manufacturing Co., Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Endorsing the product on this postcard is Kawasaki Hiroko, a popular Shochiku motion pictures actress in the 1930s.

Enoshima Island at low tide, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo See also: “Whole View of Yenoshima” from Katase, c. 1910. Enoshima, c. 1910-1960. "Like Mont St. Michel in Normandy, and its namesake St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, Enoshima is only completely surro...

“Like Mont St. Michel in Normandy ... Enoshima is only completely surrounded by the waves at high tide.

“[W]hen the waters abate, a stretch of sand is revealed, rendering it possible to cross to the island dryshod.”

– “Enoshima”, The Japan Magazine, July 1912

“At the beginning, these excursions were educational trips involving overnight stays, and combined military-style marching, called kōgun [‘forlorn force’], with naturalistic observation. Subsequently, normal schools and middle schools nationwide adopted this type of school trip."

“Shūgaku ryokō [school excursions] were originally established by Tokyo Normal School, a national teacher training school, in the mid-Meiji period.

High school class excurision to the Miura peninsula in line outside Zushi Station, Zushi, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo See also: “The seashore of Zushi”, Miura Peninsula, near Tokyo, c. 1925. Hayama Beach, Kamakura, c. 1910. Kamakura Station, c. 1910. “All the staff and students of Kinjo Girls’ School”, Nagoya, c. 192...

A Tokyo high school’s class excursion outside Zushi Station, Zushi, c. 1910. Shūgaku ryokō [lit., “school excursion”] are educational overnight trips organized by schools to provide students with study, recreational and group labor opportunities they would otherwise never experience.

The R&D needed for the development of the 151-series trains – and the later 181-series – would be important toward the introduction of the Shinkansen (“Bullet Train”) in 1964 after which the “Kodama” name was transferred to the faster Shinkansen.

The electrically-powered “Kodama” express trains did just that — reduced the travel time between Tokyo and Osaka from 12 hours to just over 6 hours between the two cities, making it possible to make a round-trip in one day, hence the name ‘Kodama’ (‘echo’).