Thank you for this fascinating showcase! I happened to visit Nakanoshima just last year, wandering through Kosetsu Art Museum & staying at a hotel in the area. Maybe I should've taken a peek at Naniwabashi too.
I love the Asahi Shinbun headquarters building too! Kosetsu Museum has a (permanent?) exhibition about Maruyama Ryoichi, who founded the Asahi in Osaka. Apparently he was also an art collector & tea practitioner, who built his own tea room. If you haven't been yet, I can recommend it!
You mean Murayama Ryohei, right? There is an important but little known incident that took place with Maruyama at Nakanoshima during the Rice Riots of 1918. The Asahi had been very critical of the government and even suggested that the cabinet step down. Eventually the government banned an Asahi article about the riots.
On September 28, as Maruyama rode a rickshaw passed Hōkoku Shrine behind City Hall, he was attacked by seven members of the right-wing Imperial Youth Association (皇国青年会, Kōkoku Seinen Kai). They tied him to a stone lantern with a banner stating that the 'traitor' Murayama Ryuhei would be punished on behalf of heaven.
Immediately after this incident, Maruyama resigned his position as head of Asahi, and many leading figures in the news media were fired. From then on the Asahi became far less liberal than it used to be.
Yes, Murayama Ryouhei 村山龍平! (I was referencing my notes but somehow typed it out wrong...) And what a great story! Really makes me want to dive deeper into his biography, although there seems to be little info available on him even in Japanese.
I like stories like this one, that show how much more critical & independent newspapers were back in the day. That role has definitely moved on to the internet & social media now.
Indeed! I didn't search very hard, but I believe that even this incident may not be available online. I found it in a book. The more research I do, the more I hit the limits of the internet. For true in-depth research one still needs to tough real paper.
Unfortunately, that particular time period is very reminiscent of today…
You're so right though. It makes me want to start hitting the national/university libraries here, whatever I can access without actually being a student...
This was a chapter in the book 近代大阪の史跡探訪 by 大岡欽治 and 中瀬寿一, published in 1975 by ナンバー出版.
De title of the chapter is 米騒動と豊国神社. I really was looking for some interesting episodes related to the shrine. In the end I decided not to use this in the Nakanoshima series. The episode required too many unrelated explanations.
Libraries are our true treasures. I fear that too many people take them for granted. My work would be absolutely impossible without them.
Looking at the photo of the Osaka Medical College Hospital and the Okura Commercial School, there's a big square building to the left of the hospital. Is that the Daibiru ( ダイビル本館 ) ?
When we when to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art last year we walked through that building and looking back saw that it now seems to be a skyscraper which has kept the facade of an older building that was there before. Google maps ( https://maps.app.goo.gl/j8M5rH5MiSZHH7Lt8 ) has a nice collection of pictures of it
Amazing observational powers, Francis! Yes, that building is indeed the Daibiru. As this building still plays such a crucial role on Nakanoshima I should really include some photos of it in this article…
Fascinating how Japan updates buildings but often keeps the original facade, right! The same was done with the stock exchange.
I’ve always been interested in how cities change over time, so I’ve been enjoying this series since you started it! Always fascinating to compare side by side and see what has changed and what has remained, if anything.
Thank you for this fascinating showcase! I happened to visit Nakanoshima just last year, wandering through Kosetsu Art Museum & staying at a hotel in the area. Maybe I should've taken a peek at Naniwabashi too.
I love the Asahi Shinbun headquarters building too! Kosetsu Museum has a (permanent?) exhibition about Maruyama Ryoichi, who founded the Asahi in Osaka. Apparently he was also an art collector & tea practitioner, who built his own tea room. If you haven't been yet, I can recommend it!
Thank you for your kind words, Vanessa!
You mean Murayama Ryohei, right? There is an important but little known incident that took place with Maruyama at Nakanoshima during the Rice Riots of 1918. The Asahi had been very critical of the government and even suggested that the cabinet step down. Eventually the government banned an Asahi article about the riots.
On September 28, as Maruyama rode a rickshaw passed Hōkoku Shrine behind City Hall, he was attacked by seven members of the right-wing Imperial Youth Association (皇国青年会, Kōkoku Seinen Kai). They tied him to a stone lantern with a banner stating that the 'traitor' Murayama Ryuhei would be punished on behalf of heaven.
Immediately after this incident, Maruyama resigned his position as head of Asahi, and many leading figures in the news media were fired. From then on the Asahi became far less liberal than it used to be.
Yes, Murayama Ryouhei 村山龍平! (I was referencing my notes but somehow typed it out wrong...) And what a great story! Really makes me want to dive deeper into his biography, although there seems to be little info available on him even in Japanese.
I like stories like this one, that show how much more critical & independent newspapers were back in the day. That role has definitely moved on to the internet & social media now.
Indeed! I didn't search very hard, but I believe that even this incident may not be available online. I found it in a book. The more research I do, the more I hit the limits of the internet. For true in-depth research one still needs to tough real paper.
Unfortunately, that particular time period is very reminiscent of today…
May I ask which book it was, if you remember?
You're so right though. It makes me want to start hitting the national/university libraries here, whatever I can access without actually being a student...
This was a chapter in the book 近代大阪の史跡探訪 by 大岡欽治 and 中瀬寿一, published in 1975 by ナンバー出版.
De title of the chapter is 米騒動と豊国神社. I really was looking for some interesting episodes related to the shrine. In the end I decided not to use this in the Nakanoshima series. The episode required too many unrelated explanations.
Libraries are our true treasures. I fear that too many people take them for granted. My work would be absolutely impossible without them.
Looking at the photo of the Osaka Medical College Hospital and the Okura Commercial School, there's a big square building to the left of the hospital. Is that the Daibiru ( ダイビル本館 ) ?
When we when to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art last year we walked through that building and looking back saw that it now seems to be a skyscraper which has kept the facade of an older building that was there before. Google maps ( https://maps.app.goo.gl/j8M5rH5MiSZHH7Lt8 ) has a nice collection of pictures of it
Amazing observational powers, Francis! Yes, that building is indeed the Daibiru. As this building still plays such a crucial role on Nakanoshima I should really include some photos of it in this article…
Fascinating how Japan updates buildings but often keeps the original facade, right! The same was done with the stock exchange.
I’ve always been interested in how cities change over time, so I’ve been enjoying this series since you started it! Always fascinating to compare side by side and see what has changed and what has remained, if anything.
Thank you, James. I share your interest in how cities change over the ages!