Citizen life and popular culture from the Taisho era to the early Showa era

The characteristics from the Taisho era to the early Showa era are popular culture . Was established and developed.

In 1907, compulsory education became widespread and the school enrollment rate exceeded 97%, making most people readable. As a result, civil culture prospered, and after World War I, it became popular at once, and popular culture developed.

Urbanization of Japan and changes in people's lives

In Japan, with the progress of urbanization and industrialization after World War I, mainly in urban areas such as Tokyo and Osaka, highly educated =[intelligent] Has increased rapidly, and most of them work in clerical workplaces salary workers =[salarymen] have become.

Women also began to work as typists and telephone operators, making them [ professional women . ] Will be called.

In urban areas where the number of office workers has increased rapidly, the lifestyle of the people is westernized / modernized . However, many men will wear clothes. In downtown areas such as Ginza and Shinsaibashi, women also have modern girls [moga] with haircuts, skirts, and bowler hats. And Modern Boy [Mobo] Was walking. * The above female photos are the moga at that time.

The eating habits have become westernized, and pork cutlet and curry rice Etc. will be common.

Marunouchi Building in the city center Reinforced concrete offices such as these were built one after another, and the water and gas supply business began in earnest, and the cityscape changed drastically.

The number of office workers who commute to the city center by train from the suburbs is increasing, and along the railway lines in the suburbs, as a housing for the middle class [ cultural housing ] Was built.

The house shown in the photo on the right is called a cultural house, which is a Japanese-Western style house with a Western-style room and a glass door, and many red tiled roofs.

The year after the Great Kanto Earthquake, wooden houses and 4- to 5-story apartments were actively constructed in Tokyo and Yokohama.

The development of transportation is remarkable in urban areas, streetcars, buses, and yen taxis . [ 1-yen uniform taxi ] Has appeared, and subways have opened in Tokyo and Osaka. The railway network has also developed, and in the early Taisho era, electric trains began to run in urban areas.

With the development of the railway network, terminal department stores near the station were born along the railway line and near the station, and we were focusing on selling daily necessities such as fresh food. While many department stores originate from kimono stores such as Mitsukoshi, the terminal department stores are [ Minoh Arima Electric Railway =Hanshin Express Railway . ] Was run by private railways.

The company has residential land development along the line to increase passengers. Also done, amusement parks and hot springs Construction, and Takarazuka Revue We also operated entertainment facilities such as, and opened a terminal department store in Umeda.

On the other hand, although lamps have become widespread in ordinary households in rural areas, there are cultural disparities compared to urban areas. Although personal consumption spending has increased, the standard of living of workers in general farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises is low, and the gap with workers in large enterprises is widening. [ Dual structure ] Was called.

Development of popular culture

As I wrote at the beginning of the article, 1907 By that time, the school enrollment rate of elementary school was [ 97% ], Most of the people can learn the basics of social life and can read and write. 1920 In the teens, the number of students attending junior high school increased, and the number of junior high school students, which was 170,000, was 1930 . Has increased to more than 340,000.

1918 Hara Takashi Cabinet High School Ordinance and University Ordinance Was established, high schools and imperial universities were added, and colleges, public and private universities were born one after another. As a result, college students also 1918 From 9000 people 1930 Has increased eight-fold to more than 70,000.

As the number of schools increased, the circulation of newspapers also increased, and at the end of the Taisho era, Asahi / Mainichi / Nihon Shimbun in Osaka and Tokyo. Some newspaper companies have published more than 1 million copies. Also, a popular entertainment magazine focusing on people's interests. The number of copies has also increased.

With the popularity of magazines, weekly magazines such as Weekly Asahi were born, and [ Shufu no Tomo for women ] And economic magazines [ Weekly Diamond ] And various magazines have been launched.

Entering the Showa era, a yen book [ 1 yen per book ] And Iwanami Bunko Has emerged, and low-priced literary collections are now available to the general public, popular print culture Has blossomed.

Also, radio and movies / records With the birth of the new media, the general public became interested in their lives, working conditions, politics, etc., and human rights awareness . Is higher than ever.

Development of radio broadcasting and movies

Radio broadcasting is 1925 (Taisho 14) It started in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, and the following year, these broadcasting stations were integrated into Japan Broadcasting Corporation [NHK] . Was established. Popular programs were radio plays and live sports. In this year, Tokyo Big6 Baseball Has begun, high school baseball Since it started in the previous year, the baseball fever was rising among the people.

At the beginning of the station, there were 360,000 radio broadcast subscribers, but 1931 Manchurian Incident Later, people who were concerned about the safety of troops increased their needs for regular radio news, and the number of contracts increased to more than 1 million.

With the increase in subscribers in a short period of time, the broadcasting network has expanded nationwide.

It is still a popular movie for the entertainment of the common people, but in the Taisho era, it means a moving photograph [ activity photograph . ] Was called.

At first, there is no sound [ silent movie ] So, in the movie theater, Benshi A person called was explaining. People at that time were looking at the screen while listening to the story of this benshi. 1930 When it comes to voiced movies The screening started, and people said [ talkie ] Was called.

Academics and art from the Taisho era to the early Showa era

Due to the trend of Taisho democracy, various advanced ideas and literature were introduced from Western countries, and original research became active in the field of natural science.

Toyo Keizai's [ Tanzan Ishibashi ], Advocated the abandonment of colonies such as Korea and Manchuria and peaceful economic development [ Little Japanism ] And Marxism * Studying economics 1917 (Taisho 6) To [ Poverty Story ] Was published, with many readers at the core [ Hajime Kawakami ] Etc. play an active part.

* Marxism is the idea of ​​aiming for a classless cooperative society by eliminating the nature of wage labor in which workers live only to increase capital by converting capital into a common property of society.

This Marxism also influenced academic research, and in the early Showa period, there was a debate among scholars over how to understand the character of Japanese society since the Meiji Restoration. strong> ] Is called.

Breakthroughs in the natural sciences and technology fields

Continuing from the Meiji era, there are many technologies that have achieved excellent results and are still in use today.

Due to the suspension of imports of chemical dyes and chemicals from Europe and other countries during the First World War, research unique to Japan began. 1917 (Taisho 6) RIKEN so that you can study physics and chemistry that can compete with Europe and the United States. Was established.

Kitasato Institute, Tokyo Imperial University Aeronautical Institute and Earthquake Research Institute Etc. were also established around this time.

In addition, the aircraft was put into practical use and used in World War I.

His main achievements are Eiji Yagi on the roof of a house as shown in the photo on the left. Invented Yagi-type antenna ..

Magnet Steel due to the influence of World War I Kotaro Honda to make it domestically because it cannot be imported. Is the result of iron magnetism research KS magnet steel I made.

Yellow fever research Hideyo Noguchi Is famous because it appears in elementary school history classes.

Literary field where naturalism has declined

1910 in Japan From the perspective of the natural sciences, the naturalistic literature that tried to objectively elucidate human behavior and life declined, and many new ideological literatures were born. A famous writer who also appears in Japanese language classes was born, Ogai Mori and Soseki Natsume Many people were active, including.

Shirakabaha

Magazine [ Shirakaba ] As a base, with a style aimed at personal growth and establishment of ego, Mushanokoji Saneatsu, Shiga Naoya, Arishima Takeo Etc. are famous.

Shinshicho school

Kaoru Osanai Is 1907 Launched in [ Shinshicho ] Was republished and used as a base, aiming for a new realism that reviews reality from a new perspective. As a writer, Natsume Soseki Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Kan Kikuchi, Yuzo Yamamoto, etc. Was active.

Aestheticism

With a style that explores sensual and enjoyable beauty, Kafu Nagai and Junichiro Tanizaki There is.

Popular literature

Popular literary writers were the ones who had gained a lot of readers in popular novels centered on newspapers and magazines, Kaizan Nakazato, Eiji Yoshikawa, and Ranpo Edogawa . Detective stories and the like were very popular.

Shinkankakuha

1924 (Taisho 13) First published in [ Bungei Jidai ] Based on Riichi Yokomitsu and Yasunari Kawabata Was famous, and aimed at revolutionizing the form and style of literature and renewing the senses.