Oshi-Katsu Chronicle: The 1920s — Radio Arrives, Stars and Hit Songs Go Nationwide, Koshien Stadium Opens

In the 1920s, radio broadcasting began in Tokyo, and in Takarazuka a stage show that strings songs and dances together, the “revue,” drew crowds. Magazines and photographs of movie stars went on sale too.

The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake heavily damaged theaters and cinemas in Tokyo and Yokohama. As the cities rebuilt, broadcasting, publishing and records spread. (Tokyo Metropolitan Government: Great Kanto Earthquake, in Japanese)

Your oshiA stage or screen star

• RadioTokyo trial broadcasts began in 1925
• RecordsSongs like Tokyo March sold 250,000+
• MagazinesKing, single-star titles, Kageki
• Star photosPromides from Marubell-do
• StadiumsKoshien and Jingu for student baseball
• DancingJazz at the dance halls

Live venues stayed, but broadcasting, printing and recording added new points of contact.

Takarazuka’s Mon Paris, and Girls’ Opera Spreads East and West

In September 1927, the Takarazuka Girls’ Opera premiered Waga Pari yo, better known as Mon Paris. “Revue” here is not the English word for a critique of a work. It means a glittering stage show that combines song, dance and drama. This production is considered Japan’s first revue, and it ran 16 scenes in a row without lowering the curtain. (Takarazuka Revue’s introduction to Mon Paris, in Japanese)

In 1924, Takarazuka completed a Grand Theater seating 4,000, and the next year three troupes, Flower, Moon and Snow, were taking turns performing. As revues grew popular, the audience of women, including schoolgirls, grew with them. (History of the Takarazuka Revue, in Japanese; Chiaki Watanabe, Ritsumeikan Bungaku no. 690, in Japanese)

TakarazukaPremieres Mon Paris

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Tokyo, KabukizaAfter the Takarazuka run, performs in Tokyo too

Osaka, Shochiku Gakugeki-buFounded in 1922

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Tokyo, Asakusa Shochiku-zaStages "Niji no Odori" (Rainbow Dance) in 1928

In 1928, the Tokyo Shochiku Gakugeki-bu was also launched.

Asakusa Opera’s Fans, the “Peragoro,” Call Out Names From the Audience

Asakusa Opera, popular from 1917, had devoted fans called peragoro. When Morino Sawa or Sumiko Kawai took the stage, voices called out their names from the audience, reportedly so loudly that the lines couldn’t be heard. (Asakusa Opera, in Japanese)

It’s the same impulse as the call at live shows today: an audience cheering out loud. That said, it can’t be claimed that today’s calls were directly inherited from Asakusa Opera.

After the Great Kanto Earthquake damaged the theaters, Asakusa Opera declined, and in 1925 its productions came to an end.

1. 011917Asakusa Opera gains popularity
2. 02Names called outMorino! Sumiko! from the audience
3. 031923The earthquake damages the theaters
4. 041925Its productions come to an end

Even a beloved stage cannot go on once its venue is gone.

Record Companies Expand in Japan, and “Tokyo March” Becomes a Hit

In 1924, imported phonographs and records became subject to a tariff equal to their import price. Foreign record companies stepped up investment in and partnerships with Japan, and a new technology for recording with a microphone was introduced. (Izumi Okubo, Japan Business History Review vol. 49, no. 4, in Japanese)

Nippon Victor was established in 1927, and Nippon Columbia Phonograph followed the next year. (National Diet Library: Nippon Victor, in Japanese; same: Nippon Columbia, in Japanese)

“Tokyo March,” sung by Chiyako Sato, was released in May 1929 and sold more than 250,000 copies. A film of the same name opened about a month later. (“Tokyo March”, in Japanese)

While new popular songs were the talk of the town, record companies were also recording older storytelling arts such as naniwabushi, dramatic ballad-storytelling. It wasn’t only hit songs that people listened to on record.

Tokyo Radio Begins, With Over 120,000 Subscribers by Year’s End

On March 22, 1925, the Tokyo Broadcasting Station began provisional broadcasts. It had 5,455 listener subscribers at the start, and by the end of November that year the number passed 120,000. In 1926, the stations in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya were merged and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) was born. (Japan Radio Museum, in Japanese; Explainer on NHK’s history, in Japanese)

5,455

Listener subscribers at the start, March 1925

120,000+

Subscribers by the end of November 1925

In 1926 the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stations merged into NHK.

Source: Japan Radio Museum (in Japanese)

On radio, people in different places could listen to the same program at the scheduled time. Programs that began in this decade include the following.

The Mass-Market Magazine King, and Fan Magazines About a Single Star

King, launched in 1925, was a mass-market entertainment magazine carrying fiction and features. It cost 50 sen, and its New Year issue in 1927 (Showa 2) reached a circulation of one million copies. That is the number of copies printed, not the number of readers. (Printing Museum, Tokyo, in Japanese; Kodansha’s records, in Japanese)

For a broad readershipThe mass-market magazine King

A magazine gathering all kinds of reading, including fiction, in one volume.

For fans of one starWarera no Bantsuma ("Our Bantsuma")

Launched in 1926. A magazine about the movie star Tsumasaburo Bando. "Bantsuma" is a nickname for Tsumasaburo.

For Takarazuka fansKageki ("Opera")

A house magazine for reading about performances and performers. It became monthly in 1921 and had a letters column where readers sent in their opinions.

There were other single-star magazines too, such as Katsumi and Tsukigata Jidai. (National Film Archive of Japan, in Japanese; History of the Takarazuka Revue, in Japanese)

Fans Collect Star Photos, and a Theory About the Origin of “Miiha”

Marubell-do, which opened in Asakusa in 1921, sold star photos as “promides” (bromides). (Marubell-do, in Japanese)

One popular actor of the time was Chojiro Hayashi. This movie star, who later took the name Kazuo Hasegawa, also appears in a theory about where the word miiha comes from.

The theory goes like this: miiha combines the “mi” of mitsumame (a popular sweet of the day) with the “ha” of “Hayashi Chojiro,” and it referred to young women crazy about sweets and movie stars. Another theory holds that it is short for “Mii-chan, Haa-chan,” so the origin isn’t settled. (“Miiha” etymology, Fujin Koron.jp, in Japanese)

Baseball’s Popularity Brings Big Stadiums to Koshien and Jingu

Crowds for student baseball grew until existing grounds couldn’t hold them. In the Kansai region and in Tokyo, construction of large stadiums moved ahead.

1. 1924

   Hanshin Koshien Stadium opens

   Opened on August 1. Total capacity was 80,000, with 50,000 actual seats. "Koshien" comes from that year's sexagenary-cycle sign, kinoe-ne.

   Nippon Professional Baseball (in Japanese) / Japan High School Baseball Federation (in Japanese)
2. 1926

   Meiji Jingu Stadium is completed

   Completed in October and used for Tokyo Big6 baseball league games. It became a venue that welcomed many student-baseball fans.

   Nippon Professional Baseball (in Japanese)

Ginza’s Moga and Mobo, and Young People Dancing to Jazz

In post-earthquake Tokyo, young people who enjoyed Western clothes and new hairstyles were called “modern girls” and “modern boys,” shortened to moga and mobo. The words don’t mean fans of a particular entertainer; they name the new styles and ways of living of the time.

Such styles were sometimes criticized in society at the time. Meanwhile, dancing to jazz at dance halls spread, and entertainment you took part in by dancing yourself became popular among young people. (Explainer on the modern girl, in Japanese; Kansai University: introduction to jazz research, in Japanese)

1. 1924Koshien and TakarazukaKoshien Stadium and the 4,000-seat Grand Theater
2. 1925Radio beginsTrial broadcasts start March 22
3. 1926NHK is bornJingu Stadium is completed in October
4. 1927Mon ParisNippon Victor is established
5. 1928Radio calisthenicsNippon Columbia Phonograph follows
6. 1929Tokyo MarchReleased in May, 250,000+ sold

One decade added broadcasts, recordings, magazines and stadiums to the fan's world.

Key Events of the Decade

1. Apr. 1922Shochiku Gakugeki-bu is founded as a girls' revue to rival TakarazukaStage
2. Sept. 1923The Great Kanto Earthquake destroys the entertainment districts of Tokyo and YokohamaMedia
3. Aug. 1924Hanshin Koshien Stadium opens, with a total capacity of 80,000Sports
4. Jan. 1925Kodansha launches the mass-entertainment magazine KingMedia
5. Mar. 1925Tokyo Broadcasting Station (JOAK) begins trial radio broadcastsMedia
6. 1925Bando Tsumasaburo Productions is established in Uzumasa, KyotoFilm
7. Oct. 1926Meiji Jingu Stadium is completed and first used for the Big Six university leagueSports
8. Apr. 1927King passes a circulation of 1 million copiesMedia
9. Sept. 1927Takarazuka premieres "Mon Paris," Japan's first revueStage
10. Jan. 1928Chiyoko Sato's "Habu no Minato" is released by VictorMusic
11. Aug. 1928Shochiku Gakugeki-bu stages "Niji no Odori" in Asakusa, moving into TokyoStage
12. Nov. 1928Radio calisthenics begins broadcasting on Tokyo Central Broadcasting StationMedia
13. May 1929"Tokyo Koshinkyoku" is released and sells more than 250,000 recordsMusic

Words of the Era

Moga/Mobo (modern girl/modern boy)

Short for "modern girl" and "modern boy." It referred to young people in Western dress and bobbed hair who appeared in post-earthquake Tokyo

Nihon-ichi omoshiroi, Nihon-ichi tame ni naru ("Japan's most fun, Japan's most useful")

The sales pitch of the magazine King, which became the classic slogan of mass-entertainment magazines

Koshien (named for the year of the kinoe-ne)

Originally the name of 1924's year in the sexagenary (60-year) cycle, kinoe-ne (koshi). With the stadium's opening, it came to stand for baseball itself

Denki fukikomi (electrical recording)

A recording method introduced from Europe and America around 1927. It fundamentally changed how songs reached listeners

In the chart, danpatsu means what we’d call a short haircut today. Denki fukikomi refers to the method of recording voices and performances with a microphone.

In the next installment, Oshi-Katsu Chronicle: The 1930s, movies gain actors’ voices and fan clubs for male-role stars grow large.