Taisho “railway urbanism” and

urban popular culture

FC 84
Tokyo subways
Tokyo suburban railways
 Tokyo on the rails
First rail from Yokohama to Shimbashi –
1872
Rail extended to Tokyo Station– 1915
Completion of Yamanote loop – 1925

Network of trollies within Yamanote loop

First subway (Ginza Line) – 1927 (from
Asakusa to Ueno (about 2 miles);
extended to Ginza and Shibuya, 1939
 Tokyo on the rails
• Second wave of subway construction for
the 1964 Olympics

• Currently 13 subway lines

• JR commuter rail system (Yamanote line)
• Approximately 12 private suburban rail
lines
From Shojo to Moga
Ginbura
 Railroad urbanism
• Integration of commuter railways
• Department stores at terminals – urban
nodes
• Real estate developments along the rail
right of way – extremely dense housing
• Amusement parks, sports teams, other
attractions at the distant end of the rail
lines
 Takarazuka
Takarazuka and the development of
“railroad urbanism”

Hankyu railroad, private RR in Osaka area

Built Takarazuka amusement park at one

end of line, developed department stores
at other end
Takarazuka
 Takarazuka
Famous theatrical/muscial troupe or revue

Somewhat like the Rockefeller Center

Rockettes – dance, music, glamour

All-female revue – conceived of as “female

Kabuki” (Kabuki only has male actors)
Takarazuka
Takarazuka
New Takarazuka
theater
in central Tokyo
 Takarazuka
Fantastically popular popular culture since
the 1920s
Many adoring female fans

An example of Osaka-based popular culture

becoming national

(1920s prosperity of Osaka, destruction of

Tokyo)
 Takarazuka
Appealed to the growth of (invention of) the
shojo (the maiden) as a cultural/social
fixture

Related to the elongation of adolescence

and pre-adult status as a result of
industrial modernity, education system,
nuclear family system
Takarazuka
Tokyo rail/subway system
 Railroad urbanism
Fundamentally shaped the character of
urban experience in Osaka and Tokyo
from the 1920s to the present-day

Tokyo – Tokyu line, Keio line, Odakyu line,

Seibu line, Tobu line, each “controlling”
development in particular sectors of Tokyo
suburbs
 Railroad urbanism
The creation of the “ekimae” – the station
plaza
At first sites of civic grandeur

By 1920s, taking on character of sakariba –

entertainment districts (in Edo, these were
at bridges and along canals; Tokyo,
around stations)
Shimbashi, 1906
Tokyo Station, ca. 1915
 Shinjuku
• the archetypical “new urban center” of the
1920s
• commuting terminal for western suburbs
• “modern popular culture”
• department stores, bars, clubs, music
halls
• salarymen and flappers
Moga (“modern girl”)