The Japanese-built public broadcasting tower in Taichu Park, Taiwan.
Before the advent of precise clocks and wage labour, people had a very different sense of time. Time was measured loosely by the celestial cycles, rather than precisely by the second. When Japan modernized, it also needed to indoctrinate its people into measuring time by the very minute. It worked very well, and even today Japan is known for being a very punctual country (unlike, I should comment, Hawaii!) Anyway, the scholar Hara Takeshi analyses how the Japanese government promoted precise time measurement across the empire and I found it quite interesting. This piece is probably too academic to be of much interest to the average person, but I am posting it here anyways.
Introduction
This work, “Kashika sareta Tekoku” (Visualizing the Empire) has mostly been concerned with “Rule by sight” (視覚的支配), focusing on the visits of the Emperors to the rural provinces. Being able to see the Emperor in person, especially after the change from Taisho to Showa emperor was an important form of governance. From 1937 when the Sino-Japanese war started, big army exercises and the emperor’s visits to the periphery were stopped, so a different kind of rule was needed. It is true that even during this wartime period the emperor and the imperial family often appeared before citizen representatives in Tokyo more than ever, but this was limited in space. So a different kind of governance, which I call “rule by time” (時間支配) began to be often used.
Rule by time occurred on national holidays and memorial days across the entire Japanese sphere including Manchuria, and consisted of everyone for a single moment organized by a radio announcement or a siren, doing yohai, having a moment of silence, or shouting banzai in the direction of the Tokyo palace, Yasukuni Jinja, Ise Jinguu etc. In Manchuria it was often directed toward the Manchurian palace, or the Kenkoku Chuureibyou. Rule by time occurred during the Emperor’s rural visits by train since the Meiji period, and during the great rites of the of the Taisho and Showa period, but it was only with Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro that it included the colonies and Manchuria and was used in place of rule by sight. In the case of saying “banzai”, the object is usually the emperor etc. and in the case of yohai you face to wear that is such as the Kashikodokoro in the palace or Yasukuni Jinja etc. But with rule by time, it is the timing rather than the geographical direction which is especially important.
Since there really isn’t any research on rule by time yet save 成田龍一 touching on it in Korea, this appendix will look at rule by time first in the Japanese empire, and then in Manchuria. It will then discuss how people reacted to rule by time and finally reexamine the Jeweled Recording.
1. The Gap of 1937
The first instance of rule by time in modern Japan was in November 1915 for the Taisho emperor’s Great Rite, the “Shikishi-den no gi”. At 3:30pm 10 November on Standard Western [Japanese] time, everyone including Taiwan cried Banzai three times along with the Prime Minister. In 1928, the same thing happened for the Showa emperor’s Great Rite. In 1933 on the crown prince’s birthday (Akihito), at 11:15am 29 December, a siren rang in 19 places in Tokyo and everyone did banzai.
However, these were not as important as the rule by sight practices. As discussed previously in the book, there was a shift from imperial trips to the distant colonies to closer more important cities due to the lack of a crown prince in the Showa period. [Akihito was born in 1933.] So chances for having a space for “君民一体” increased, but also got closer to the centre.
By the way, with the start of the Sino-Japanese war in July 1937, the Army Exercises which allowed the emperor to visit the periphery every October or November were halted, meaning chances for rule by sight further decreased. It was only at a few places like the Army school and Tama tumulus. Also his Tokyo appearances also underwent a big change. Here is political scholar 坂本孝治郎 on it:
The emperor’s public appearances, both secular and military such as the Cherry Blossom Viewing and Military Memorial Day events stopped in 1937.
So the emperor stopped having Military Memorial events, but started visiting Yasukuni at the equinoxes, which shows the change from prewar to wartime periods. On 1 October 1937, different time zones were abolished and the home islands, the colonies, and Manchuria all ran on Central [Japanese] time. This came include the entire Japanese Co-prosperity Sphere.
Radios were important for this rule by time. Seven broadcasting stations were built in Japan from Hokkaido to Kumamoto and also in the colonies and Manchuria. People were really buying radios, with 3.24 million having a radio contract by September 1937. In the same month, Prime Minister Konoe started the 国民精神総動員運動 to mobilize people for the war effort invoking the Kokutai. As a part of this movement, “timeliness” was promoted as a virtue and radio media and siren use really increased. [This brings to mind the use of the Sapporo Clock Tower.]
On Meiji-setsu 3 November 1937 was the first rule by time that was national in scope and unrelated to the imperial Great Rites. Let’s quote the Tokyo Mainichi Shinbun on 24 October 1937:
The Ministries of Home Affairs and Culture as a part of the 国民精神総動員 plan, has decided on a “国民奉祝の時間”. At celebrations, at work, at school, and at home, all citizens should do a 宮城遙拝 at 9am. Factories will blow their whistles or sirens and temples will rings their bells to have a “奉祝の時間”.
So while celebrations on the Meji-setsu holiday had always been held, but for the first time palace yohai occurred. Different from the Great Rite time, this did not include shouting banzai. In Korea on 30 October in the government newsletter was this announcement:
At 9am there will be a “Kokumin Houshuku no Jikan” and everyone will do a palace yohai at the same time, with the radio, whistles, sirens, or bronze bells giving the signal.
This Korean newsletter was probably only seen by officials, but in Tokyo it was quite a site: “This year all the sirens, whistles, temple bells rang, the buses and streetcars stopped, and everyone stopped in their path to have a moment of silence for the imperial virtue and military power at schools, workshops etc. and to do yohai towards Meiji Jingu and the palace.” (Yomiuri Shinbun 1937 Nov. 4 evening edition)
On that day, the emperor had a rite at palace sanctuaries that started at 10am. According to the newspaper, at 9am even the emperor stopped for a moment of silence and yohai to the kashikodokoro. So different from rule by sight, there was no “ruler”, but it was the imperial treasures that were at the focus. I want to talk about this more later.
After this Meiji-setsu in 1937, rule by time became more important and included the colonies and Manchuria, even if rule by sight was still carried out a little in Tokyo.
(To be Continued…)
天地間に 