Creating a Public: People and Press in Meiji Japan

584 Pages·1997·16.806 MB·English

by  James L. Huffman

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CREATING A PUBLIC
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CREATING A PUBLIC
People and Press in Meiji Japan
James L. Huffman
University of Hawai‘i Press
Honolulu
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© 1997 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
02 01 00 99 98 97 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Huffman, James L., 1941–
Creating a public : people and press in Meiji Japan / James L.
Huffman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–8248–1882–2 (alk. paper)
1. Press—Japan—History—19th century. 2. Press and politics—
Japan—History—19th century. 3. Journalism—Social aspects—
Japan—History—19th century. 4. Japan—History—Meiji period,
1868–1912. I. Title.
PN5404.H78 1997
079'.52'0934—dc21 96–48431
079'.52'0934—dc21 96–4CIP1
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper
and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Council on Library Resources.
Book design by Nina Lisowski
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To Judith Huffman,
Whose work this was as much as mine
and to Robert and June Huffman,
Who showed me first the joy of exploring
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Contents
acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 The Legacy: In Spite of the Authorities 12
2 Coming into Being, 1868 36
3 Serving the Government, 1868 to 1874 46
4 Finding Its Own Voice, 1874 to 1881 68
5 Serving the Political Parties, 1881 to 1886 111
6 Developing a New Persona, 1886 to 1894 150
7 Reporting a War, 1894 to 1895 199
8 Building a Mass Base, 1895 to 1903 224
9 Covering a Bigger War, 1903 to 1905 271
10 Leading a Public, 1905 to 1912 310
11 Conclusion 359
appendixes
1. A Chronology of Tokyo and Osaka Papers 381
2. Circulation of Major Papers 386
3. Selected Subscription Rates 388
4. Number of Registered Newspapers and Magazines 389
5. Newspapers and the Law 391
6. Fifty Journalists: Biographical Sketches 393
notes 403
bibliography 511
index 545
vii
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Acknowledgments
I am a debtor. This study has been under way for two decades, and
with each passing week I have become more and more aware of the
crucial role played by those friends and colleagues who have plowed
the furrows before (and sometimes beside) me, lightened my re-
search load, prodded me to keep going, and provided unending sus-
tenance. I must say a public thank you.
One important group consists of scholars of Japanese jour-
nalism, many of whom know Meiji press history far better than I.
It would be impossible to express adequate thanks to Uchikawa
Yoshimi, whose friendship and advice have cheered me even while
keeping the study from wandering too far astray. I also am thankful
to Yamamoto Taketoshi, Ariyama Teruo, and their colleagues (in-
cluding Giles Richter) in the Medeia Shi Kenkyûkai, to Nagai Michio
whose conversations so often raised fresh ideas or opened new doors,
as well as to Koito Chûgo, Arase Yutaka, Kato Hidetoshi, Roger
Purdy, and Gregory Ornatowski.
I also owe much to a number of scholar-friends outside the
field of press history whose advice about matters large and small
helped me in this study: the late Jackson Bailey, my mentor Roger
Hackett, Asahi Shimbun executive Kobayashi Masayuki, John
Dower, Sidney Devere Brown, Yamaji Hiroki, Kobayashi Toshio. I
am especially in debt to several who agreed to read all or parts of
the manuscript, dear friends whose suggestions I sometimes was
too stubborn to take but who gave wonderful advice and saved me
ix
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x Acknowledgments
from considerable embarrassment: Mikiso Hane, Sally Hastings,
Jane Bachnik, Barbara Sato, Fred Notehelfer and another anony-
mous reader at the University of Hawai‘i Press—as well as to Sally
Serafim and Susan Stone, whose editing of the final manuscript was
not only meticulous but gentle. To the editor, Patricia Crosby, a
special word is needed: more competence or graciousness I cannot
imagine.
I also want to thank a number of colleagues and research assis-
tants who have helped me find details, summarize materials, keep
things organized, and maintain my sanity. I think of Kathy Schulz
and Gina Entorf in the Wittenberg Library, Kitane Yutaka and Fujii
Sachiko at the Meiji Shimbun Zasshi Bunko, Kimura Hiroshi at the
University of Tokyo’s Shakai Jòhò Kenkyûjo library, two marvelous
secretaries, Margaret DeButy and Rosemarie Burley, and former stu-
dent assistants Kaoru Abbey, Doug Buchanan, David Hewitt, Jeremy
Hunter, Hideyuki Kikuchi, Kathryn Mensendiek, Michael Molasky,
Josh Pifer, Tracy Pollard, Madoka Yamakawa-Ermarth, and Miho
Yasukawa. And I must express my appreciation for undeservedly
generous financial support to the Fulbright-Hays Commission (and
Caroline Yang), to the Japan Foundation (and Murayama Atsushi),
to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a summer travel
grant, the American Philosophical Society and to Wittenberg’s own
Faculty Research Fund Board for help at key points along the way. I
also am deeply thankful to the University of Tokyo’s Shakai Jòhò
Kenkyûjo and the National Institute for Multimedia Education in
Chiba for providing a research home during two extended stays in
Japan.
Finally, I must say a personal word to a particular group of
friends whose fields range far from mine but whose ideas and values
inform every page of this study: Eugene Swanger, Stanley Mickel,
Fumiko Togasaki, and the other members of Wittenberg’s East Asian
studies program; Warren Copeland in the religion department;
Charles Chatfield, Joe O’Connor, Bob Cutler, and all of my stimu-
lating colleagues in the history department—and so many others I
wish I could name. And then there are the members of my family:
Jim, Kristen, and Dave, whose ideas and energy constantly push me
in new directions, and my late wife, Judith, a partner and confidante
beyond peer, who read every word of this study, kept me going
when I might have quit, provided many of my freshest ideas, and
was consumed by a passion not only for life but for helping peoples
of the world understand each other.