1954-1964-2024
Japan and I, now and then
Dear readers, this year is almost over and it’s time to look back and see what I’ve done.
I posted 29 stories (this one is #30) or 2.5 per month, which is more than I thought I would manage, considering all the other things I do.
Not much travel, apart from a trip to Kochi and one to Shodoshima, but a lot of urban exploration that hopefully will become the core of Tokyo Calling’s 2025 campaign.
Lots of good reading, both on paper and online. On Substack, apart from the usual suspects (i.e. the Japan-related newsletters; have a look at my recommendations for details), a couple of substacks I’ve enjoyed tremendously are Suburban Notebook and English Republic of Letters.
Suburban Notebook is “a collection of poems about everyday life and how we navigate the frustrations and desires that underpin it.” With, I might add, many references to pop culture. If you like poetry - and even if, like me, you are more of a prose person - you should check it out.
What I like about English Republic of Letters, apart from Jeffrey’s erudition and his wide-ranging take on art and literature (including several essays on Japan), is the way he often mixes history and his story, i.e. the way he inserts thoughts on his life and circumstances in relation to the subjects he writes about.
This made me think about my own life and circumstances. Like the recurrence of the number 4.
For example, while I was writing the essay on Godzilla’s 70th anniversary, I remembered that in 1954, when the original Godzilla film was released, my parents got married. At the time, my father was already 30. He was a policeman - a member of one of the many Italian police corps… too complicated to explain here - and in those times, agents could not marry before the age of 30.
I was born ten years later, in 1964, the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac.
1964, of course, was also the year of the first Tokyo Summer Olympics, which I mentioned en passant in both a piece about James Bond and another one on the Beatles in Japan.
I don’t really believe in fate or destiny, but I’ve always found it interesting that I was born in the year of the Tokyo Olympics, like it was a sort of omen of how my life would unfold.
Anyway, I decided to have a closer look at the year 1964 and dug up some interesting information.
01/03 Serial killer Nishiguchi Akira was arrested after a three-month manhunt. He would later become the subject of Imamura Shohei’s film Vengeance Is Mine.
02/01 The Beatles' "Dakishimetai" (that’s the Japanese title of “I Want to Hold Your Hand)”) reaches number one on the US hit charts.
02/26 Three White Russians arrested in industrial espionage case involving Dai Nippon Printing.
02/27 Fuji Aircraft crash lands at Oita Airport, 20 people killed.
03/18 Hayakawa Electric (now Sharp) and Sony each release electronic desktop calculators.
03/24 Edwin Reischauer, the US ambassador to Japan and author of many interesting books on this country, is stabbed and injured by a mentally disturbed boy.
04/01 Overseas travel, which had previously been limited to government-related, business, and study abroad travel, is liberalized. For many years, however, few took advantage of this opportunity: it was just too damned expensive.
04/05 A US military plane crashes in a shopping district in Machida, Tokyo, killing four residents.
04/28 Japan officially joins the OECD.
04/28 Heibon Punch, an influential weekly magazine, is launched.
06/07 Gangs engage in a shootout in broad daylight in Matsuyama.
06/11 A tank explodes at Showa Denko's Kawasaki factory, killing 18 people.
06/16 Niigata earthquake kills 26.
06/23 After an eight-year protest campaign against the project, Hachinosu Castle on the Tsue River in Kumamoto Prefecture is forcibly demolished to make way for a dam (Japanese-language link).
07/14 Takaragumi Chemicals warehouse in Shinagawa, Tokyo explodes, killing 19 firefighters.
07/18 Heavy rains hit the Sanyo region, leaving 128 dead or missing.
08/28 The government announces that it will accept a US nuclear submarine's port call.
09/08 A US military plane crashes in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, killing four.
09/14 Chlorine gas leaks from a chemical factory in Toyama. 531 residents and others are poisoned.
09/23 Rally (70,000 people) against US nuclear submarine port call in Yokosuka. Another rally (10,000 participants) in Sasebo.
10/01 The Tokaido Shinkansen opens.
10/10 The 18th Olympic Games are held in Tokyo. 5,541 athletes from 94 countries participate.
11/12 The US nuclear submarine Sea Dragon arrives at Sasebo port. On the 13th, a protest demonstration is held on-site.
11/17 Sony releases home video tape recorders.
Social Trends
Miyuki-zoku (Miyuki Tribe) appear (and quickly disappear) in Ginza. These young people were named after the area around Miyuki Street in Ginza, Tokyo, where they used to hang out, and were famous for introducing the Ivy League style (button-down oxford cloth shirts, madras plaid, high-water trousers in khaki and white, penny loafers, and three-button suit jackets) to Japan.
Sleeveless tops and knitwear become popular
The Tokyo Monorail opens between Haneda Airport and Hamamatsucho Station.
Kodak releases the Kodak Instamatic Camera
Ozeki Brewery releases One Cup Ozeki, a popularly cheap brand of sake
Judging from those news items, Japan in 1964 seemed a much more violent place, with killings, stabbings and gang wars.
There were also three serious industrial accidents. Those were the years when everything was sacrificed in the name of rapid economic growth as Japan was catching up and even surpassing most Western countries. Workplace safety, pollution, etc. were simply non-issues, at least for the government and the companies.
There were also three plane crashes, two of them involving the U.S. military. Again, in those years there was a strong popular movement against the American military presence in Japan (see also the diatribe surrounding the arrival of the nuclear submarine).
On the plus side, Japanese firms were already pioneering all kinds of consumer goods that in the following years would be found in every home around the world.
Popular Pop Songs
1. Koi no Vacance (The Peanuts)
2. Yoake no Uta (Kishi Yoko)
3. Car Show Song (Kobayashi Akira)
TV
Hidden Talent Contest (Fuji TV)
Ninja Squad Moonlight (Fuji TV)
Japanese films
① Woman in the Dunes
② Kaidan (Ghost Stories)
③ Kouka
④ Red Murder
⑤ Hunger Straits
⑥ Echigo Tsutsuishi Oyashirazu
⑦ Scarred Mountains and Rivers
⑧ Sweet Juice
⑨ Vengeance
⑩ I am but a Grain of Wheat
Foreign films (they were shown in Japan one or two year after their release)
① The Long Absence (France)
② Jules et Jim (France)
③ Last Year at Marienbad (France)
④ Pasazerka (Poland)
⑤ America, America (USA)
⑥ Family Diary (Italy)
⑦ Contempt (France)
⑧ Tom Jones (UK)
⑨ Silence (Sweden)
⑩ Hamlet (USSR)
In memoriam
04/05 Douglas MacArthur, 84 years old (US Army General, Supreme Commander of the GHQ)
05/27 Jawaharlal Nehru, 74 years old (First Prime Minister of India)
06/29 Kobayashi Yato, 118 years old (former longevity record holder in Japan)
12/11 Sam Cooke, 33 years old (American singer)
What else happened in 1964? I would like to end this walk down memory lane with something I wrote a few years ago for a book project that may or may not see the light of day.
In 1964, if you wanted to keep up with the Tanakas, you needed to have the Three Cs: car, cooler (air conditioner), and color TV.
However, a nice Sony TV set would set you back 120,000 yen. That was a huge sum, considering that in 1964, the average monthly salary for university graduates was only a little over 30,000 yen. On the upside, a beer cost just 130 yen.
Speaking of TV, in January 1964, the first edition of Tops of the Pops was broadcasted on BBC television.
In March 1964, Radio Caroline became the UK’s first “pirate” radio.
In the same month, a US reconnaissance plane was downed after accidentally crossing into East German air space (the plane’s three pilots were eventually released).
1964 was the year Naruse Mikio’s Yearning, Teshigahara Hiroshi’s Woman in the Dunes, Honda Ishiro’s Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Suzuki Seijun’s Gate of Flesh, Imamura Shohei’s Intentions of Murder, Fukasaku Kinji’s Wolves, Pigs and People, and Shindo Kaneto’s Onibaba first appeared in Japanese cinemas.
1964 was the year of the third James Bond movie, Goldfinger.
On 2 July 1964, US President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Right Act. Later that year, Martin Luther King, Jr received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Edano Yukio was born in 1964. Forty-seven years later, he would become the face of the government efforts to combat the aftermath of the triple disaster in Tohoku.
In 1964, skateboarding finally took off in the US. In September, it even got its own anthem when Jan and Dean released “Sidewalk Surfin’.”
In 1964, toy manufacturer Hasbro sold two million G.I. Joe dolls… I mean, action figures.
In 1964, there were still people who believed in delivering mail by rocket or missile.
In 1964, Roald Dahl published Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
In 1964, American author Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters began to spread the gospel of LSD.
Yoshimoto Banana and Yokota Megumi were born in 1964. Yoshimoto would go on to write Kitchen and become one of the best-known Japanese writers abroad. Yokota disappeared in 1977, aged 13, abducted by North Korean agents.
In 1964, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa.
In 1964, 23 men and 31 women escaped to West Berlin through a narrow tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
1964 was a boon year for apocalyptic cinema with the release of such titles as Dr. Strangelove, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, and two of my favorite SF movies, The Last Man on Earth and Crack in the World.
In 1964, conservative politicians were keen – as they are now – to revise the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution and remilitarize Japan. Some things never change.
In 1964, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor married – for the first time.
In 1964, avant-garde fashion designer Rudi Gernreich designed the first topless swimsuit, which he called the Monokini.
In 1964, Non ho l’età by Gigliola Cinquetti won the Eurovision Song Contest – the first of only three times Italy has won.
1964’s top singles were the Beatles’ “I want to Hold Your Hand” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” the Supremes’ “Baby Love,” Bobby Vinton’s “There! I’ve Said It Again” and Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.” The top albums were the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, Louis Armstrong’s Hello Dolly and Barbra Streisand’s People.
In 1964, Hiroshi Wada & His Mahina Stars's "Ozashiki Kouta" sold estimate 3 million copies.
In 1964, Pete Townshend destroyed his first guitar.
In 1964, Innsbruck hosted the Winter Olympics.
In 1964, Willie Mays became the highest-paid player in baseball.
In 1964, during a football/soccer game between Peru and Argentina, the crowd rioted over a referee's decision: 319 were killed, 500 injured.
In February 1964, Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston, and the Italian government asked for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
On 7 February 1964, the Beatles led the British Invasion of America when they landed at JFK International Airport in New York.
On 7 February 1964, I was born.
A brilliant post, Gianni! It's really fascinating to learn about what happened in 1964 in Japan. Are you thinking of making this a series? I'd love to read more!
While it seems like the most important date that year was February 7th (just kidding!), those "flood pants" are "sick."