Japan Explained FASAQ

833- The first commercial signboard in Japan (although probably not flashing neon)

1591- “Tokyo’s first bath, or sento, was opened” (Getting Wet pg 25)

31 March 1854- Treaty between USA and Japan signed in Kanagawa

1867- The first newspaper ad places in a Japanese firm in a Japanese language newspaper

1873- The first advertising agency in Japan

1907- Dentsu founded

1918- Japan’s first diplomatic mission in Africa set up in Cape Town

Nov 1928- Tezuka Osamu born in Toyonaka City,Osaka

1953- The making of swords is relegalized (it had been banned in 1945 by the American occupation authorities).

1956- Haile Selassie visits Japan

1958- The 333m very slightly taller Eiffel Tower-copy Tokyo Tower is opened. The following year it had 4.94 million visitors. Before it was completed the 180m Nagoya Tower was the tallest in East Asia

1964- The Kasumigaseki Building, the first skyscraper in Japan, opens

1968- the Japanese passed the West Germans to become the number-two producer of motor vehicles in the world

1969- Tokyo University entrance exams cancelled due to student protests

1974- The first visit to Africa by a Japanese foreign minister1958- The world’s first instant noodles produced by Momofuku Ando, founder of Nissin foods

1977- “the first year that ‘love’ marriages outnumbered ‘arranged’ marriages” (Kickboxing Geishas pg 121)

1979- The first episode of Mobile Suit Gundam

9 Feb 1989 Death of Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy

Feb 1992 – Benjamin Hooks, NAACP president, calls for a black boycott of Toyota, Nissan, and Honda because of too few black dealerships

7 April 2003- The futuristic date of birth given to Astro Boy (in Japanese 鉄腕アトム- Tetsuwan Atomu- Iron-Arm Atom)