Factbook

A Dynamic Compendium of Interesting Japanese Literary and Publishing Facts

If you would like to contribute to this compendium please submit your ideas here.
All will be considered for publication by our expert panel.

Category Index:

Factbook Keyword Search:
Search for:

Publishing

Japan’s first western-style fashion magazine was launched in 1936 by a controversial female novelist

[UPDATED: 2-21-2018]

Chiyo Uno (1897-1996), a novelist whose breakthrough work was Iro-zange, Confessions of Love, launched Japan’s first western-style fashion magazine, Sutairu, Style, in 1936.

Uno’s most highly regarded literary work is her novella Ohan (1957) published in English as Ohan in the collection of short-stories: The Old Woman, the Wife, and the Archer, translated by Donald Keane and published by Viking Press in 1961.

Uno, like many of the individuals in Japan who were publishing pioneers and launched magazines, was a high profile and charismatic individual so much so that The New York Times published an obituary on her shortly after her death in 1996 with the title: Chiyo Uno, 98, Writer Whose Loves Shook Japan.

Japan’s first western-style fashion magazine was launched in 1936 by a controversial female novelist Posted January 3rd, 2018 by Richard Nathan

More Facts:

New international standards for measuring time, weights and measures encouraged some to call for Japan to adopt a Westernised writing system abandoning traditional alphabets[UPDATED: 7-7-2023]
- TOPICS:
- Dictionary
- History
- On Japan
- translation
In 1841 Shakespeare’s name appeared in print in Japan in Japanese for the first time[UPDATED: 6-14-2023]
- TOPICS:
- On Japan
- Shakespeare
- translation
Japan experts, Japanologists, commentators, as well as visitors to Japan, have been deriding each other’s ‘Knowledge’ of the nation for over a century[UPDATED: 5-10-2023]
- TOPICS:
- History
- On Japan
- Tourism
By 1905 Japanese people were already buying the ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ on subscription and their prompt payment was used to highlight the trustworthiness of the nation[UPDATED: 4-3-2023]
- TOPICS:
- History
- On Japan
- Retail
By the early 1900s so many books had been published ‘Explaining Japan’ that one author felt compelled to write a book summarising them[UPDATED: 3-22-2023]
- TOPICS:
- History
- On Japan
In the 1870s Japanese bookshops already sold Western books targeting Japan’s growing student population[UPDATED: 3-1-2023]
- TOPICS:
- Bookshops
- History
- On Japan
- Poetry
- Religion

Factbook

Japan’s first western-style fashion magazine was launched in 1936 by a controversial female novelist

New international standards for measuring time, weights and measures encouraged some to call for Japan to adopt a Westernised writing system abandoning traditional alphabets[UPDATED: 7-7-2023]

In 1841 Shakespeare’s name appeared in print in Japan in Japanese for the first time[UPDATED: 6-14-2023]

Japan experts, Japanologists, commentators, as well as visitors to Japan, have been deriding each other’s ‘Knowledge’ of the nation for over a century[UPDATED: 5-10-2023]

By 1905 Japanese people were already buying the ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ on subscription and their prompt payment was used to highlight the trustworthiness of the nation[UPDATED: 4-3-2023]

By the early 1900s so many books had been published ‘Explaining Japan’ that one author felt compelled to write a book summarising them[UPDATED: 3-22-2023]

In the 1870s Japanese bookshops already sold Western books targeting Japan’s growing student population[UPDATED: 3-1-2023]

Newsletters