“Thus, in these cinema districts where banners and building fronts were rival transmitters to the street, dynamic information triumphed over exuberant but static building." – Learning from the Japanese City: Looking East in Urban Design, by Barrie Shelton, 2012

Despite a noted drinking culture in Japan, a surprising number of people embraced the foreign concept of alcohol prohibition. Activists in Meiji era Japan observed the US prohibition movement and sought to implement similar measures, although full prohibition ultimately was never enacted in Japan.

Although Japan did not enact a nationwide prohibition on alcohol as did the United States, public health campaigns and civil society groups (especially women’s organizations) played a key role in communicating the dangers of alcohol during the interwar years.

... , and that changes to the status quo or actions that affect preservation would be subject to permission from local commissioners.

With the Society’s prodding, the Diet in 1919 enacted the Law for the Preservation of Historic Sites, Places of Scenic Beauty, and Natural Monuments, stipulating that the Minister of the Interior designate historic sites, places of scenic beauty, and natural monuments ...

The preservation movement among the private sector grew with the establishment, in 1911, of the Society for the Preservation of Historic Sites, Places of Scenic Beauty, and Natural Monuments led by Marquis Tokugawa Yorimichi.

By the end of the Meiji period, as national land development affected by railway construction and urban development accelerated, the preservation of historic sites and scenic spots and the protection of flora and fauna became recognized as issues.

"Be that as it may, it concerns me not, for my experience is my only guide, and I dub him a Prince of Hosts and his caravansary ideal in its comforts.”

– The Overland Monthly, January 1910

“I have been told that Manwaring’s experience in hotel work and management extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in the United States, and that long before he became famous as a hotel man in the Orient he was pointed out as a rising man in our own dear land.

"And it is ‘of course,’ of course. I have no idea of the birthplace of Manwaring, but I can tell you that if there are any more at home like him, it must be the home of hospitality and good cheer.

" Under circumstances that would brutalize an angel he carries on with dauntless good nature.”

– “In Tokyo Thoroughfares with Everyday Folk”, by Edith de Garis, Japan: Overseas Travel Magazine, October 1930

“His uniform may be frayed at the seams; his peaked cap may be worn to the lining; his shoes may be torn, and his fingers peep through his gloves – but his good temper is eternal.

"For long hours, he patiently endures being trampled on, being squeezed in crushes that threaten to pulp him – for hours he gently requests the crowd move to the center of the car.

“Under the manifold uncomfortable circumstances of a street railway system, ever inadequate, the conductor – in duplicate on each car, for some reason – exerts only an emollient effect. He is a saint among men.

"Owasure mom nai yo ni negaima – ‘Let there be no honorable forget things, I pray,’ or ‘I beg your honor will not leave anything behind.’ Then ‘Now, the car is starting – kindly take care at this turning – she will sway.’ ‘Does anybody else wish to depart at this junction?’

A crucial point of defense and a difficult barrier to overcome with its three gates, including the central Yanmen Gate. The Battle of Yanmen Pass was a temporary Imperial Army setback after the start of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War but it shattered the myth of Japanese military invincibility in China.

“During World War I Japan enjoyed a large economic boom because production capacity of major Western countries was mobilized for the war, and this boom boosted the development of the fire insurance industry in Japan.” – Large Fires and the Rise of Fire Insurance In Pre-war Japan, 2023

“Expansion of the fire insurance industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reflected progress of industrialization in Japan in that modern industries and large companies considerably increased the demand for fire insurance.