Prewar Tourism Promotion by Japanese Government Railways · Prewar Tourism Promotion by Japanese Government Railways Koichi Nakagawa ... under the direction of the Japanese Gov-ernment

22 Japan Railway & Transport Review • March 1998

Railways and Tourism

Features

Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Prewar Tourism Promotionby Japanese Government Railways

Koichi Nakagawa

Japan’s balance of payments in interna-tional tourism recorded the largest deficitin the world again in 1996; a far greateramount of yen was spent abroad by morethan 16.5 million Japanese travellers thanthe money spent by visiting foreign tour-ists in Japan. Although Germany exceedsJapan in the amount of money spent byGermans abroad, its deficit in interna-tional tourism has been kept compara-tively small because the country enjoys arelatively larger number of visiting foreigntourists.In the 1990s, the number of tourists visit-ing Japan exceeded 3 million a year,mostly from East and Southeast Asia visit-ing Tokyo Disneyland and other themeparks. However, the income from thesetourists was only a drop in the bucketwhen as many as one in seven Japanesetravelled overseas during these years. Asa result, Japan’s 1996 deficit in interna-tional tourism offset 39.5% of the nation’strade surplus.Foreign currency from tourists visiting Ja-pan was a precious income for the coun-try until overseas travel was deregulatedfor Japanese. Back in 1960, when theJapanese economy was on the brink of

high growth, the income from tourism wasUS$116 million, ranking seventh in thecountry’s foreign currency revenue. Tounderstand the significance of thisamount, 1960 steel exports ranked top,earning US$388 million at the then ex-change rate of $1 to ¥360, and even ex-ports of Japan’s famed transistor radiosearned US$144 million, much the sameas tourism income.Tourism has long been considered an easysource of foreign currency and this policyis still adopted commonly by many de-veloping countries. Japan was no excep-tion until the 1950s, and railway operatorswere the first to take the lead in promot-ing international tourism.

Dawn of Tourism Promotion

The idea of attracting foreign tourists toJapan for the sake of promoting nationalinterests was first proposed in the early1890s by concerned politicians and fin-anciers. A fervent desire to correct exist-ing unequal treaties—the most criticaldiplomatic problem in the Meiji Era(1868–1912)—was apparently behind the

Observation car of limited-express train running between Shimbashi and Shimonoseki in 1912(Transportation Museum)

proposal. There also was an intention toshow visiting westerners that Japan wasas civilized as the great western powers,not to mention that the incoming foreigncurrency would contribute to reinforcingthe nation’s wealth and military strength.In March 1893, a voluntary organizationcalled Kihin-Kai (The Welcome Society ofJapan), headquartered in Tokyo Shokokai(the predecessor of the present TokyoChamber of Commerce and Industry), wasformed to promote foreign tourism. EiichiShibusawa, who is famous as the found-ing father of Japanese capitalism, wasGeneral Secretary; he was assisted byTakashi Masuda, regarded as the head ofthe Mitsui zaibatsu (industrial and finan-cial combines). Masuda had visited Eu-rope and believed that Paris flourishedbecause the city had a successful systemfor attracting foreign tourists and encour-aging them to spend money.In those days, the estimated annual num-ber of westerners visiting Japan wasprobably no more than 10,000, a more-than-obvious reason for establishingKihin-Kai. Shibusawa and Masuda ar-dently tried to establish a system of tour-ism at the non-government level beforethe administration involved itself in thebusiness. They were confident that a pros-pering tourism industry would contributeto national interests. They persuadedhotels and inns to improve their buildingsand facilities, urged upgrading the qual-ity of tour guides and interpreters, andarranged tours of noted and historicplaces. English guidebooks and mapswere written and distributed to arouseforeigners’ interest in visiting the country.Kihin-Kai was funded by donations fromrailways and international shipping com-panies, hotels and inns, department stores,profiting from foreign tourists. However,in 1906, all major railway companieswere nationalized into government rail-ways in line with the Railway National-ization Bill (JRTR 4, pp 42–45), radicallyslashing the resources of Kihin-Kai and

23Japan Railway & Transport Review • March 1998Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

disrupting its operation. However, theimminent collapse was averted by YoshioKinoshita, an enlightened governmentrailway official. He had studied in Eu-rope and was well aware of the necessityfor promotion to attract foreign tourists.The Japan Tourist Bureau (predecessor ofJapan Travel Bureau (JTB)) was foundedin March 1912 under his leadership. JTBis now one of the three largest travel agentsin the world.

Establishment ofJapan Tourist Bureau

The Japan Tourist Bureau was a semi-gov-ernmental organization founded to pro-mote international tourism. It operatedunder the direction of the Japanese Gov-ernment Railways, which managed thestate-owned railways. The Bureau pro-moted tourism for the railways of Koreaand Taiwan (Japanese colonies at thattime), and the South Manchuria Railway(acquired under terms of Treaty of Ports-mouth ending Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)), and shipping lines, such asNippon Yusen, and Toyo Kisen. It alsoassisted service facilities, such as the Im-perial and Fujiya hotels, and theMitsukoshi and Takashimaya departmentstores.The Bureau’s establishment was supportedby Takashi Hara, Interior Minister andPresident of the Japanese GovernmentRailways. Seijiro Hirai, Vice-President ofthe government railways, played a vitalrole in shaping the Bureau. Hirai had at-tended the International Railway Congressin 1910 and inspected the tourism sys-tems and facilities of Switzerland, recog-nizing that provision of such facilitieswould contribute to Japan’s national in-terests.Behind the commitment of high-rankinggovernment officials to promote tourismwas a compelling need for foreign cur-rency to redeem large amounts of foreignbonds issued to finance the Russo-Japa-nese War. No doubt the business of at-tracting foreign tourists was considered avital source of hard currency.It should also be noted that middle-man-agement railway officials, who had beenaddressing the issue of promoting inter-national tourism since the early 1900s,made efforts to persuade high-ranking of-ficials to recognize the need for tourismpromotion. Kinoshita was manager of thepassenger services and he described thenecessity for a semi-governmental orga-

nization to establish sound internationaltourism.Until the Bureau was established, foreigntourists to Japan usually hired Japaneseguides at their port of entry, and relied onthe guides’ itineraries. These guides in-creased the tourists’ costs by demandinghuge commissions from hoteliers, spoil-ing the impression of Japanese tourism.Consequently, eliminating the guidesthrough public relations efforts by theBureau was an urgent matter.To assist foreign tourists and discouragemalicious guides, English-speaking per-sonnel were provided at major railwaystations and on express trains. It was rea-soned that this would limit hiring of guidesto sightseeing at specific spots, therebyimproving the image of Japanese tourismand defining a role for the Bureau.Kinoshita’s policy for promoting interna-tional tourism was based on his personalexperiences during stays in America andEurope from 1904 to 1907.

International Railway Links

The Japanese Government Railways hadanother reason for being actively commit-ted to international tourism.The Treaty of Portsmouth mandated a par-tial transfer of Russia’s railway rights inManchuria, south of Changchun, to Japan.This gave birth to the South ManchuriaRailway Company which provided linkswith Europe via the Russian railways.During the Russo-Japanese War, the Japa-nese military had built supply railway linesthrough Korea, which permitted strength-ened international links with Japan’s do-mestic lines at the War’s end.These developments gave Japan’s domes-tic railways the prospect to become a vi-tal link in the around-the-world touristroute by establishing a connection withthe transcontinental railroads in NorthAmerica.The domestic railways could also be in-

Yoshio Kinoshita (1874–1922)—The founder of the Japan Tourist Bureau (now JTB)

(Transportation Museum)

Eiichi Shibusawa (1840–1931)—The founder of modern Japanese capitalism

(Shibusawa Memorial Museum)




tegrated into the circular tour route aroundthe Eurasian continent by connecting tothe regular steamer services via the IndianOcean and Suez Canal.Talks between Japan and Russia for jointrail transport started in June 1907 at St.Petersburg. After a series of negotiations,joint through traffic started in April 1910between the Japanese Government Rail-ways and the Dongqing Railways (theRussian-controlled railways in North EastChina). In the following year, this link-age was extended, through the Trans-Si-berian Railway, to other major Russiancities including Moscow and then Rus-sian-controlled Warsaw.

Domestic Railways

The first limited express in Japan was in-troduced in 1912 with one train per dayin each direction between Shimbashi (To-kyo) and Shimonoseki (Western tip ofHonshu). The train was composed of sec-ond-class passenger coaches and sleep-ers, first-class sleepers, and a specialsaloon-cum-observation coach, all ofwhich were luxuriously designed withforeign tourists in mind. All other Japa-nese passenger trains at the time had threeclasses of coaches, indicating the appar-ent aim of serving foreign tourists andwealthy Japanese travellers.The crew of this limited express had com-pleted an English course at the CentralTraining Institute which succeeded theEnglish Conversation School for RailwayEmployees established earlier in Septem-ber 1908.The first limited express, nicknamed Fujiin 1929 after Mt. Fuji, maintained its two-class composition until 1933.

English-language Guidebooks

An official English guidebook is said tohave been planned as early as 1908 toprovide accurate and detailed travel in-formation for foreign visitors, as well asto defeat dishonest, profiteering guides.Prior to this plan, some Englishmen livingin Japan had planned a guidebook to Ja-pan in the 1880s, later published as oneof the famous series of Murray’s guide-books. In the 1900s, American editorsalso came to Japan to write a guidebook.

An Official Guide to Eastern Asia,1910sSince the official guidebook was to be apublication of the Japanese railways, itwas determined that it should supersedeprevious guidebooks compiled by foreign-ers. Kinoshita’s concept for the frameworkwas grand and global. The four volumesincluded Manchuria and Korea, as wellas the rest of China extending west be-yond the Great Wall.The series was called An Official Guide

to Eastern Asia and Volume 1 entitledManchuria & Chosen (Korea) was pub-lished in February 1913. It containedmany detailed city plans similar toBaedeker’s Guides (the world’s foremostguidebooks published in German, English,and French), but unlike Baedeker’s, dif-ferentiated itself using many photographs.The Times (of London) praised it as ‘anexcellent guidebook for English speakingtourists’.Volumes 2 and 3 were published in July1914, covering northeast and southwestJapan, including Hokkaido, Honshu,Shikoku, and Kyushu. Volume 4 cover-ing China was published in April 1915.A notable event preceding these publica-tions was the introduction by theJapanese Government Railways of round-the-world and eastern-hemisphere excur-sion tickets on 15 September 1913.The world drifted into WWI and althoughJapan sided with the Allies, its status re-mained more or less neutral and exportsof industrial products, and shippingthrived. In the meantime, Southeast Asia(then known as Nanyo or the South Seas)

An Official Guide to Japan (JGR, 1933), and A Guide Book for Tourists in Japan (Kihin-Kai, 1910) (Author)


and East Asia had become big markets forJapanese products.Against this background, the JapaneseGovernment Railways decided to includeSoutheast Asia in the guidebook project,and published a fifth volume covering theEast Indies in 1917.

RevisionsGood guidebooks must be updated andrevised continuously to provide the latestinformation, or risk becoming outdated.However, revision of An Official Guideto Eastern Asia did not go as planned. Re-vision started with the Volumes 1 and 4.The revised Volume 1 added Siberia to itsoriginal coverage of Manchuria and Ko-rea. The revised fourth volume was re-named Guide to China and published asVolume D in April 1924; this guide wassubtitled With Land and Sea Routes Be-tween the American and European Con-tinents, emphasizing the attraction ofJapan to round-the-world tourists. TheGreat Kanto Earthquake of 1923 must

have caused enormous difficulties to thenon-going revision work of Volume D.The volume numbering was changedprobably because it was assumed that thesecond and third volumes would becomeVolumes B and C, respectively. However,they would later be combined into oneguidebook, published as An OfficialGuide to Japan in 1933.

Government Policy in 1930s

The policies on attracting foreign touristsin the 1910s were formulated by the Japa-nese Government Railways. However, inthe 1930s, their tourism undertakingswere made mainly in accordance with ex-ternal requests and to counter the eco-nomic depression.The government demanded measures toearn foreign currency at the 56th Impe-rial Diet (parliament) in 1929; the requestapparently originated from the JapanChamber of Commerce and Industry. As

a result, the government decided to cre-ate a department in charge of tourism pro-motion within the Japanese GovernmentRailways.The basic planning was conducted by theInternational Payment ImprovementCouncil of the Hamaguchi Cabinet. TheCouncil recommended stepped-up inter-national propaganda, maintenance of sce-nic spots, and development of touristresorts, accommodation facilities, andtransportation.

Board of Tourist IndustryThe Board of Tourist Industry was createdin April 1930 within the Japanese Gov-ernment Railways. At the start, the Boardwas a small organization composed of adirector, two managers, two administra-tive clerks, 15 subordinate clerks, andthree assistant engineers. The Board tookcharge of tourism promotion includingrevision of guidebooks, distributionof posters, etc. Overseas promotionoffices were also set up by the Board in

Extensive advertising inside the front cover of A Guide Book for Tourists in Japan promoted shipping lines anddepartment stores, etc. (Author)

Tourism promotion poster for Japanese GovernmentRailways during 1930s

(Japan National Railways: A Centennial Photo History)




major cities such as New York, Paris andLondon. However, the outbreak of WWIIin 1939 and the cancellation of the sched-uled 1940 Tokyo Olympics both adverselyaffected international tourism.

New Guidebook

An Official Guide to Japan (1933) onlymentions the name of the Japanese Gov-ernment Railways in its preface. It is notknown whether it was published by thePassenger Department of the TransportBureau, which edited a concise Japanese-language guidebook to Japan, or by theBoard of Tourist Industry.

Japan, The Official Guide, 1941In 1941, An Official Guide to Japan wasrevised and renamed Japan, The OfficialGuide, with the publisher clearly identi-fied as the Board of Tourist Industry whichby that time had doubled its staff.The revised guidebook covered all terri-tories then under Japanese rule, except theSouth Seas (Micronesia). Korea, whichwas not included in the earlier An Offi-cial Guide to Japan, was also covered. Bythis time, however, there was no longerany intention to include Japan’s puppetstate of Manchuria, China, and the SouthSeas in this revised guidebook.

Development of Tourist Hotels

As previously described, the HamaguchiCabinet took the initiative in attracting for-eign tourists as a vital source of hard cur-rency. However, due to serious budgetaryconstraints, the government could not carryout the initial recommendations made bythe International Payment ImprovementCouncil. Consequently, the governmenthad to join forces with the private sector toform the Japan Tourist Association, a semi-government organization to execute thework.

This Association first carried out the afore-mentioned 1930 survey of hotels, the re-sults of which indicated that there wereonly a very few hotels capable of accom-modating foreign tourists and a markedshortage of resort hotels suitable for at-tracting them. Nevertheless, no actionwas taken to improve the situation be-cause it was determined to be commer-

cially unprofitable. Also the depressionforbade the government subsidizing theproject.However, a breakthrough was made,when the City of Osaka obtained a long-term, low-interest loan from the FinanceMinistry to build a tourist hotel, and leaseit to a private enterprise for management.In January 1935, the Board of Tourist In-

Kamikochi Imperial Hotel in Nagano Prefecture (Japan Hotel Guide, 1959)

Gamagori Hotel in Aichi Prefecture (Japan Hotel Guide, 1959)


dustry began arranging financing usingstate funds for construction of hotels bylocal governments for leasing, successfullycompleting 14 new hotels throughout thecountry. This was an unprecedented ac-complishment. The vicious inflation fol-lowing the end of WWII made it easy topay back these long-term, low-interestloans. After the war, these hotels wereeventually sold to private enterprises.The long-standing resort hotels still oper-ating today at Gamagori in Aichi Prefec-ture, Kamikochi in Nagano Prefecture,and Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture werestarted by railway operators before WWII,but they can no longer serve their origi-nal purpose and are in the red, becausemost foreign tourists are absorbed in met-ropolitan areas and theme parks.

Postwar Development

After WWII, railway operators again madeefforts to promote Japan’s tourism; newtrain coaches were built or modified es-pecially for foreign visitors. Industry wasin ruins, agricultural output was down,and people were hungry, but the attrac-tive mountains and rivers remained asthey had always been. The countrysideand surviving historic Shinto shrines andBuddhist temples were a precious tour-ism resource for earning the foreign cur-rency needed to rebuild the country. Theprewar experience of the railway opera-tors in preparing English guidebooks andtravel literature as well as constructing andmanaging resort hotels proved useful inreviving tourism.However, the Korean War (1950–53) hitefforts to promote international tourism,but the resultant military procurementboom made the rapidly-recovering manu-facturing industries leading foreign-cur-rency earners. Nevertheless, the tourismindustry was still a major source of for-eign currency because overseas travel re-strictions for Japanese had not been lifted.

Koichi Nakagawa

Professor Koichi Nakagawa is Professor of Economics at Ryutsu-Keizai University in Ibaraki Prefec-

ture, Japan. He specializes in the geography of communications and tourism, and published Cultural

History of Subways (in Japanese) in 1984, and Cultural History of Tourism (in Japanese).

In today’s age of travel, it seems only amatter of time until the number of Japa-nese travelling overseas reaches 20 mil-lion a year, which will in due course offsetmost of the current trade surplus.A tourism deficit will not be such a bur-den if Japan’s trade surplus continues togrow but the manufacturing sector is suf-fering severe competition from newly-in-dustrializing economies. Furthermore, theso-called hollowing out of Japanese in-dustry by overseas transfer of manufac-turing facilities is creating worries andinsecurity about unemployment. Thereis no guarantee that the manufacturingsector can continue generating the hugetrade surplus.Today, many leaflets advertizing JR-orga-nized overseas trips can be found at

every JR station. The JRs now run travelagencies as part of their business diversi-fication. This may be necessary to makemore profits, but is overseas travel thebusiness of domestic railway operators?Instead of adversely affecting the country’sbalance of payments in international tour-ism, perhaps the JRs should make moreeffort to attract foreign tourists to Japan.

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Lake Biwa Hotel in Shiga Prefecture (Japan Hotel Guide, 1959)

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Prewar Tourism Promotion by Japanese Government Railways · Prewar Tourism Promotion by Japanese Government Railways Koichi Nakagawa ... under the direction of the Japanese Gov-ernment