Features History of Amusement Park Construction by Private Railway Companies in Japan

Features Railways and Tourism

History of Amusement Park Construction by Private Railway Companies in Japan Isao Ogawa

followed suit. Edo (present-day Tokyo) by gardeners, etc. Introduction Recently, a new style of tourist business, in the Kyoho Era (1716–36), (3) Privately- or theme park, has become popular in Ja- managed zoological gardens (travelling A characteristic of private railway com- pan. New theme parks are being con- shows of live animals, such as deer and panies in Japan is their participation in structed nationwide, and those already in peacocks which started in Osaka in the diverse non-railway business areas, in- existence attract many visitors. This ar- Edo Era and spread to Edo, (4) Show tents/ cluding amusement parks, real estate, ticle reviews the management history of sightseeing towers, for example, the department stores, professional baseball amusement parks—the forerunner of Chobokaku garden opened in Osaka in teams, and movies. Such diversification theme parks—by private railway compa- 1878, featuring an artificial hill and pond, was already apparent long before WWII. nies and the starting point of their diversi- well-kept vegetation, hot spring, teahouse, For example, in a 1928 survey, nearly half fication. It also clarifies why the private and chrysanthemum doll show, (5) Hot- of the private railway companies were railway companies, especially those in the spring businesses, such as the Aimoto Hot- either supplying electricity for commer- Kansai area, started building amusement Spring Company in Toyama Prefecture(a), cial use or managing amusement parks parks at the turn of the 20th century. (6) Pseudo-hot springs, including mineral and athletic facilities. Most of the private baths and hot seawater baths, such as railway companies before the war were Early Privately-managed Suwayama Hot Spring in Kobe, discov- involved in tourist and amusement facili- Recreational Facilities ered in 1870 and initially developed by ties in some manner whether by direct Onogumi, a major trading firm, and management, via a subsidiary, through Japan has long had a good number of pri- Ikegami Hot Spring in Tokyo, introduced joint investment, tie-up, commission, or vately-managed recreational facilities, al- by Chamberlain in his A Handbook for lease. For example, they managed bath- though modest in scale, since the Edo Era Travellers in Japan (3rd edition) as one of ing resorts, and summer evening cool (1603–1867) well before the advent of the holiday resorts popular with the com- spots, real estate, etc. The 1928 survey general amusement parks managed by mon people, (7) Bathing resorts, such as showed that railway companies operat- private railway companies; a good ex- Japan’s first resort opened at Oiso by ing in big urban areas with large markets, ample is the Takarazuka Amusement Park. Ryojun Matsumoto, Surgeon Major Gen- especially in the Kansai area (area of west- They can be classified into eight types: eral, who preached the benefits of sea ern Honshu encompassing Osaka, Kobe, (1) Gardens of stately private residences bathing, and (8) Parks opened to the pub- Nara and Kyoto), were more diversified open to the public not for profit, for ex- lic for profit such as Warakuen at Cape than those operating in local towns or cit- ample, Nirakuso, the villa of Kozui Otani Wada, Kobe, opened in 1890 by Hyogo ies. The six private railways companies (Abbot of Higashi-Honganji Temple), with Kyosai Ltd., with an area of 20 or 30 acres formed by privatization of Japanese Na- a western-style flower garden, Japanese- for cultivation of sea bream and other sea tional Railways (JNR) in 1987 noted the style garden, greenhouses, etc., (2) Pri- fish(b). successful and long-term diversification of vately-managed botanical gardens, for existing private railway companies, and example, Shiba Peony Garden, opened in

Bathing at Hamadera with temporary beach tents in early 1900s (Author)

28 Japan Railway & Transport Review • March 1998 Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Management of bathing resorts Kansai area soon followed suit with spe- company incurred. Against this back- by private railway companies cial excursion trains during each season ground, the managements probably did Of the eight early types of amusement fa- for moon viewing, bathing, and mush- not dare propose changing the business cilities, probably bathing resorts were the room gathering. In addition, they set up purpose to enter into new business with first to be taken up as a new business area temporary resting places, shops, show uncertain profitability. by private railway companies. It is be- tents, etc., at the destinations. Moreover, the trunk-line railway compa- lieved that Iyo Railway in Shikoku—the This boom in excursion trains was exclu- nies were also engaged in the natural smallest of the four main islands of Japan sive to the Kansai area—the commercial extensions of the railway business such with a warmer climate—was the first pri- centre of Japan at that time, but not to rail- as catering, souvenir sales, and provision vate railway company to involve itself in way companies in Tokyo—the political of hotel lodgings, as well as in shipping development of bathing resorts. From the centre. and warehousing to monopolize the vari- 1890s, the Iyo Railway offered generous ous transport operations. But this was fare reductions during the summer sea- a passive business diversification that sim- son because it considered summer bath- Unambitious Diversification ply followed the example of American and ers to be its most valuable customers. The European railways. company formed the Baishinji Bathing As- As described above, in the early 20th cen- sociation in June 1899, developed a new tury, private railway companies were con- Changing articles of association bathing resort, opened a summer station, tent with operating excursion trains and Generally speaking, large railway com- and started operating special trains for building temporary facilities for panies linking big cities and their suburbs bathers. In July 1901, it built temporary bathing, viewing the moon, etc., on leased have five fundamental management re- beach huts for bathers. Finally going on publicly-owned land, such as beaches and sources: to provide related facilities, including hot riversides. This was probably because de- • Large market due to population concen- baths and inns—the ‘mere’ bathing resort mand was seasonal and not large, so the tration was gradually expanded into a permanent companies confined themselves to tem- • Surplus transport capacity amusement facility. porary facilities to minimize capital ex- • High fund-raising ability due to high penditure and risk. Since they had little credit based on public nature of busi- Private railway excursions entertainment business knowhow, they ness in Kansai area only provided the facility structure and • Surplus land, space and personnel The Kansai area encompasses Kyoto and contracted outside entertainers to give the • Extra management capacity Nara, which are famed for temples and performance. This means that once a railway company shrines. The railway companies in this This unambitious diversification was due is opened and gets on the right track, it area had long emphasized transport of partly to the railway companies’ articles can diversify because the normal com- tourists during the spring and autumn of association, which limited their busi- pany operations are mostly routine. sightseeing seasons. In August 1901, ness operations to railway transport. Ex- However, trunk-line railway companies Kyoto Railway (the present JR Sagano cept for a few railway companies, such engaged in long-distance transportation Line) operated a special evening train as Hokkaido Tanko Railway and Hoshu and which did not obtain revenue from modelled after the observation cars popu- Railway (in Kyushu, later nationalized), urban transport, had to continually invest lar in the USA and Europe. It ran to which were both originally established for management resources in extending lines. Arashiyama, one of Japan’s most famous the dual purposes of railway transport and In the case of local railway companies, scenic spots, to catch cool breezes and colliery mining, and Tamagawa Electric the market was too small to allow diver- view the full harvest moon. The passen- Railway, which was originally founded for sification. As a matter of fact, the large gers were delighted by various attractions, both railway transport and gravel haulage, shareholders of local railway companies such as set piece firework displays, cool most were running long-distance services were mainly interested in their own lo- resting places, and on-board perfor- on trunk lines. Consequently, their articles cality and did not make their investment mances of court music and popular en- of association prevented them entering purely for profit. Therefore, the rate of tertainment. Excursion trains became a any other business area. return demanded by these investors was fashion after the success of the Kyoto Rail- Furthermore, general shareholders in the not necessarily higher than that of large way. companies were very active and held urban railway companies. Other private railway companies in the management responsible for any losses a By comparison, the private electric rail-

way companies that appeared first in the Change in amusement parks were able to attract people living along Kansai area in the early 20th century spe- Gradually, the diversified railway com- their lines to their own amusement parks. cialized in short-distance transportation panies began abandoning their low- In the case of private railway companies between cities and their suburbs. Their capitalization, low-risk, temporary fair- in metropolitan areas, the weight of indi- transportation facilities were better than ground-type business in the face of sharp vidual shareholders declined gradually in Tokyo and the migration of people from criticism from passengers about the con- and institutional investors, such as banks big cities to the suburbs had already tracted outside entertainers seeking quick and insurance companies, emerged as the started, so there was a base from which profits, and against the background of major shareholders. From the outset, to launch diversification. They were also growing demand for better amusement these railway companies were required less monopolistic than in Tokyo and were facilities. As they accumulated know- to give special consideration to the capi- competing both with the government rail- how, their management practice changed tal return, so they tried to increase rev- ways and with other private electric rail- to risking their own capital in the facili- enues and earnings. ways. ties which they leased to professional op- The subsequent development of amuse- Other bases for business diversification erators, first on a fixed-charge rental basis, ment parks by railway companies is were the undeveloped amusement facili- and next on a percentage-of-income ba- shown in Table 1. The next section briefly ties that were already quite common in sis; finally they changed to direct invest- describes the key pioneers in the man- the Kansai area, as well as the arrival of ment in and management of their own agement of amusement parks of three new managers with new ideas. permanent facilities. This is exemplified railway companies in the Kansai area— After the 17 major trunk-line railway by Hanshin’s amusement park, which was Nankai, Hanshin, and Hankyu. companies disappeared due to the na- first managed jointly by Hanshin and lo- tionalization of railways in 1906 (JRTR cal contractors and then changed partly Koreaki Otsuka (1864–1928) 2, pp 34–37), the short-distance electric to direct management by Hanshin. —Pioneer in railway diversification railway companies in the Kansai area Thus, the low-risk temporary recreational daringly changed their articles of asso- facilities in the 1900s (most of which were Koreaki Otsuka, manager of Sanuki Rail- ciation to start management of amuse- seasonal, built on leased land and man- way and Nankai Railway, was the eldest ment parks, etc., in earnest. At Hanshin aged by contractors) changed in the 1910s son to Migaku Otsuka, a well-known rail- Electric Railway, the board of directors to large permanent facilities under direct way investor and ‘hard driver of rolling decided that managing new businesses management and requiring huge invest- stock’ who advocated maximum use of related to the railway business would ment. railways to seek full profits. Koreaki stud- promote the growth of its main line of The Takarazuka Amusement Park, which ied theology and served as a pastor at a business. In October 1907, the articles has various amusement functions, can be church in Osaka. Inspired by Hikojiro of association were changed to permit seen as a general and innovative amuse- Nakamigawa who had studied manage- leasing of land and buildings and man- ment park, integrating several of the early ment practice in the USA and Europe and agement of recreational facilities. In types of recreational facilities. The who later joined Sanyo Railway with October 1908, Hankyu Corporation (for- Ryounkaku, Shogyo Kurabu, and which Migaku was involved, Koreaki took merly Minoo Arima Electric Railway), Warakuen recreational facilities, which a job as manager at Sanuki Railway—a which had specialized in the transporta- were built using non-railway capital, also small line on Shikoku Island operating in tion business, also changed its articles of had multiple attractions of reasonable size cooperation with Sanyo Railway. To mod- association to include supply of electric- for those days, such as observation plat- ernize his company, he installed a tea ity, management of recreational facilities, forms, restaurants, fishing ponds, show room in the first class, employed young and sale and lease of land and buildings. tents, and athletic grounds. They were women as waitresses, introduced a train Subsequently, Hyogo Electric Railway similar to general amusement parks, but supervisor system and transferred much and many other private railway compa- their large scale required heavy capital of the authority to the train supervisor. He nies made similar changes to their articles expenditure. Many of these facilities were built the Takamatsu Hotel at the of association. short-lived because their owners had Takamatsu Terminal, financed with the lower fund-raising and customer mobiliz- help of local capital and managed by an ing abilities than railway companies. In affiliated company. In addition, he built comparison, railway companies had large an aquarium and other recreational facili- capital and good credit. Moreover, they ties at both the Takamatsu and Kotohira

30 Japan Railway & Transport Review • March 1998 Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Table 1 Outline of Early Amusement Facilities (excluding Hot Springs) constructed by Private Railway Companies (1899–1924)

Year Bathing Botanical Recreational Athletic Zoological Inn/ Name Constructor opened resort Aquarium garden facility facility garden restaurant Remarks Baishinji Bathing Resort Iyo Railway 1899 ○ ● ● Hot bath Kotohira Aquarium Sanuki Railway 1901 ○� Hamadera Amusement Park Nankai Railway 1904 ○ ○ ○ ○ Swimming school Uchide Bathing Resort Hanshin ER 1905 ○ Swimming school� Naruo Hyakkaen Tatsuuma/Hanshin ER 1906 ◎○� Koro-en Private/Hanshin ER 1907 ○ ◎ ○ ○ ○ Museum Ashiya Park Seido Village/Hanshin ER 1907 ○ ○ ○� Nagano Park Koya Railway 1908 ◎ ○� Tannowa Park Nankai Railway 1908 ○� Tamate Park Kanan Railway 1908 ○� Haneda Athletic Ground Keihin ER 1909 ○ ○ ○� Tamagawa Amusement Park Tamagawa ER 1909 ○ ○ Swimming pool � Shinkawa Bathing Resort Iyo Railway 1909 ○ Hot bath � Kori-yuen Keihan ER 1910 ◎○� Suma-yuen Hyogo ER 1910 ◎○ ○ ○ ○� Minoo Zoological Garden Minoo Arima ER 1910 ○ ○� Shimao-yuen Chuetsu Railway 1911 ○ ○ ○ Hot bath � (Takarazuka New Hot Spring) Minoo Arima ER 1911 ● ○ ○ ○ ○ Theatre � (Gora-en) Odawara ER 1911 ○ ○ Hot spring � Ohama Shioyu Hankai ER 1912 ◎ ○ ○ Hot seawater bath/ theatre � Chishin-en Matsuyama ER 1912 ○ ○ ○ � Shinmaiko Park Shinmaiko Real Estate/ 1912 ○ ● ○ ○ Bath � Aichi ER � Ohno Bathing Resort Aichi ER 1912 ○ ○ Bathing resort� Hirakata Park Keihan ER 1912 ◎� Toyonaka Athletic Ground Minoo Arima ER 1913 ○� Kagetsuen Private/Keihin Railway 1913 ○ ○ Theatre � Naruo Athletic Ground Hanshin ER 1913 ○ Swimming pool � Shin-Suma Bathing Resort Mikawa Railway 1913 ○� Kamoike Zoological Garden Kagoshima ER 1916 ○� Noryoen Nagasaki ER 1918 ○ ○� (temporary establishment) � Tokaen Keisei ER 1919 ○ ○ Local product shops � Yahiko Park Echigo Railway 1921 ○ ○ ○� Inage Bathing Resort Keisei ER 1921 ○ ○� Arakawa Park Business/Oji ER 1922 ○ ○ ○� Keihan Ground Keihan ER 1922 � Hamanomiya Ground Kobe-Himeji ER 1924 ○ ○� Koshien Baseball Park Hanshin ER 1924 ● ● ○ ● ● Hot seawater baths

Notes: ( ) Hot spring ○ Installed in Meiji or Taisho Era ● Installed later ◎ Chrysanthemum dolls displayed ER Electric Railway

Sources: The Railway Times of Japan, 1899–; companies’ histories; period guidebooks and maps

terminals. The Sanuki Business Newspa- per established in 1902 and financed by the Otsuka family and other directors was another affiliate. In 1905, Koreaki became Senior Manag- ing Director at Nankai Railway in south Osaka. Following the example of Ritsurin Park, a popular tourist spot on the Sanuki Line, he strived to improve the public parks along the Nankai Line; he rented part of the publicly-owned Hamadera Park to build a playground, and entrusted the Osaka Hotel to run a restaurant on the rented land. Next, he installed athletic equipment and opened a public hall. In the next year, he founded a swimming school in cooperation with a major news- paper company in Osaka. After that, he went on to expand the recreational Water shoot at Koro-en Amusement Park in Nishinomiya, Setsu (Kobe Shimbun Publishing Center) grounds along the Nankai Line. Unlike his father, Koreaki promoted diversifica- installed various recreational facilities in Ichizo Kobayashi (1873–1957) tion of his company. He was called Koro-en to attract passengers. Hanshin and Hankyu Takarazuka ‘a genius at attracting passengers’. followed Imanishi’s recommendations Amusement Park and published An Exhortation to Living Rinzaburo Imanishi (1852–1924) in the Suburbs in 1908, and also started After the nationalization of Hankaku Rail- —Constructor of publishing the magazine Suburban Life in way (now JR Takarazuka Line), Minoo Koro-en Amusement Park 1914. Hanshin actually preceded Hankyu Arima Electric Railway (now Hankyu Cor- both in the development of amusement poration) was founded at the initiative of In 1907, Rinzaburo Imanishi, a railway parks and in suburban housing. the Hankaku board of directors to take investor and manager at Sanyo Railway, Stimulated partly by Hanshin, Hankyu advantage of the permit for Hankaku to became Senior Managing Director at rushed into aggressive development of the run on to Umeda in Osaka. Like the Hanshin Electric Railway—the first met- areas along its line. Hanshin eventually Hokkaido Tanko Railway, which re- ropolitan electric railway connecting became less active in the development of mained in existence as a shipping com- Osaka and Kobe. In line with prior policy, directly-managed amusement parks and pany, Hankaku had plans to separate its he strived to build amusement parks, etc., housing, which bears more risk and takes steamship division into another company near the line. From around 1896, two more effort, opting instead for stability called Hankaku Steamship and to open Osaka investors purchased about 25 hec- resulting from the increasing numbers of new steamer lines. The planned destina- tares of hillside forest on the north side of customers using the well-located line, and tions were Minoo, and the famous Arima what is now Hanshin Koro-en Station. In more people living in the suburbs. Sub- Hot Spring. However, the plan came to a 1907, they opened Koro-en Amusement sequently, successive Hanshin manage- standstill. Eventually, Ichizo Kobayashi, Park on the site(c). Hanshin had been plan- ments have stuck to conservative policies an ingenious subordinate to Iwashita ning to build an amusement park some- believing that they could eliminate risk Seishu during his days at Mitsui Bank, took where along the line modelled after parks forever by limiting themselves to their over management of Hankyu with the in the USA and Europe, and the board of densely-populated, highly-profitable busi- backing of Iwashita who was by then directors was searching for a suitable site. ness area. Ironically, the recent Great working at Kitahama Bank. Eventually, they decided to tie up with Hanshin Earthquake (1995) turned out to Takarazuka was then a modest place with other amusement parks being planned in be a bolt from the blue for them. only a few small inns and a cold spring on the locality, including Koro-en, Naruo, the way to the Arima Hot Spring terminal. Uchide, and Ashiya. In addition, Hanshin Kobayashi temporarily shelved the idea of

32 Japan Railway & Transport Review • March 1998 Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Takarazuka New Hot Spring in 1911 (Author) extending the line to Arima due in part to Kobayashi, who was described as a model at Ikeda New Town near Osaka, leading financial problems, and suggested joint of railway company diversification, also Hankyu into the real estate business. development of Takarazuka to local busi- initiated development of Ikeda New Town, Hankyu, which was initially a second- nesses with the aim of attracting tourists. regarded as the origin of large-scale sub- ranked excursion railway company, had Although the local enterprises declined to urban housing development by corpora- a strong rivalry with Hanshin, which was cooperate, he purchased reclaimed land tions in Japan. In addition, he opened a favourably located and operating as a first- at Mukogawa and opened Takarazuka Hot Hankyu market in Umeda. ranked company. The two were both fi- Spring in 1911. A fashionable indoor swim- The other leading metropolitan private nanced by Kitahama Bank. Therefore, ming pool was constructed as a facility at- railway companies, like Hanshin and Kobayashi’s performance was always tached to the new spring, but it was a Keihan, secured stable profits by monopo- evaluated against Hanshin by the major complete failure because the water was too lizing the electricity supply business along shareholders, and he must have felt his cold and mixed bathing was frowned on their lines. As a result, they became less company could be taken over by Hanshin at the time. Kobayashi then covered the adventurous in entering other business at any time. His obsession to catch up closed pool with planks and rebuilt it into areas. Latecomers like Hankyu and Osaka with Hanshin was the driving force be- a hall, organizing a performing girls cho- Electric Railway (now Kintetsu), found it hind Hankyu’s diversification. He once rus emulating the boys musical band at difficult to break into the electricity sup- recalled the past by saying, ‘My “I’ll show Mitsukoshi Department Store. This was the ply business, so they entered businesses you!” sense of rivalry made Hankyu what origin of the present well-known such as real estate and department stores. it is now.’ Takarazuka Operetta Troupe. After re- Kobayashi had learned the essence of fi- We can say that the mutual rivalry be- peated trials and errors, Takarazuka finally nancial planning and investment while tween Hanshin and Hankyu, which have established itself as a general amusement working at Mitsui Bank, so he attempted completely different corporate cultures, park with more than 10 types of recre- to improve the low rate of return of the made an enormous contribution to the ational facilities. excursion railway by selling housing lots development of the urban areas along

their two lines. Kobayashi’s innovative management tech- niques had a significant effect on railway companies throughout Japan. His ideas spread to the Mekama Railway and Toyoko Railway (now Tokyu) in Tokyo— Due to copyright issues, the original photo cannot be shown. Kobayashi was involved in the management of these two companies—and to many other railway companies as well. The Takarazuka Operetta Troupe was mimicked many times. For example, Awagasaki Amusement Park in the suburbs of Kanazawa City (Sea-of-Japan coast) established the Awagasaki Girls’ Operetta Troupe with the help of mem- bers of the Takarazuka Operetta Troupe. The Takarazuka Troupe was so popular Takarazuka posters from September (top) and October 1925 that photographs and postcards of the girls were sold nationwide, and their songs were big hits. I

Notes: (a) This was where the Japanese legal principle con- cerning the abuse of power was established. While the company was laying a pipe from the spring head to the Unazuki hot-spring resort, the landowner filed suit against construction of the pipeline. The court decided in favour of the com- Due to copyright issues, the original photo cannot be shown. pany stating that the pipe was reasonably ex- pected to improve the welfare of the Unazuki area. (b) Isao Ogawa, Expansion of Tourist Facilities & Recreation Parks & Beginning of Diversifica- tion by Private Railways Cos. in Japan, Tetsudoshigaku, (Japan Railway History Review) No. 13, Dec, 1994. (c) Isao Ogawa, The Hanshin Electric Railway Co.,

Ltd.-from the Viewpoint of the Roles of the Ur- Takarazuka Mon-Paris review troupe in 1927 ban Pioneer in the Recreation Parks and Devel- opment at the Hanshin Area, edited by Tadashi Uda, Katsusuke Asaka, Kyozo Takechi, in Isao Ogawa Mintetsu keiei no rekishi to bunka (The History and Culture of the Private Railways Manage- Isao Ogawa has been Professor of Business History at Shiga University since 1993. After graduating from Kobe University in 1968, he joined Nippon Life Insurance Co. (Nissei) where he was the Chief ment), Vols. of West Japan, Kokon Shoin, 1995, Economist at the NLI Research Institute, later becoming General Manager of the Industrial Research pp 167–188. Department in 1992. He was Visiting Professor at Kyushu University in 1990.