Katsuko Saruhashi (猿橋 勝子, Saruhashi Katsuko; March 22, 1920 – September 29, 2007) was a Japanese geochemist who created…
Katsuko Saruhashi (猿橋 勝子, Saruhashi Katsuko; March 22, 1920 – September 29, 2007) was a Japanese geochemist who created tools that let her take some of the first measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in seawater. She later showed evidence of the dangers of radioactive fallout and how far it can travel. Along with this focus on safety, she also researched peaceful uses of nuclear power. Her other major area of significance involved raising the number and status of women scientists, especially in Japan. She established both the Society of Japanese Women Scientists and the Saruhashi Prize, which is awarded annually to a female scientist who serves as a role model for younger women scientists. Among her other honors, she was the first woman elected to the Science Council of Japan, to earn a doctorate in chemistry from the prestigious University of Tokyo, and to win the Miyake Prize for Geochemistry.
Famous People Born in March
March: 1,852 people
Kita Rentarō (北廉太郎) (also known as Kita Kan (紀多寛); born Kita Koretsugu (紀太惟次); March 20, 1920 – September 16, 1940) was…
Kita Rentarō (北廉太郎) (also known as Kita Kan (紀多寛); born Kita Koretsugu (紀太惟次); March 20, 1920 – September 16, 1940) was a Japanese ryūkōka singer. He was popularly known as Kitaren (キタレン). Tending towards delinquency in adolescence, Kita dropped out of school in 1936 and began to train as a boxer. His father's death soon after, as well as encouragement from Kikuchi Tansui, caused him to pursue singing as a vocation instead. In 1937, Kita made his recording debut on Taihei Records; he moved to the Japanese branch of Polydor Records the following year. After initial success, his career stalled. He died from leukemia in 1940 after a rapid decline in his health.
Flight Petty Officer Third Class Hajime Toyoshima (豊嶋 一, Toyoshima Hajime; 29 March 1920 – 5 August 1944) was a…
Flight Petty Officer Third Class Hajime Toyoshima (豊嶋 一, Toyoshima Hajime; 29 March 1920 – 5 August 1944) was a Japanese airman in World War II. His A6M Zero was the first of that type to be recovered relatively intact on Allied territory (after those recovered after the attack on Pearl Harbor) when he crash landed on Melville Island, Northern Territory, Australia. Toyoshima was the first Japanese prisoner of war to be captured in Australia. In August 1944, while a POW in rural New South Wales, Toyoshima was one of the instigators of the Cowra breakout, sounding a bugle to signal the commencement of the escape, and died during the fight.
Takeo Doi (土居 健郎, Doi Takeo; March 17, 1920 – July 5, 2009) was a Japanese academic, psychoanalyst and author.
Mitsuko Mito (水戸光子, Mito Mitsuko; 23 March 1919 – 5 April 1981) was a Japanese actress. She appeared in more than 150…
Mitsuko Mito (水戸光子, Mito Mitsuko; 23 March 1919 – 5 April 1981) was a Japanese actress. She appeared in more than 150 films between 1935 and 1973 under the direction of filmmakers like Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujirō Ozu and Kaneto Shindō.
Toshio Ōta (太田 敏夫, Ōta Toshio; 20 March 1919 – 21 October 1942) was a World War II Japanese fighter ace. In early 1942…
Toshio Ōta (太田 敏夫, Ōta Toshio; 20 March 1919 – 21 October 1942) was a World War II Japanese fighter ace. In early 1942, at the age of 22, he flew a Mitsubishi A6M Zero with the Lae-based Tainan Air Group. There the young petty officer, 1st class became one of the so-called "Clean-up Trio" of Japanese aces, along with his squadron mates Saburo Sakai and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa. Ōta's first confirmed kill, of a U.S. Army Air Force P-40E Warhawk, was over New Guinea on April 11, 1942. Transferred to Rabaul in August, Ōta was killed in a dogfight with U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F4F Wildcats over Guadalcanal on October 21, shortly after shooting down a Wildcat himself. His victorious opponent is believed to be 1st Lt. Frank C. Drury of VMF-212. Ōta is credited with 34 victories, making him the Imperial Japanese Navy's fourth-ranking ace. In his autobiography, Sakai described Ōta as outgoing and amiable, in contrast to the more reserved Nishizawa, and said he would have been "more at home in a nightclub" than in Lae.
Akihiro Tsukatani (塚谷 晃弘; 16 March 1919 in Tokyo - 13 October 1995) was a Japanese composer. Among his many…
Akihiro Tsukatani (塚谷 晃弘; 16 March 1919 in Tokyo - 13 October 1995) was a Japanese composer. Among his many compositions are three operas Pongo (1965), Ajatasatru (1966), and Kakitsubata (1967).
Kenichi Hirosawa (広沢 賢一, Hirosawa Kenichi; 15 March 1919 – 15 February 2003) was a Japanese politician and political…
Kenichi Hirosawa (広沢 賢一, Hirosawa Kenichi; 15 March 1919 – 15 February 2003) was a Japanese politician and political activist. He was a member of the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) and served one term in the House of Representatives.
Haruo Wada (Japanese: 和田春生; 15 March 1919 – 17 October 1999) was a Japanese trade unionist and politician. Wada joined…
Haruo Wada (Japanese: 和田春生; 15 March 1919 – 17 October 1999) was a Japanese trade unionist and politician. Wada joined the Japanese Merchant Navy in 1939. He was a founding member of the All-Japan Seamen's Union in 1945. Starting in 1948, he worked full-time for the union as an organizer. In 1950, he was a founding member of the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan, and worked for it as a permanent secretary. He was opposed to its increasingly left-wing stance. In 1954, he helped found the All-Japan Trade Union Congress (Zenro) split, and was appointed as its general secretary. In 1964, Zenro became part of the Japanese Confederation of Labour, and he became its vice president. In 1965, he additionally served as president of the ICFTU Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation, and served until his resignation in 1968. Wada was a member of the Democratic Socialist Party, and in 1969 he was elected to the House of Representatives, serving until 1972. From 1974 until 1979, he served in the House of Councillors.
Tsutomu Mizukami (水上勉, Mizukami Tsutomu; 8 March 1919 – 8 September 2004), also known as Tsutomu Minakami, was a…
Tsutomu Mizukami (水上勉, Mizukami Tsutomu; 8 March 1919 – 8 September 2004), also known as Tsutomu Minakami, was a Japanese writer of novels, biographies, and plays. Mizukami's major works include The Temple of the Wild Geese, Kiga kaikyō and Bamboo Dolls of Echizen. His writings earned him, among other awards, the Tanizaki Prize and the Naoki Prize.
Kiichi Yoshida (吉田 喜一, Yoshida Kiichi; 6 March 1919 – 21 December 1944) was a Japanese swimmer. He competed in the…
Kiichi Yoshida (吉田 喜一, Yoshida Kiichi; 6 March 1919 – 21 December 1944) was a Japanese swimmer. He competed in the men's 100 metre backstroke at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was killed in action during World War II.
Tadahito "Tad" Mochinaga (持永 只仁, Mochinaga Tadahito; March 3, 1919 – April 1, 1999) was a pioneer Japanese stop-motion…
Tadahito "Tad" Mochinaga (持永 只仁, Mochinaga Tadahito; March 3, 1919 – April 1, 1999) was a pioneer Japanese stop-motion animator. Having done many stop motion films in Japan, he is best known as the animator for Rankin/Bass' "Animagic" productions at his MOM Production Studio in Tokyo throughout the 1960s. He did this work in association with American director Arthur Rankin, Jr. who wrote and designed the productions before sending them to Japan for animation. In 1945, Mochinaga traveled to Xinjing in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo set up in occupied China, to work at the Manchukuo Film Association. He stayed in China after the war and from 1950, he spent three years in Shanghai working on such films as Thank You, Kitty. He is perhaps the only major artist of the era to have worked in both the Chinese and Japanese animation industries.
Takashi Kasahara (笠原 隆, Kasahara Takashi; born 26 March 1918) was a Japanese football player. He played for the Japan…
Takashi Kasahara (笠原 隆, Kasahara Takashi; born 26 March 1918) was a Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team.
Kazu Naoki (直木 和, Naoki Kazu; March 23, 1918 – 1940s) was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.
Momoko Hirotsu (広津 桃子, Hirotsu Momoko; 21 March 1918 – 24 November 1988) was a Japanese novelist. She was the daughter…
Momoko Hirotsu (広津 桃子, Hirotsu Momoko; 21 March 1918 – 24 November 1988) was a Japanese novelist. She was the daughter of Kazuo Hirotsu.
Kōzō Masuda (升田 幸三, Masuda Kōzō; March 21, 1918 – April 5, 1991) was a Japanese professional shogi player who achieved…
Kōzō Masuda (升田 幸三, Masuda Kōzō; March 21, 1918 – April 5, 1991) was a Japanese professional shogi player who achieved the rank of 9-dan. He is a former Meijin who was known for playing very creative shogi. For instance, top player Yoshiharu Habu considered Masuda's playing style to be 30 years ahead of its time and the origin of the modern way to play shogi.
Izuo Nagano (永野 嚴雄, Nagano Izuo; March 20, 1918 – October 8, 1981) was the Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture from 1962…
Izuo Nagano (永野 嚴雄, Nagano Izuo; March 20, 1918 – October 8, 1981) was the Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture from 1962 to 1973. In 1974 was elected as a member of the upper house of the Japanese parliament.
Yasuji Hondo (本堂 保次, Hondō Yasuji; March 18, 1918 - June 8, 1997) was a Nippon Professional Baseball second baseman and…
Yasuji Hondo (本堂 保次, Hondō Yasuji; March 18, 1918 - June 8, 1997) was a Nippon Professional Baseball second baseman and manager. He received the Best Nine Award as a second baseman in 1950.
Mutsuo Sugimura (杉浦 睦夫, Sugiura Mutsuo; March 13, 1918 – August 26, 1986) was a Japanese engineer famous for being the…
Mutsuo Sugimura (杉浦 睦夫, Sugiura Mutsuo; March 13, 1918 – August 26, 1986) was a Japanese engineer famous for being the first to develop a Gastro-camera (a present-day Esophagogastroduodenoscope). His story was illustrated in the NHK TV documentary feature, "Project X: Challengers: The Development of a Gastro-camera Wholly Made in Japan". Sugiura graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic University in 1938 and then joined Olympus Corporation. While working at this company, he first developed an Esophagogastroduodenoscope in 1950. He died in 1986 at the age of 68.
Tadahiko Hayashi (Japanese: 林 忠彦, Hepburn: Hayashi Tadahiko; 1918–1990) was a Japanese photographer noted for a wide…
Tadahiko Hayashi (Japanese: 林 忠彦, Hepburn: Hayashi Tadahiko; 1918–1990) was a Japanese photographer noted for a wide range of work including documentary (particularly genre scenes of the period immediately after the war) and portraiture.
Shin'ichirō Nakamura (中村 真一郎, Nakamura Shin'ichirō; March 5, 1918 – December 25, 1997) was a Japanese author.
Shionoumi Unemon (born Tado Kishimoto; 1 March 1918 – 18 July 1983) was a sumo wrestler from Himeji, Japan. He made his…
Shionoumi Unemon (born Tado Kishimoto; 1 March 1918 – 18 July 1983) was a sumo wrestler from Himeji, Japan. He made his professional debut in January 1938, reaching the top makuuchi division in January 1943. His highest rank was ōzeki, which he held in two spells from June 1947 until October 1948, and again from January 1950 until his retirement in May 1951. He then became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and worked as a coach at Dewanoumi stable until reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65 in 1983. He died later in the same year.
Tōru Abe (安部 徹, Abe Tōru; 28 March 1917 – 18 July 1993) was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films…
Tōru Abe (安部 徹, Abe Tōru; 28 March 1917 – 18 July 1993) was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1944 to 1985.
Kakuzo Kawamoto (河本 嘉久蔵, kawamoto Kakuzo; 27 March 1917 – 24 March 1990) was a Japanese business executive and…
Kakuzo Kawamoto (河本 嘉久蔵, kawamoto Kakuzo; 27 March 1917 – 24 March 1990) was a Japanese business executive and politician.
Renzaburō Shibata (柴田錬三郎, Shibata Renzaburō; March 26, 1917 – June 30, 1978) was a Japanese author and Sinologist. He…
Renzaburō Shibata (柴田錬三郎, Shibata Renzaburō; March 26, 1917 – June 30, 1978) was a Japanese author and Sinologist. He graduated from Keio University and won the Naoki Prize in 1951 for Iesu no Ei (lit. Descendant of Jesus). He is famous for Nemuri Kyōshirō, a series of jidaigeki novels. He also published a new Japanese translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin.
Shinichi Maki (牧 真一, Maki Shin'ichi) (26 March 1917 – 1977) was a Japanese fencer. He competed in the individual foil…
Shinichi Maki (牧 真一, Maki Shin'ichi) (26 March 1917 – 1977) was a Japanese fencer. He competed in the individual foil, épée and sabre events at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Takashi Mukaibo (向坊 隆, Mukaibō Takashi; 24 March 1917 – 4 July 2002) was a Japanese chemist and nuclear engineer.…
Takashi Mukaibo (向坊 隆, Mukaibō Takashi; 24 March 1917 – 4 July 2002) was a Japanese chemist and nuclear engineer. Appointed as the first science attaché at the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. in 1954, Mukaibo played a significant role in coordinating the atomic energy agreement with the United States. After returning to Japan, he became dean of the School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo. He served as the university's president from 1977 to 1981. Mukaibo is considered a pioneer in the field of use of nuclear energy in Japan. He promoted nuclear power generation for his entire career and served as chairman of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum from 1992 to 2000.
Shinsuke Ashida (芦田伸介, Ashida Shinsuke; 14 March 1914 – 10 January 1999) was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than…
Shinsuke Ashida (芦田伸介, Ashida Shinsuke; 14 March 1914 – 10 January 1999) was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1952 and 1996.
Hong Jin-Ki (Korean: 홍진기; Hanja: 洪璡基; Japanese: 德山 進一, romanized: Tokuyama Shin'ichi; 13 March 1917 – 13 July 1986) was…
Hong Jin-Ki (Korean: 홍진기; Hanja: 洪璡基; Japanese: 德山 進一, romanized: Tokuyama Shin'ichi; 13 March 1917 – 13 July 1986) was a South Korean media mogul, jurist and politician of Syngman Rhee's government who served as the 9th Minister of Justice from 1958 to 1960.
Takehiko Yanagi (born 28 March 1916, date of death unknown) was a Japanese field hockey player. He competed in the…
Takehiko Yanagi (born 28 March 1916, date of death unknown) was a Japanese field hockey player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Yanagi is deceased.
Tokiko Iwatani (岩谷時子, Iwatani Tokiko; March 28, 1916 – October 25, 2013) was a Japanese lyricist, poet, and translator.…
Tokiko Iwatani (岩谷時子, Iwatani Tokiko; March 28, 1916 – October 25, 2013) was a Japanese lyricist, poet, and translator. Born Tokiko Iwatani (岩谷トキ子, Iwatani Tokiko) in Seoul, Korea, she moved with her family to Japan at the age of 5, where they settled in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. After attending schools in her hometown she entered the English Literature Department of Kobe College, and graduated in 1939. She then joined the publishing department of the Takarazuka Revue, where she became acquainted with the future star Fubuki Koshiji. When Koshiji decided to leave the revue in 1951 to join Tōei and become an actress and singer, Iwatani also quit the company, and moved to Tokyo with Koshiji, whose manager she was for about 30 years, until Koshiji died in 1980. After becoming a full-time independent lyricist in 1963, she wrote the lyrics to or translated over 3000 songs, for singers or groups including The Peanuts, Yūzō Kayama, Frank Nagai, Hiromi Go, and translated the lyrics of, among others, Hymne à l'amour, Save the Last Dance for Me, Million Roses, My Way, and the musicals Kiss Me, Kate, Anne of Green Gables – The Musical, Me and My Girl, and Les Misérables. In 2010 she established the Iwatani Tokiko Foundation, which awards the annual ¥3,000,000 yen Iwatani Tokiko Award. She died in October 2013 from pneumonia.
Tadashige Habe (Japanese: 波部 忠重, March 21, 1916 – December 29, 2001) was a Japanese malacologist and zoologist. He…
Tadashige Habe (Japanese: 波部 忠重, March 21, 1916 – December 29, 2001) was a Japanese malacologist and zoologist. He served as honorary president of the Malacological Society of Japan and honorary member of the Zoological Society of Japan. Habe was a leading figure in Japanese malacology during the latter half of the 20th century, describing over 1,600 taxa (families, genera, and species). He was also known for his mentorship of both professional and amateur researchers. Together with Tokubei Kuroda and Katsura Oyama, he co-authored Shells of Sagami Bay (1971), based on specimens collected by Emperor Shōwa.
Shōgyo Ōba (大場松魚, Ōba Shōgyo; March 15, 1916 – June 21, 2012) was a Japanese maki-e lacquer artist. He began practicing…
Shōgyo Ōba (大場松魚, Ōba Shōgyo; March 15, 1916 – June 21, 2012) was a Japanese maki-e lacquer artist. He began practicing the art of maki-e lacquerware in Kanazawa in 1945. Shōgyo was named a Living National Treasure of Japan in 1982 for his expertise in maki-e lacquerware. Shōgyo was born Ōba Katsuo on March 15, 1916, in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. His grandfather had established the family lacquer business. Shōgyo graduated from Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial School, where he studied painting and design. Shōgyo then became an apprentice of Matsuda Gonroku in Tokyo. He especially skilled in the technique of hyōmon, in which pieces of gold or silver cut lead are attached to decorative objects, often to round objects, such as vases, which can be difficult to apply this technique. Shogyo restored the gold and lacquer decorations of Chūson-ji Konjiki-dō. a 10th-century Buddhist temple in Hiraizumi, Iwate, in 1964. Shōgyo Ōba died on June 21, 2012, at the age of 96.
Shigeru Kurita (栗田 茂, Kurita Shigeru; March 15, 1916 – March 8, 1995), known by his pen name Junpei Gomikawa (五味川 純平…
Shigeru Kurita (栗田 茂, Kurita Shigeru; March 15, 1916 – March 8, 1995), known by his pen name Junpei Gomikawa (五味川 純平, Gomikawa Junpei), was a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his 1958 World War II novel The Human Condition (Ningen no joken), which became a best seller. The novel became the basis for Masaki Kobayashi's film trilogy The Human Condition as well as a radio drama. His eighteen-volume novel Men and War (Senso to ningen), formed the basis for Satsuo Yamamoto's 1970–1973 film trilogy of the same name.
Aida Yūji (会田 雄次; 5 March 1916 – 17 September 1997) was a Japanese historian specialising in the Renaissance. He was…
Aida Yūji (会田 雄次; 5 March 1916 – 17 September 1997) was a Japanese historian specialising in the Renaissance. He was active as a conservative thinker, commentator and major exponent of the Nihonjinron. He was born in Kyōto on 5 March 1916. He graduated from Kyoto University in 1940 and had his master's degree in history interrupted in 1943, when he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army. He participated in the Burma campaign of 1944 as an infantryman. He surrendered to the British Army at the war's end and was detained at a prisoner-of-war camp in the British colony of Burma. His experiences in the camp are described in his best-selling memoir, Aaron Shūyōjo (1962). Upon his repatriation in 1947, he began to teach at Kobe University. He was appointed full professor at Kyoto University's Humanities Department in 1952. He retired from the university in 1979, when he became an emeritus professor. He died of pneumonia on 17 September 1997.
Takeshi Araki (荒木 武, Araki Takeshi; 4 March 1916 – 15 June 1994) was a Japanese politician who served as the Mayor of…
Takeshi Araki (荒木 武, Araki Takeshi; 4 March 1916 – 15 June 1994) was a Japanese politician who served as the Mayor of Hiroshima from 1975 to 1991. In April 1947, he was elected as member of the Hiroshima city council, and as member of the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly in 1951.
Ichirō Arishima (有島 一郎, Arishima Ichirō; March 1, 1916 – July 20, 1987) was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed…
Ichirō Arishima (有島 一郎, Arishima Ichirō; March 1, 1916 – July 20, 1987) was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed "The Japanese Chaplin", he is best known outside Japan for his appearance as Tako, the promoter of King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).
Hwang Sun-wŏn (Korean: 황순원; March 26, 1915 – September 14, 2000) was a Korean short story writer, novelist, and poet.
Tsutomu Sekido (関戸 力, Sekido Tsutomu; March 25, 1915 – November 23, 1987) was a Japanese alpine, cross-country, and…
Tsutomu Sekido (関戸 力, Sekido Tsutomu; March 25, 1915 – November 23, 1987) was a Japanese alpine, cross-country, and Nordic combined skier who competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics. In 1936 he participated in the alpine skiing combined event. He finished 46th in the downhill race, in the slalom he was not allowed to start in the second run. At the same Olympics he finished 55th in the 18 km cross-country competition. As a member of the Japanese team he finished twelfth in the first ever held cross-country relay contest. In the Nordic combined event he finished 35th.
Sunao Ishiharada (石原田 愿, Ishiharada Sunao; March 24, 1915 – 1987) was a Japanese freestyle swimmer who competed in the…
Sunao Ishiharada (石原田 愿, Ishiharada Sunao; March 24, 1915 – 1987) was a Japanese freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics and in the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was born in Kagoshima Prefecture. In 1932 he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 1500 metre freestyle event. Four years later he finished fourth in the 1500 metre freestyle competition.
Michihiro Ito (born 20 March 1915, date of death unknown) was a Japanese field hockey player. He competed in the men's…
Michihiro Ito (born 20 March 1915, date of death unknown) was a Japanese field hockey player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Kunihiko Kodaira (小平 邦彦, Kodaira Kunihiko; Japanese pronunciation: [kodaꜜiɾa kɯɲiꜜçi̥ko], 16 March 1915 – 26 July 1997)…
Kunihiko Kodaira (小平 邦彦, Kodaira Kunihiko; Japanese pronunciation: [kodaꜜiɾa kɯɲiꜜçi̥ko], 16 March 1915 – 26 July 1997) was a Japanese mathematician known for distinguished work in algebraic geometry and the theory of complex manifolds, and as the founder of the Japanese school of algebraic geometers. He was awarded a Fields Medal in 1954, being the first Japanese national to receive this honour.
Satoshi Matsui (12 March 1915 – 1 August 1995) was a Japanese basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at…
Satoshi Matsui (12 March 1915 – 1 August 1995) was a Japanese basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He later served as vice president of the Japan Basketball Association.
Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa (March 8, 1915 – October 7, 1992) was an eminent Japanese American scholar in religious studies.…
Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa (March 8, 1915 – October 7, 1992) was an eminent Japanese American scholar in religious studies. He was professor emeritus and dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is considered one of the founders of the field of the history of religions. He is known for his contributions to the study of religious traditions in Asia and intercultural understanding of the East and the West. Kitagawa was born in Osaka Prefecture. He graduated from Rikkyo University in Tokyo in 1937. He came to the United States to study theology in 1941. During World War II, Kitagawa was interned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center at Hunt, Idaho, where he remained until October 1945. He received his B.D. from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in 1947. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and joined the faculty of the Divinity School in 1951. He became a U.S. citizen in 1955. Kitagawa was a founding editor of History of Religions. He served as president of the American Society for the Study of Religions from 1960 to 1972 and Vice President of the International Association for the History of Religions from 1975 to 1985. He was a visiting professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Tokyo, and Koyasan University. His wife, Evelyn M. Kitagawa, was a sociologist, and his daughter, Anne Rose Kitagawa, became a notable curator of Asian art.
Yōichi Midorikawa (緑川 洋一, Midorikawa Yōichi; 1915–2001), birth name Satoshi Yokoyama (横山 知), was a Japanese…
Yōichi Midorikawa (緑川 洋一, Midorikawa Yōichi; 1915–2001), birth name Satoshi Yokoyama (横山 知), was a Japanese photographer from Okayama prefecture, Japan, who became one of postwar Japan's leading figures in color landscape photography. He first took up the camera after graduating middle school in Okayama, but his father forced him into studying Dentistry. He returned to photography as a hobby around the same time he opened his own dentil clinic in 1937. Throughout his life, he maintained his base in Okayama. He later joined the Chūgoku Photographers Group, alongside figures such as Shoji Ueda, and Ginryūsha with Tadahiko Hayashi and Shōtarō Akiyama. HIs first work appear in monthly photo competitions in the 1930s. His early work, produced during the Pacific war, focused on photojournalism, followed by documentary photography depicting fishing villages, salt fields, rural communities around the Seto Inland Sea, and Osaka Merchant districts. From the 1950s onward, however, he turned to experimental forms of expression, employing techniques such as multiple exposure, long exposure, photomontage, filter works, and special film processing to create his dreamlike landscapes. He began using color film in the early 1960s, before it had come into widespread use. His breakthrough came with the1962 photobook Seto Inland Sea / Setonaikai, which won several awards from the Japan Photo Critics Association and the Photographic Society of Japan Award. Thereafter, he continued his exploration of landscape photography, taking photos of Japanese national parks and other natural sites throughout Japan. He is often described as a “magician of color.” Over the course of his career, he published more than seventy photobooks. Midorikawa's photographs have been widely exhibited in Japan and internationally, and his works are represented in major public collections such as the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, the Yokohama Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum. And the Bibliothèque national de France. Midorikawa's photographs were included in Donald Richie's travel memoir titled, The Inland Sea, about the region and its disappearing traditions. The exhibition Midorikawa Yoichi and his Circle: The Early Years, 1938-59, held at the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art in 2005, sought to reexamine Midorikawa's early works in order to trace the process through which he developed the richly saturated colors, multiple exposures, and other experimental techniques that culminated in the landscape photographs of the 1960s, earning him the epithet the “magician of color.” Curator Naruhisa Hirose surveys Midorikawa ‘s first appearances in the photography magazine Shashin Salon to his various photo series from the 1950s, and his relationships to contemporaneous photographers including Shoji Ueda, Shōtarō Akiyama, Tadahiko Hayashi, and Takeji Iwamiya.
Kansuke Yamamoto (Japanese: 山本 悍右; 30 March 1914 – 2 April 1987) was a Japanese Surrealist photographer, poet, editor…
Kansuke Yamamoto (Japanese: 山本 悍右; 30 March 1914 – 2 April 1987) was a Japanese Surrealist photographer, poet, editor, and publisher based in Nagoya. Eiko Aoki describes him as a driving force in Japan's avant-garde movement, producing innovative photographs with an uncompromising spirit. Photography historian Ryūichi Kaneko regards the establishment of the 1932 date of Yamamoto's photocollage The Developing Thought of a Human... Mist and Bedroom and as a landmark for understanding the formation and development of modern Japanese photography in the 1930s. Drawing on French Surrealist literature and periodicals, Yamamoto developed a practice that Amanda Maddox and John Solt discuss in terms of interpretation, translation, and dialogue rather than belated imitation of European models. Yamamoto's Surrealist practice also took the form of editing, translation, and publishing. Through Yoru no Funsui, which he founded and edited in 1938, he brought together poetry, photography, translations of French Surrealist writing, and reproduced drawings. The journal ceased publication in 1939 under pressure from the Special Higher Police (Tokkō), and Yamamoto was questioned about the political meaning of his Surrealist photography and poetry. He nevertheless continued Surrealist publishing under wartime conditions through Carnet Bleu, including a Japanese translation of an essay on photography by Philippe Soupault. Maddox argues that Yamamoto resisted pressure to strip Surrealism of provocation, politics, and thought. After the war, Yamamoto continued to pursue Surrealist ideas through collective activity and new photographic forms. He co-founded VIVI in 1947, which Maddox describes as an effort to keep the spirit of Surrealist ideology alive in the postwar period. Jelena Stojković traces Yamamoto's postwar photographic narratives from a pair of self-portraits made in 1949 to staged sequences of the 1950s, including My Thin-Aired Room (1956), in which he appeared as both actor and director. Stojković argues that these experiments made a direct link between Yamamoto's Surrealist background and emerging conceptual and performative uses of photography, and describes his work as a point of reference both for the prewar Japanese avant-garde and for the development of contemporary art and photography in Japan. Kaneko likewise rejects the accepted division of Yamamoto's career into separate prewar and postwar periods, arguing that his postwar work increased in complexity and strength and that modern Japanese photography, despite the interruption of war, should be reconsidered as a continuous and interconnected history. The 2001 retrospective Kansuke Yamamoto: Conveyor of the Impossible at Tokyo Station Gallery became a turning point in the later reassessment of Yamamoto's work. His work was subsequently featured in Japan's Modern Divide at the J. Paul Getty Museum in 2013 and Surrealism Beyond Borders at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Tate Modern in 2021–2022.
Yoshio Shiga (志賀 淑雄, Shiga Yoshio; 1914 – November 25, 2005) was an officer, ace fighter pilot, and leader in the…
Yoshio Shiga (志賀 淑雄, Shiga Yoshio; 1914 – November 25, 2005) was an officer, ace fighter pilot, and leader in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific theater of World War II. At the December 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor, Shiga led one of the aircraft carrier Kaga's fighter divisions during the first strike on American forces on Oahu. The number of his Zero fighter was AII-105. Shiga continued as a fighter division commander on Kaga until April 1942. In May 1942, then Lieutenant Shiga took command of aircraft carrier Jun'yō's fighter group, a post he held until December 1942. During this time, Shiga led the carrier's fighters in the battles of Dutch Harbor and the Santa Cruz Islands. In the latter battle, he attacked the US carriers, USS Hornet (CV-8) and USS Enterprise (CV-6), in which the former was later sunk, while Enterprise was heavily damaged. He subsequently commanded the aircraft carrier Hiyō's fighter group from December 1942 through January 1943 while the carrier was in port in Japan. After promotion to Lieutenant Commander, Shiga was assigned as air officer to the 343rd Air Group which was engaged in homeland defence in Japan, based at Matsuyama Air Base, in December 1944. He was projected to be Air Group Commander aboard the carrier Shinano during her brief time in service, but was not aboard for her fatal delivery voyage; he instead awaited the ship in Kure with the carrier's planned air group. He is famous for his strong objection against the tactic of suicide attack (Kamikaze) and saved the lives of many young Japanese pilots. After the war, Shiga became president of police equipment manufacturer Nobel Kōgyō and made many devices, such as bullet resistant vests, and expandable police batons for Japanese police. He died on 25 November 2005.
Toru Kumon (公文 公, Kumon Tōru; March 26, 1914 – July 25, 1995) was a Japanese mathematics educator. He was born in Kōchi…
Toru Kumon (公文 公, Kumon Tōru; March 26, 1914 – July 25, 1995) was a Japanese mathematics educator. He was born in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the College of Science at Osaka University with a degree in mathematics and taught high school mathematics in his home town of Osaka. In 1954, his son, Takeshi, performed poorly in a Year 2 mathematics test. Prompted by his wife, Teiko, Toru closely examined Takeshi's textbooks and believed they lacked the proper opportunity for a child to practice and master a topic. He wrote worksheets each day for his son. By the time Takeshi was in Year 6, he was able to solve differential and integral calculus. This was the beginning of the Kumon Method of Learning. Other parents became interested in Kumon's ideas, and in 1955, the first Kumon Center was opened in Osaka. In 1958, Toru Kumon founded the Kumon Institute of Education. Toru Kumon died in Osaka on July 25, 1995, at the age of 81 from pneumonia. There is a Toru Kumon museum in Osaka. Asteroid 3569 Kumon is named after him.
Masao Maruyama (丸山 眞男, Maruyama Masao; 22 March 1914 – 15 August 1996) was a leading Japanese political scientist and…
Masao Maruyama (丸山 眞男, Maruyama Masao; 22 March 1914 – 15 August 1996) was a leading Japanese political scientist and political theorist. His expertise lay in the history of Japanese political thought, to which he made major contributions.
Sakae Ōba (大場 栄, Ōba Sakae; 21 March 1914 – 8 June 1992) was an officer of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War…
Sakae Ōba (大場 栄, Ōba Sakae; 21 March 1914 – 8 June 1992) was an officer of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He served in both China and in the Pacific campaign. After Japanese forces were defeated in the Battle of Saipan, he led a group of soldiers and civilians deep into the jungle to evade capture by Allied forces. Under Ōba's leadership, the group survived for over a year after the battle and finally surrendered in December 1945, three months after the war had ended. Following his return to Japan, he became a successful businessman and served on the city council of Gamagōri.