New-York tribune., 1922-11-05

III United States widely fashionable, il
Hl trife vague, idea that Uncle Sam has
a sort Of exclusive patent on the pretty
I;rl covers Of magazines. The idea was as
listoundingly accurate one, especially for an
editorial idea, a brief year or two ago The
pictorial exhibit Of this article shows that
| nothing OF the sortistrue any more; for Japan
is catching on as She catches on to almost
everything upto-date and American
BECK OF tbs increasing harvest OF pretty
feminine faces looking out of the magazine
& covers OF Japan, Turing her reading public to
4 Stravagan,e lfor magazines in Japan arc by
: 90 means cheap; they are dearer than the
american ones and sell from 20 cents to So a
/ ay in American money!, there is many
tayof some Importance. 1t is not mere story
III publishing enterprises in Japan, either 1t
Hs the story of Japanese woman stepping
ito world, hitherto unknown; into a new
p@h which may recall the glory days of Nip
M art, Of Sesshu, Of Okyo, and of Utamaro
I'D Kiyonaga and the rest of the Ukiyoe
4shool, with something added to thena---son1es
9ang which the pictorial Interpreters of the
zsder Nippon did not have and did not even
8sean Of. For in the eyes and within the
aaals Of the new school of japanese painters
today there is beginning TO glow like
Noang halo the spirit of woman worship that
quite genuine and almost American in its
sEaggeration and fever.
The story of magazine publication in Japan
n not SO yolng as one might at first suppose
r. the closing days of 1850 there appeared in
Ae fedo city of the Tokugawa Shotgun, as the
fpteseAs Iokio was then called publication
ssiea batahia Shimbun," or "The Batavia
< M Ss"a is vas mostly g translation from the
ueeh papers published in Batavia, and was
NC nes' and only publication in Japan which
sass ue news beyond the seas. Long before
.Aa'' l0r something like three hundred odd
ssA''' aere was quite number of publica-
sl9 "iich were wont to come out off and on,
Noia'ag 70 the sweet pleasure of the editors
- "ooo-osock printers of Yedo of those lei
.e's Gays. pamphlets and sheets which con-
a',i sss' various spicy gossip and court news and
a1a were called Yomiuri, because those
40 were the reading matter hawked about
'sieets. But none of them rose to the dig
Ivy OF Periodical.
8sats
As IN Japan started long before the adj
~ ~ newspapers, for the first newspaper in
a. s-u came out at Yokohama in 1871. Since
I q, VI course, the dailies have made tre-
Sas strioe IN Japan and quite overshad-
49, eae periodical publications, in influence
8,..,s aseaiation. The "Asahi'' and the "Mai-
As.s VI osaka have daily circulation of over
as niiiion copies. But in point of numbers
- zlfe publication in Japan is ahead OF
~ In 1918 there were 2,134 maga-
i 81. u various types published in japan,
il t,s'' soS newspapers. And the figures for
4 !, rssselt year must be much more favorable
I :. s. periodical publications than TO the
h. ..pspers, for smaller and weaker dailies are
0sinas absorbed by larger papers now.
1gtss outstanding feature of the development
ss'a sS periodical press in Japan is the tre-
d. sss and sensational growth of the maya
M. sesoted to the interests and affairs Of
.Ss .Sssn ~ and girls. The Japan Year Book for
go gives fifty-eight magazines in d list
T NJ s.odlcai publications issued in Toxic,
ar,s saeiuding the four periodicals printed
s(as = English-"The Far East, y ssKokkan
slSs. expensive art publication in Japan,
3eb, ~ magazine" and s.The Herald Of Asia"
~ me writer's personal knowledge there
&kp o'ity-Iour more periodicals published 'in
kass ef Toxic in addition to those given
1 W. ~ Year Books list.
i " s' asar Books list omits such important
aasstsaaf magazines as .sThe Kaizon or 9 Re