The document discusses how Tokyo's rail network, beginning in the late 19th century, shaped its urban development and popular culture in the early 20th century. It summarizes that Tokyo's subway and commuter rail network expanded significantly leading up to the 1964 Olympics. Private suburban rail lines integrated with this system and helped develop dense housing and commercial areas around station terminals. The document uses Takarazuka, served by the Hankyu railway, as an example of how "railroad urbanism" linked amusement parks and department stores into urban nodes. Takarazuka was also home to a popular all-female musical troupe that toured Tokyo, spreading Osaka's culture nationally. Rail terminals like Shinjuku became hubs of
The document discusses how Tokyo's rail network, beginning in the late 19th century, shaped its urban development and popular culture in the early 20th century. It summarizes that Tokyo's subway and commuter rail network expanded significantly leading up to the 1964 Olympics. Private suburban rail lines integrated with this system and helped develop dense housing and commercial areas around station terminals. The document uses Takarazuka, served by the Hankyu railway, as an example of how "railroad urbanism" linked amusement parks and department stores into urban nodes. Takarazuka was also home to a popular all-female musical troupe that toured Tokyo, spreading Osaka's culture nationally. Rail terminals like Shinjuku became hubs of
The document discusses how Tokyo's rail network, beginning in the late 19th century, shaped its urban development and popular culture in the early 20th century. It summarizes that Tokyo's subway and commuter rail network expanded significantly leading up to the 1964 Olympics. Private suburban rail lines integrated with this system and helped develop dense housing and commercial areas around station terminals. The document uses Takarazuka, served by the Hankyu railway, as an example of how "railroad urbanism" linked amusement parks and department stores into urban nodes. Takarazuka was also home to a popular all-female musical troupe that toured Tokyo, spreading Osaka's culture nationally. Rail terminals like Shinjuku became hubs of
FC 84 Tokyo subways Tokyo suburban railways Tokyo on the rails First rail from Yokohama to Shimbashi – 1872 Rail extended to Tokyo Station– 1915 Completion of Yamanote loop – 1925
Network of trollies within Yamanote loop
First subway (Ginza Line) – 1927 (from Asakusa to Ueno (about 2 miles); extended to Ginza and Shibuya, 1939 Tokyo on the rails • Second wave of subway construction for the 1964 Olympics
• Currently 13 subway lines
• JR commuter rail system (Yamanote line) • Approximately 12 private suburban rail lines From Shojo to Moga Ginbura Railroad urbanism • Integration of commuter railways • Department stores at terminals – urban nodes • Real estate developments along the rail right of way – extremely dense housing • Amusement parks, sports teams, other attractions at the distant end of the rail lines Takarazuka Takarazuka and the development of “railroad urbanism”
Hankyu railroad, private RR in Osaka area
Built Takarazuka amusement park at one
end of line, developed department stores at other end Takarazuka Takarazuka Famous theatrical/muscial troupe or revue
Somewhat like the Rockefeller Center
Rockettes – dance, music, glamour
All-female revue – conceived of as “female
Kabuki” (Kabuki only has male actors) Takarazuka Takarazuka New Takarazuka theater in central Tokyo Takarazuka Fantastically popular popular culture since the 1920s Many adoring female fans
An example of Osaka-based popular culture
becoming national
(1920s prosperity of Osaka, destruction of
Tokyo) Takarazuka Appealed to the growth of (invention of) the shojo (the maiden) as a cultural/social fixture
Related to the elongation of adolescence
and pre-adult status as a result of industrial modernity, education system, nuclear family system Takarazuka Tokyo rail/subway system Railroad urbanism Fundamentally shaped the character of urban experience in Osaka and Tokyo from the 1920s to the present-day
Tokyo – Tokyu line, Keio line, Odakyu line,
Seibu line, Tobu line, each “controlling” development in particular sectors of Tokyo suburbs Railroad urbanism The creation of the “ekimae” – the station plaza At first sites of civic grandeur
By 1920s, taking on character of sakariba –
entertainment districts (in Edo, these were at bridges and along canals; Tokyo, around stations) Shimbashi, 1906 Tokyo Station, ca. 1915 Shinjuku • the archetypical “new urban center” of the 1920s • commuting terminal for western suburbs • “modern popular culture” • department stores, bars, clubs, music halls • salarymen and flappers Moga (“modern girl”)