Documenting Hiroshima of 1946: March 20, Hiroshima City resumes publication of city bulletin
Mar. 21, 2025
by Maho Yamamoto, Staff Writer
On March 20, 1946, the Hiroshima City government published its first City Bulletin since the atomic bombing. Serving as a public-relations newsletter in today’s terms, the bulletin was first published in 1932. Before publication was halted for a time, the bulletin had been published once a month as “a way of linking citizens with the city government and helping them understand the reality of municipal governance.”
The “revival issue” was comprised of nine handwritten pages. It featured information on the first general election in the lower House of Representatives in Japan’s parliamentary Diet since the end of the war, scheduled for April 10. That election was also the first time men and women at least 20 years of age were granted the right to vote based on election law revisions.
Mayor Shichiro Kihara reported in the bulletin, “I myself will serve as a polling official in the Ote voting district of this city in the general election.” A list of the 30 voting districts and residential units as well as the names of polling officials appeared in the bulletin. Also carried were slogans that had been designed by citizens, such as “Vote with your neighbors” and “Let’s all build a new Japan.”
In addition, the bulletin contained information on a population census that was scheduled to be conducted in April under the direction of the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ). It also carried information about use of land that had been cleared of buildings through demolition work, ordering people without permission from the city to move off the land. However, the bulletin also notified people that, “As long as it does not interfere with implementation of the city’s reconstruction projects, use of the land for agricultural purposes is allowed.”
Masaru Ono, who served in the city government’s reconstruction division, recalled in a book published in 1980 that the city had resumed publication of its bulletin within the division based on the idea that the city’s reconstruction projects “required the understanding of people both inside and outside the government and the cooperation of citizens in particular.” Each section in the city government had its own person in charge of related materials and information who would also engage in public-relations work vis-à-vis newspapers and other media.
Publication of the city bulletin continued, with the April issue reporting a fiscal 1946 city budget of 9,614,114 yen, including 53,479 yen for war-damage reconstruction. Expenditures included distribution-related costs and expenses related to the group education of orphans. Of the total revenues, city tax was expected to bring in 1,493,063 yen. A section announcing personnel appointments reported that Deputy Mayor Shinso Hamai had been relieved of his concurrent posts as chief of the divisions of commerce and industry and agriculture and fisheries, while being appointed interim chief of the population survey division. Other personnel information included the appointment of a chief of the construction department of the reconstruction division.
In the bulletin’s July issue, the mayor communicated his concerns about food shortages and requested that citizens who owned land in rural areas to temporarily cooperate in efforts to increase agricultural production. He also called for “conservation of rice.”
(Originally published on March 21, 2025)
On March 20, 1946, the Hiroshima City government published its first City Bulletin since the atomic bombing. Serving as a public-relations newsletter in today’s terms, the bulletin was first published in 1932. Before publication was halted for a time, the bulletin had been published once a month as “a way of linking citizens with the city government and helping them understand the reality of municipal governance.”
The “revival issue” was comprised of nine handwritten pages. It featured information on the first general election in the lower House of Representatives in Japan’s parliamentary Diet since the end of the war, scheduled for April 10. That election was also the first time men and women at least 20 years of age were granted the right to vote based on election law revisions.
Mayor Shichiro Kihara reported in the bulletin, “I myself will serve as a polling official in the Ote voting district of this city in the general election.” A list of the 30 voting districts and residential units as well as the names of polling officials appeared in the bulletin. Also carried were slogans that had been designed by citizens, such as “Vote with your neighbors” and “Let’s all build a new Japan.”
In addition, the bulletin contained information on a population census that was scheduled to be conducted in April under the direction of the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ). It also carried information about use of land that had been cleared of buildings through demolition work, ordering people without permission from the city to move off the land. However, the bulletin also notified people that, “As long as it does not interfere with implementation of the city’s reconstruction projects, use of the land for agricultural purposes is allowed.”
Masaru Ono, who served in the city government’s reconstruction division, recalled in a book published in 1980 that the city had resumed publication of its bulletin within the division based on the idea that the city’s reconstruction projects “required the understanding of people both inside and outside the government and the cooperation of citizens in particular.” Each section in the city government had its own person in charge of related materials and information who would also engage in public-relations work vis-à-vis newspapers and other media.
Publication of the city bulletin continued, with the April issue reporting a fiscal 1946 city budget of 9,614,114 yen, including 53,479 yen for war-damage reconstruction. Expenditures included distribution-related costs and expenses related to the group education of orphans. Of the total revenues, city tax was expected to bring in 1,493,063 yen. A section announcing personnel appointments reported that Deputy Mayor Shinso Hamai had been relieved of his concurrent posts as chief of the divisions of commerce and industry and agriculture and fisheries, while being appointed interim chief of the population survey division. Other personnel information included the appointment of a chief of the construction department of the reconstruction division.
In the bulletin’s July issue, the mayor communicated his concerns about food shortages and requested that citizens who owned land in rural areas to temporarily cooperate in efforts to increase agricultural production. He also called for “conservation of rice.”
(Originally published on March 21, 2025)
