Documenting Hiroshima of 1946: May 1, “Monthly Magazine Chugoku” published
May 1, 2025
by Maho Yamamoto, Staff Writer
On May 1, 1946, the Chugoku Shimbun launched the magazine “Monthly Magazine Chugoku.” The publication was printed at the company’s headquarters in the area of Kaminagarekawa-cho (in Hiroshima City’s present-day Naka Ward). The magazine communicated the newspaper’s determination “to break away from the old notion that magazines are published in the country’s capital, in the belief that each region must have a strong publishing structure in order to promote local culture.”
The first issue featured a cover with an illustration of vividly colored flowers. The B5-sized magazine was made up of 36 pages and priced at 1.5 yen. Arata Osada, then president of the Hiroshima University of Literature and Science (present-day Hiroshima University), contributed an article on his pre-war experiences in Europe, writing, “The healthy development of a nation’s culture lies in the arts, sciences, ethics, and religion deeply rooted in each region.”
The magazine contained a novel by proletarian author Tamiki Hosoda titled Waga Furusato (in English, ‘My hometown’) as well as tanka poems. Amid material shortages common in the post-war era, the magazine carried recipes to make the best of the foods that were available at the time. It recommended stewing sweet potatoes, a commonly used as a substitute for rice, together with daikon radish to improve digestion and provide nutrition.
According to the Chugoku Shimbun Hyaku-nen Shi (‘100-year history of the Chugoku Shimbun’), published in 1992, the magazine was intended not only to provide entertainment for families but also to offer “easy-to-understand, interesting, and informative reading materials.” An editor-in-chief and three reporters were involved in publication of the magazine. A staff member from that time said, “In those days, anything printed was selling like hot cakes,” according to the Chugoku Shimbun printed on February 3, 1978. The magazine’s “Atomic Bombing Memorial Issue” in August 1946, carried accounts of experiences of A-bomb survivors in the bombing and a pen-and-ink drawing of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall (present-day A-bomb Dome).
The Chugoku Shimbun also established a subsidiary, the Yukan Hiroshima Shimbun, and began publishing the Yukan Hiroshima Shimbun (‘Evening Hiroshima Newspaper’) on June 1.
(Originally published on May 1, 2025)
On May 1, 1946, the Chugoku Shimbun launched the magazine “Monthly Magazine Chugoku.” The publication was printed at the company’s headquarters in the area of Kaminagarekawa-cho (in Hiroshima City’s present-day Naka Ward). The magazine communicated the newspaper’s determination “to break away from the old notion that magazines are published in the country’s capital, in the belief that each region must have a strong publishing structure in order to promote local culture.”
The first issue featured a cover with an illustration of vividly colored flowers. The B5-sized magazine was made up of 36 pages and priced at 1.5 yen. Arata Osada, then president of the Hiroshima University of Literature and Science (present-day Hiroshima University), contributed an article on his pre-war experiences in Europe, writing, “The healthy development of a nation’s culture lies in the arts, sciences, ethics, and religion deeply rooted in each region.”
The magazine contained a novel by proletarian author Tamiki Hosoda titled Waga Furusato (in English, ‘My hometown’) as well as tanka poems. Amid material shortages common in the post-war era, the magazine carried recipes to make the best of the foods that were available at the time. It recommended stewing sweet potatoes, a commonly used as a substitute for rice, together with daikon radish to improve digestion and provide nutrition.
According to the Chugoku Shimbun Hyaku-nen Shi (‘100-year history of the Chugoku Shimbun’), published in 1992, the magazine was intended not only to provide entertainment for families but also to offer “easy-to-understand, interesting, and informative reading materials.” An editor-in-chief and three reporters were involved in publication of the magazine. A staff member from that time said, “In those days, anything printed was selling like hot cakes,” according to the Chugoku Shimbun printed on February 3, 1978. The magazine’s “Atomic Bombing Memorial Issue” in August 1946, carried accounts of experiences of A-bomb survivors in the bombing and a pen-and-ink drawing of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall (present-day A-bomb Dome).
The Chugoku Shimbun also established a subsidiary, the Yukan Hiroshima Shimbun, and began publishing the Yukan Hiroshima Shimbun (‘Evening Hiroshima Newspaper’) on June 1.
(Originally published on May 1, 2025)
