Tokyo interest – An early 20th century Japanese silver cigar box, Yokohama or Tokyo dated 1927, marked for Miyamoto Shoko

Tokyo interest – An early 20^th century Japanese silver cigar box, Yokohama or Tokyo dated 1927, marked for Miyamoto Shoko

Shōwa period. Of plain rectangular form with a gently domed hinged lid. Wooden interior with an adjustable divider. Gilt interior to the lid. The interior of the lid engraved with a presentation inscription reading “Respectfully presented to Mr George S Sale by Yasuzaemon Matsunaga in commemoration of the Tokyo Dento – Tokyo Denryoku Amalgamation 1927”. Marked underneath 宮本製 (Miyamoto Shoko Sei / Made by Miyamoto Shoko) above standard mark 純銀 (jungin).

Length – 24.2 cm / 9.2 inches

Yasuzaemon Matsunaga (1875 – 1971) was a businessman who contributed to the development of the electric power industry in Japan, earning him the nicknames of “god of electricity” and “electric power fiend.” Born on Iki island in Nagasaki Prefecture, he was involved in the founding of the Fukuhaku Electric Streetcar Line, Fukuoka’s first electric railway.

“When electric power wholesalers began to move into the retail market around 1923, intense competition broke out between the five major companies. In an attempt to undercut the competition, three retailers-Toho Denryoku, Tokyo Dento, and Ujigawa Denki contracted for large amounts of power at unfavourable terms with two wholesalers (Daido Denryoku, Nippon Denryoku) in order to secure their market. As can be observed in Figure2,this led to a decline in corporate performance for the three retailers and an upturn for the two wholesalers in the1923-28period.To overcome this situation, all the power retailers began to call for a restructuring of the industry beginning around the mid-1920s. In May 1926, Tokyo Denryoku (Tokyo Electric Power Co.), a subsidiary of Toho Denryoku, moved into the Tokyo market which resulted in cutthroat competition with Tokyo Dento. The issue of regulating the power industry quickly escalated into a social problem. In June and July of the same year, most of the political parties announced positions regarding the issue of control over the industry. The industry itself also began to deal with the question of controls during the 1927- 28 period. In light of the circumstances, the Ministry of Postal Services and Communications (Teishinsho) established the Temporary Bureau to Investigate the Electric Industry in March 1927. The ministry's electricity bureau director was put in charge of the new bureau which immediately began concrete preparations for regulating the industry.”

Kikkawa, T. (1987) Management and Regulation of the Electric Power Industry (1923-1935) (1987), Aoyama Gakuin University, p. 84-85.