100 YEARS AGO
Tuesday, Dec. 11, 1923
Population of Tokyo drops by nearly million, census shows
The returns of a census taken on Nov. 15, now available in part, show that the entire population of Tokyo has dropped to 1,529,166 from 2,499,000 before the earthquake, a loss of 970,000.
The ante-quake Tokyo stood fifth among the cities of the world in population, but now the capital has fallen to 10th place, coming next to Buenos Aires, which is peopled by 1,570,000 souls, and before Shanghai, which has 1,500,000.
This means that Tokyo has gone back 23 years in point of population, the latter in 1900 being about the same as its present reduced one, though quite different in all other respects.
75 YEARS AGO
Friday, Dec. 24, 1948
Tojo and 6 others hanged early Thursday morning; cremated at Yokohama
The seven Japanese war criminals condemned to death by the International Tribunal for the Far East were hanged early yesterday morning at Sugamo Prison.
Executions started at one minute after midnight and were concluded 33 minutes later.
The first to be hanged were Kenji Dohihara, Iwane Matsui, Hideki Tojo and Akira Muto. They were hanged simultaneously. In the second group of simultaneous hangings were Sishiro Itagaki, Koki Hirota and Heitaro Kimura.
Notification was given the condemned men at 9 p.m. (Tokyo time), Dec. 21. At this time they were brought into the Prison Chaplain’s office two at a time.
Each requested an hour alone with Dr. Shinsho Hanayama, the Buddhist priest, in attendance at the prison. At this audience, only one request was made. Tojo asked that he be served Japanese food on his final day. His request was granted.
50 YEARS AGO
Sunday, Dec. 23, 1973
Nation in state of emergency
Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, in an oil crisis statement Saturday, declared the nation is “in a state of (economic) emergency” and appealed for public cooperation in the government’s effort to ride out the storm.
The statement pointed out that the Arab oil squeeze “is having a serious effect on the country’s economy” and said that prospects for early turnaround in the oil situation were dim.
Expressing his resolve to ensure adequate supplies of basic daily necessities, Tanaka assured the nation that the Government would take strong measures to “overcome the difficulties.”
He also said the Government would push ahead with a program to reduce oil and electricity consumption to cope effectively with the energy crisis.
The Prime Minister, in a veiled warning against panic buying, said in the statement that the country had adequate stocks of daily basics at both production and distribution levels.
25 YEARS AGO
Friday, Dec. 25, 1998
Stressed-out teachers set record high for time off
A record 1,609 public school teachers took time off work in fiscal 1997 because of mental disorders, marking a 16% rise over the previous year, according to an Education Ministry survey released Thursday.
The figure represented the fourth consecutive year of record highs.
Teachers whose absences stemmed from mental disorders accounted for a record 39% of all teachers who took sick leave, up from the high of 36.9% registered just a year earlier.
Ministry officials said an increasing number of teachers are feeling stress because an increasing number of children are disobeying them, making it difficult for teachers to conduct classes. They also said the number of emotionally unstable children has risen.
In fiscal 1979, when the ministry first conducted the survey on public elementary, junior high and high school teachers, the number of teachers absent due to mental disorders stood below 700. The figure surged to a level of around 1,000 in fiscal 1982.
The survey also found that the number of teachers who received punishment or some form of reprimand because they imposed physical “penalties” on students as a disciplinary measure stood at 414 in fiscal 1997, ended March 31, up from 407 in fiscal 1996.
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