Sutejiro Fukuzawa

2022/05/27

The Jiji Shinpo, founded by Yukichi Fukuzawa, held a prestigious position in Japan as an impartial and independent newspaper advocating for "independence and self-respect." Sutejiro, the second son of Yukichi, served as the president of Jiji Shinpo from 1896 to 1926. Takuzo Itakura, who later served as the company's president, evaluated Sutejiro as follows: "Sutejiro Fukuzawa was certainly a pioneer in our newspaper world. He was also an extremely talented city editor and planning director. It was no coincidence that Jiji Shinpo flourished during his presidency. I unconditionally acknowledge that he constantly led our newspaper world with numerous creative ideas from the latter half of the Meiji era through the Taisho era" (from "Fifty Newspaper People"). Sutejiro was a figure who established various new precedents in the newspaper industry of the time, utilizing the knowledge he gained while studying in the United States and the spirit of "creating one's own path" inherited from his father.

Sutejiro Fukuzawa was born in 1865 at the Nakatsu Domain residence in Tsukiji Teppozu as the second son of Yukichi Fukuzawa. Yukichi recorded the growth of his children in "An Account of Yukichi Fukuzawa's Children." While the eldest son Ichitaro was slow to develop, Sutejiro's development was reportedly very rapid. Although there was a two-year age difference between the brothers, their "physical and mental functions seemed exactly the same," and many people mistook them for twins from an early age. Yukichi held the educational policy of "first forming the animal body and then nurturing the human mind," and did not teach them even the basic alphabet between the ages of three and five, allowing them to run as wild as they pleased thereafter.

On the other hand, around 1871, when Ichitaro was eight and Sutejiro was six, Yukichi wrote and gave them a text called "Daily Lessons." It began with seven "rules" such as "thou shalt not tell lies," and Yukichi would write down things he wanted them to value each day on calligraphy paper and read them aloud. Ichitaro reportedly looked forward to what would be written each morning, but according to Sutejiro's grandson Takeshi Fukuzawa's "Yukichi Fukuzawa to Me," Sutejiro had heard that he "hated these teachings and was fed up with being given such stiff talks every morning."

Around 1872, they began learning English from foreigners in the Tsukiji settlement, but for other subjects, their parents taught them counting, the calendar, and multiplication tables only after Sutejiro reached eight and Ichitaro reached ten. The teaching method used "only picture books" and had "no fixed time, leaving it to their discretion." Furthermore, Yukichi called himself a "friend" to his sons and would "teach them the names of things as they saw them during walks." Yukichi, who valued family harmony, often went on family trips. In 1876, he traveled to the Kansai region with only Ichitaro and Sutejiro, visiting famous temples, shrines, and historical sites.

In 1879, Yukichi wanted the two to study at the University of Tokyo and enrolled them in the University Preparatory School. This was a boarding school from which students could advance to the University of Tokyo upon graduation. However, both of them developed stomach problems upon entering the dormitory; they would recover at home, but the issues recurred whenever they returned. They eventually gave up in 1881 and entered the regular course at Keio University. While the eldest son Ichitaro graduated in July 1882, the second son Sutejiro graduated from the regular course in December 1881, earlier than his brother.

In 1883, both Ichitaro and Sutejiro went to the United States to study. Upon their departure, Yukichi gave them a set of instructions stating that maintaining health was more important than academic progress, and that they must not return to Japan regardless of what happened there, even if they received news that their parents were ill. In this document, he recommended that Ichitaro study agriculture and Sutejiro study electricity within the field of physics.

After arriving, the two studied languages in Oberlin, Ohio, and Poughkeepsie, New York. Sutejiro spent his time there quite "energetically," even having an altercation with a foreigner, which led Yukichi to admonish him in a letter. In 1884, Ichitaro entered Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, while Sutejiro entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) outside Boston. Sutejiro became interested in railroads rather than the electricity his father recommended, and majored in civil engineering. Their life as students abroad was supported by Americans known to Yukichi and by his former students. Nevertheless, Yukichi's worries never ceased, and he reportedly encouraged talented individuals nearby to become study companions for the two.

According to "The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa," the letters sent during their study abroad reached "over three hundred." The contents of the letters covered detailed matters such as lifestyle advice, and he even sent food items like yokan. A massive number of letters were sent to Sutejiro until Fukuzawa's death, ranging from reports on everyday matters to detailed instructions, which serve as valuable material for current Fukuzawa research.

Sutejiro successfully graduated from the university, then traveled around Europe to broaden his horizons, and the two returned to Japan in 1888. Yukichi was overjoyed at their return and hosted a banquet at the Mita playground, inviting over a thousand people, primarily students of Keio University.

The year after returning to Japan, Sutejiro utilized the railway civil engineering he had studied abroad to find employment as an engineer at Sanyo Railway, where his relative Hikojiro Nakamigawa was president. After Sutejiro started working, Yukichi traveled to Kobe with a group of nearly 20 people, including family members and gardeners, to visit Sutejiro and enjoy family time. In 1891, Sutejiro resigned from the company and joined Jiji Shinpo. That same year, through Yukichi's selection, he married Kiku, the eldest daughter of Tadasu Hayashi—then Governor of Hyogo Prefecture and later a diplomat who played a key role in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. They were later blessed with two sons and two daughters.

In 1896, at the young age of 31, Sutejiro became the president of Jiji Shinpo. During a lecture on Yukichi Fukuzawa's birthday in January 1972, Yoshimi Uchikawa, who served as the Director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Tokyo, praised Sutejiro, saying, "He was a person who possessed a sense for American newspapers and was a very rare type of newspaper manager in Japan during the Meiji and Taisho eras." Sutejiro carefully studied the content of American newspapers and flexibly adopted their methods. As president, he attempted various challenges both directly and indirectly, establishing many precedents ahead of other newspapers. These included an exclusive contract with Reuters, the first national "Beauty Contest" in the newspaper world in response to a Miss World contest planned by a U.S. paper, the hiring of Toyoko Osawa as a "female stenographer," and the publication of an "Almanac," among many others. Here, I would like to introduce four pioneering efforts using the words of Takuzo Itakura from "Fifty Newspaper People."

The first was the treatment of the "City News" section. While major newspapers of the time focused on hard news such as political theory, political news, and government reports, Jiji Shinpo also put effort into the city news section. It was a revolutionary approach to boldly devote an entire page to sensational incidents like murders, featuring woodblock prints of site maps and actual scenes to describe the tragedies in detail.

The second was "Classified Advertising." It began as brokerage information but gradually developed into guides for various industries. Eventually, it came to occupy an entire page daily, and at times, special advertising features of nearly 200 pages were produced. According to Itakura, "this was extremely profitable," and other newspapers gradually adopted the practice.

The third was the discovery of Rakuten Kitazawa (real name: Yasuji), who is described as "one of the first and greatest contributors to bringing newspaper comics to their current prosperity." Yukichi Fukuzawa and Sutejiro, who emphasized the utility of comics, social satire, and humor in newspapers, discovered Rakuten drawing eccentric comics in an English weekly magazine in Yokohama. Recognizing his talent, they recruited him to handle "Jiji Manga." Incidentally, Jiji Shinpo was also the first to use the new term "Manga" for what was generally called "Ponchi-e" (Punch pictures) at the time.

The last was the "Encouragement of Sports." Regarding sports, Jiji Shinpo put in so much effort that Itakura claimed, "No one would object to saying that Jiji Shinpo set the precedent for the trend in our newspaper world." Sutejiro served as the first chairman of the Athletic Association within Keio and was "understanding of all sports, encouraging them and providing funds." Since 1893, the paper "specially manufactured gold and silver medals and championship flags to be presented to winners at school and group athletic meets and various competitions held across the country." At the time, "receiving a Jiji Shinpo gold medal was considered the highest honor." Furthermore, they devoted many pages to articles on various sports competitions and athletic meets, "reporting the situation from start to finish with descriptive color." The current tradition of presenting a photo portrait to the winning sumo wrestler also began with Jiji Shinpo. In 1901, the company hosted the first long-distance race competition around Shinobazu Pond in Ueno. These were "all due to the creativity of Sutejiro Fukuzawa, who was himself an excellent sportsman."

In 1926, Sutejiro passed away. Subsequently, the "Japan's number one" Jiji Shinpo ceased publication in 1936. Itakura stated that "tracing back the origins of its decline, one of the greatest factors was the damage caused by his venture into the Osaka market." The person who decided to expand into Osaka, where the "Mainichi" and "Asahi" newspapers were dominant, was none other than Sutejiro. Following the failure in Osaka, Jiji Shinpo lost its competitiveness due to a combination of the Great Kanto Earthquake, personnel conflicts, boycotts by other papers, and labor disputes. To restructure the management, Kango Koyama, Wasaku Natori, Sanji Muto, and others served as presidents in succession to help rebuild, and Ikunoshin Kadono also made efforts as chairman by investing his private funds, but the situation did not improve, and the paper folded (it was later revived once under Itakura, but ended in 1955 upon merging with the "Sankei Shimbun").

While I introduced Itakura's praise for Sutejiro at the beginning of this article, the same text also notes: "However, it is a sad fact that during his lifetime, his true character was greatly misunderstood by people both outside and inside the company. The majority of people agreed in describing him as a great playboy, a spendthrift, and a spoiled second-generation child." In the words of his grandson Takeshi Fukuzawa, it seems Sutejiro was viewed by those around him as a "man of pleasure." However, I wish to record here that Sutejiro was a great newspaperman who poured such affection into Jiji Shinpo that he named his son "Tokitaro" (using the character for 'time' from Jiji Shinpo) and achieved rare pioneering feats and results in Japan.