Shochikuza News

Shochikuza News was the program booklet handed out at the Shochiku-za cinema chain, operated by Shōchiku. The first issue, published in 1923, marked the opening of the Shochiku-za cinema in Osaka, Japan’s first theater specialized in screening foreign films.

Although compact, at about eight A5 size (15x21 cm) pages, Shochikuza News featured articles related to the movies shown at Shōchiku theaters with the flair of a lifestyle magazine. It presented film reviews, actor portraits or interviews, and a glimpse of the latest fashions, with advertisements by Club Cosmetics appealing to modern women embracing western modes of living.

Shōchiku, traditionally a theater and Kabuki production company with roots in Kyoto, had only recently ventured into the film industry. Three years earlier, in 1920, they founded Shōchiku Kinema Gōmei-sha, a movie production and distribution company, in Tokyo. Filming began at their newly built studio in Kamata, located between Tokyo and Yokohama, and the same year, Shōchiku released their first silent film. In addition to producing movies, Shōchiku also imported films from abroad and screened them at their cinemas. Shōchiku operated theaters primarily in Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe and would expand to other regions of Japan.

Shochikuza News was published weekly, and each cinema produced a separate edition adapted to the local program. The masthead offers little detail about who was involved in the production. The editor responsible for each local edition was the manager of the respective theatre. Individual editorial staff, or designers, are not listed.

The cover was the same for each edition and probably designed by the art department at the Osaka branch of Shōchiku, which produced posters for Shochiku-za promoting the movies. Many of the covers are signed. However, the signatures are largely initials or indiscernible, leaving the commissioned artists effectively anonymous. Three signatures can be attributed to Yamada Shinkichi, known for his evocative posters designed during his tenure at the art department Shōchiku’s Osaka branch.

One of the significant early yet short-lived advertising agencies, Platon-sha (1922-28), is credited on the back cover with being responsible for printing the magazine. However, their experience with publishing successful magazines, and the prominence of Club Cosmetics adverts, suggests that Platon-sha might have been much more involved in the production of Shochikuza News. Platon-sha was founded in 1922 by the Osaka cosmetics company Nakayama Taiyō-dō, now Club Cosmetics, to produce magazines as part of Nakayama Taiyō-dō’s advertising strategy. The same year, they launched the monthly magazine Josei (Woman). While the back cover and inside pages featured a variety of advertisements for Club Cosmetics, Josei became a full-fledged literary magazine with contributions by a distinguished line-up of writers, including Tanizaki Junichirō.

The remarkable covers for Shochikuza News show how emerging modernist designers are experimenting with various Western styles, such as Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Dada, and Constructivism. Shochikuza News sets the stage for new forms of expression, offering its audience a taste of a modern lifestyle.