Salaried Men Readers in the 1920s Tokyo

Abstract

In the 1920s, the new middle class which was composed of the teachers, the public servants, the salaried men and the liberal profession, was called also “reading class”. This article deals with salaried men readers and their reading life.

First, salaried men were characterized as Sogo-Zasshi (general magazines) readers. Bungei-Shunju and Chuo-Koron were popular among them. Second, the books were symbols as reading class to them. They tended to respect books awfully. Especially they liked Yen-pon (one-yen book). Moreover, they were readers of contemporary popular novels. Authors such as Kan Kikuchi, Ton Satomi, Kido Okamoto, Kaizan Nakazato and Kuni Sasaki were most widely read in them. Reading style of the salaried men has spread over other classes, and as a result, a popularization of reading was realized.