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Japan Times
30-07-2025
- General
- Japan Times
Researcher seeks to save Osaka Army Arsenal as 'negative legacy'
A military factory that was said to be the largest in the Orient was once in operation at a site now part of Osaka Castle Park at the center of the city of Osaka, and a researcher is calling for the remaining buildings to be preserved as a "negative legacy." Osaka Army Arsenal, which manufactured artillery for the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army, employed up to around 66,000 people, including mobilized students, across its approximately 6-million-square-meter site. Osaka Castle Park is lush with greenery and bustles daily with people enjoying jogging, as well as visitors from abroad. Next to Osaka Castle Hall in the park is a commemorative monument with an inscription reading "Army Arsenal site" and an explanatory plaque, but few people stop to look at it. A man who was out cycling said, "I vaguely knew the factory existed, but I didn't realize it was that big." According to Koji Miyake, professor emeritus at Mukogawa Women's University who specializes in the history of science and technology, Osaka Army Arsenal was set up in 1870 at the suggestion of Masujiro Omura, who played an active role in the establishment of the Imperial Japanese Army. The latest metalworking technologies of that time were introduced, and military trucks and tank engines were also produced. On Aug. 14, 1945, the day before the radio broadcast by then-Emperor Hirohito announcing Japan's surrender in World War II, the arsenal was targeted by U.S. air raids. More than 80% of it was destroyed, rendering the complex inoperable, according to the office of Osaka's Chuo Ward. Koji Miyake, professor emeritus at Mukogawa Women's University, speaks in May in front of a commemorative monument with an inscription reading "Army Arsenal site" in the city of Osaka. | Jiji After the war, Osaka Castle Park and other facilities were built on the site of the arsenal, and only a few buildings remain, such as the chemical analysis laboratory where weapons research and development were conducted. The brick building of the laboratory was used as a classroom building by the University of Osaka, but is now closed to the public due to the risk of collapse. With the country marking the 80th anniversary of its surrender in the war next month, there are few people left who can recount their memories of the arsenal. Neither the national nor municipal governments that own the factory site are actively seeking to utilize the ruins. "The weapons manufactured at the arsenal were used in a war of aggression," Miyake said. "It is necessary to continue to preserve the ruins appropriately as a negative legacy so that war will never happen again."
Asahi Shimbun
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
Kyoto Women's University bucks coeducational trend
KYOTO--With women's universities across Japan increasingly shifting toward coeducation or shutting their doors, Kyoto Women's University has taken a public stand to preserve its identity as a women's institution. On July 1, the university publicly released a statement titled the 'Declaration of Women's University' on its website, affirming its continued dedication to single-gender education after more than 75 years. 'We hereby declare our commitment to remain a women's university,' university President Hideko Takeyasu said in the statement. 'A women's university offers an environment where students can learn in equal relationships, unbounded by traditional gender norms,' Takeyasu wrote. 'We will continue to foster individuals who challenge societal norms and drive transformation.' This declaration comes at a time when women's universities in Japan face increasing financial pressures due to demographic shifts and declining birthrates. Once numbering 98 at their peak in 1998, four-year women's colleges in Japan have now declined to around 70. Many have opted to become coeducational or close altogether amid struggles to maintain student enrollment. Takeyasu said the declaration was intended to reaffirm the value and necessity of women's universities both within the school community and to the broader public. She highlighted Japan's poor performance in the latest Global Gender Gap Report, in which the country ranked 118th out of 148 nations. 'While legal systems now promote gender equality, unconscious gender biases remain in our society and culture,' Takeyasu said. 'Education at a women's university, where students are not constrained by narrow ideas of femininity, plays a crucial role in addressing these deeply rooted disparities.' Founded in 1949 with an educational philosophy rooted in Buddhist values, Kyoto Women's University became the first women's university in Japan to establish a faculty of law in 2011 and added a faculty of data science in 2023. Despite nationwide enrollment challenges, the university currently boasts a healthy admissions rate of 106 percent, with 1,527 new students enrolling in April. The prospects aren't as bright for the future of other women's universities. In June, Mukogawa Women's University in Hyogo Prefecture announced plans to go coeducational starting in April 2027. Other institutions, such as Kyoto Notre Dame University and Keisen University in Tokyo, have decided to terminate student recruitment.
