Re: Kamishibai after the War

Dear Anmitsuhime, good day,

By the Korean war in 1950, Japanese economy developed intensively and the shortage of manpower appeared. After around 1950 the kamishibai business rapidly decreased.

One big reason for this was the television. Around 1952 1953 there were not so lots of television at home. But on the street we could watch big town televisions during the broadcasting time and there were lot of people gathered
in front of town televisions. Especially on pro-wrestling [famous wrestler Rikidozan]'s broad casting time, number of grownup people and also children as well came to in front of televisions to support him.

Afterward in 1959 the Royal marriage was taken place. Around that time, black and white televisions of 14 inchs were pervaded to ordinary homes. So it is not necessary for children to see kamishibai on the street but they could see interesting programs in their home's room.

In that way kamishibai's fate naturally had gone to historical one.

Shinchan