Noma Shōichi

Noma Shōichi ( Japanese 野 間 省 一 , born Takagi Shōichi (高木 省 一); April 9, 1911 in Shizuoka ; died August 10, 1984 ) was a Japanese publisher. He was the 4th President of the Kōdansha Publishing House.

life and work

Noma Shōichi graduated from the Law Faculty of Tokyo University in 1934 . He then joined the South Manchurian Railroad Corporation and worked in Harbin a year and a half later . In 1941 Shōichi married the widow of the son Noma Sae (野 間 恒) of the company's founder Noma Seiji , who had been the second head of the publishing house, who died early in 1938 . Shōichi took - not uncommon in Japan to continue a line - their family name and began to work for the publishing house Kōdansha. In the early years of the Pacific War , the Japanese Publishers' Association (日本 書籍 出版 協会, Nihon shoseki shuppan kyōkai) and others called for the role of Shōichi and the Kōdansha in supporting the war to be investigated.

Noma, who became president of the Kōdansha in 1945, had to give up all public offices by order of the occupying powers. When he was rehabilitated in 1949, he found the publisher in poor condition. However, by modernizing and reducing the program, he succeeded in making the publishing house successful again.

Under Nomas management, the publishing house began to produce internationally with the establishment of Kōdansha International in 1963. Until he retired in 1981, he played an important role in maintaining the importance of Kōdansha as one of the largest publishers in Japan. To promote authors, the publishing house set up the Noma Literature Prize , the Yoshikawa Eiji Literature Prize for New Authors (吉川英 治 文学 新人 賞, Yoshikawa Eiji bungaku shinjin-shō) and a culture prize.

Noma was chairman of the Association of Japanese Publishers and vice-chairman of the UNESCO Asian Cultural Center.

Shōichi was buried at the burial site of the Noma family at the Gokoku-ji Temple in Tokyo.

Awards

• 1974 UNESCO International Book Prize (ユ ネ ス コ の 国際 図 書 賞)
• 1981 Knight of the Order of Gregory (ロ ー マ 教皇 庁 大聖 グ レ ゴ リ オ 勲 章 騎士 団 章)
• 1881 Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau (オ ラ ン ダ 政府 オ レ ン ジ ナ ソ ー 勲 章 コ マ ン ダ ー 章)
• 1981 Grand Cross of the Brazilian Order of Science (ブ ラ ジ ル 賞 勲 局 総 合 学術 協会 協会 グ ラ ン ク ル ス 大 綬 章)
• 1983 Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japan) 1st class (勲 一等 瑞宝 章)
• 1984 UNESCO silver medal (ユ ネ ス コ 銀 メ ダ ル)

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Noma Shōichi . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1111.

Web links

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Noma is the family name, Shōichi the first name.