Noritsugu Hayakawa
Noritsugu Hayakawa was a Japanese businessman. He is renowned for funding the construction of Japan's first subway system, now known as the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, which opened in 1927.
Biography
Early life
Hayakawa was born into a family of politicians in Miyosaki, Yamanashi Prefecture, in 1881.Early career in rail transport
Hayakawa studied law at Waseda University and made the bold move of sending an article he wrote about national policy to the statesman Shinpei Goto, who had been serving as head of South Manchuria Railway, leading to Goto offered him a job as his secretary and starting Hayakawa's career in the railway industry. Hayakawa worked for Mantetsu before moving to Japan's Railway Bureau, following in the steps of Goto, who proved to be not only a major influence but also a source of connections to powerful people in Imperial Japan. Hayakawa subsequently worked for several railroads in Japan.Conceptualisation of Tokyo Underground Railway
In 1914, Hayakawa embarked on a tour of Europe and North America to study rail and port infrastructure, during which he was struck by London's underground railways. He became convinced that in order to grow into a world-class city, Tokyo needed its own underground; the main mode of urban transport in Tokyo then came in the form of trams, which was suffering from congestion due to heavy traffic. “The congestion of tramways can be neutralized only by the establishment of high-speed railways — namely, elevated railways or underground railways,” Hayakawa said in an interview in August 1927 with The Japan Times & Mail, which described him as “the man through whose initiative and ability the problem of traffic congestion in Tokyo will be solved.” Hayakawa subsequently spent another two years studying subways in Europe and the North America.After he returned to Japan, Hayakawa began drawing up plans for his proposed railway. The challenges were myriad, ranging from soft and groundwater-saturated water, lack of subway experience among local engineers and the astronomical cost of ¥6.2 million. Hayakawa and his supporters established the Tokyo Underground Railway Co. in 1920 and began lobbying the city government, business leaders, railway experts and foreign visitors for investment.
Meanwhile, Hayakawa set about determining the course of the future subway by surveying the burgeoning metropolis at the ground level. For six months, in rain and shine, he walked the streets of Asakusa, Ginza and Shimbashi and took note of the passing pedestrians, rickshaws, trams, cars and trucks. To determine the most crowded intersections, he had his wife prepared a supply of white and black beans. When he saw a pedestrian go by, he put a white bean in his left pocket. When an automobile drove by, he put a black bean in his right pocket. The left pocket soon bulged, and through this one-man survey Hayakawa was able to get a rough idea of where people were congregating in the metropolis. The most congested — and, therefore, potentially profitable — parts of Tokyo would serve as the subway's route. An initial plan to build from Ueno to Shinbashi, already a rail hub, was scrapped in favor of a line from Ueno to Asakusa, the bustling entertainment district surrounding Sensoji Temple. On Sept. 30, however, disaster struck in the form of the Great Kanto Earthquake, which left more than 105,000 dead and devastated the city. The company's investors balked, its stock slumped and it was forced to suspend business.
Tokyo Underground Railway materialises
On 27 September 1925, construction finally began on a 2.2-km tunnel running between and, which was referred to by the name Kaminarimon, the iconic gate of Sensoji Temple. Okura Doboku, the forerunner of the present-day Taisei Corporation, was tasked with the job. Its elderly founder Kihachiro Okura insisted that it be built by Japanese workers, but at least one German engineer was recruited. Construction cost ¥4 million per mile. After several delays, the underground line finally opened on 30 December 1927 as the first subway in East Asia.Hayakawa's line proved a success and Hayakawa earned praise from the residents of Tokyo for his hard work and the consequence to that. He already had a plan to extend the line to penetrate the entire city and several more lines. People around the city supported his movement. However, his success did not last long.