山形市主催全国産業博覧会,Yamagata City National Industrial Exposition

Yamagata City National Industrial Exposition

In the autumn of 1927, Yamagata City hosted the National Industrial Exposition. At the time, the country was in a prolonged recession following the post-World War I economic panic and the Great Kanto Earthquake. Despite this, the exposition achieved great success, overcoming the stagnation of the recession.
Prior to the inauguration of the National Industrial Exhibition, the Ou Union Exhibition was hosted in rotation amongst the six Tohoku prefectures from the late 1800s onward. In 1916, the Ou Union Exhibition was hosted by Yamagata prefecture to commemorate the completion of the new prefectural office building.

Following this, Yamagata continued exploring the possibility of a national exposition, and in 1926 Himeji City in Hyogo prefecture hosted its own national industrial exposition. This became the catalyst for Yamagata to inaugurate an exposition aimed at industrial promotion.
In addition to participation from 43 prefectures nationwide, regions such as Korea, Taiwan, Sakhalin (a Russian island north of Japan), the South Pacific Islands, and Manchuria (currently Northeast China) also took part in the Yamagata National Industrial Exhibition. The number of products at the exhibition exceeded 140,000. During the 40-day period from September 11 to October 20, more than 1.35 million visitors from both within and outside of the city attended, making it a great success. The exposition venues were set up across the city, with the newly completed First (Daiichi) Elementary School serving as the main venue.