A Short History of the Army Press Club Badge

[Nick Komiya]

A Short History of the Army Press Badge

Continuing with things exotic and rare, here's something you'll never get to see.

The Japanese love the adage coined in England in 1839, “The Pen is mightier than the Sword”, as the word, “Ken” is used for Sword in the Japanese version, making Pen and Ken rhyme nicely together going, “Pen-wa Ken-yori Tsuyoshi”.

Of course, such a phrase would have made you very unwelcome into the press room (Kisha Club) at the Ministry of the Army, if you were a journalist back then.

The Army used to brush the press aside as a nuisance in the early days, but since going to war in 1904 against Russia on a shoestring budget, it had learned the hard way that cordial treatment of the press was a prerequisite for selling war bonds to pay for the shells. Thus the army even gave out the Russo-Japanese War Medal to the press that accompanied them into the field.

But by 16th September 1914, the Ministry of the Army had to constantly host a horde of 70 to 80 journalists at all times, who were hungry for news about Army exploits in China against the Germans in the Tsingtao Fortress.

In order to limit access into the Ministry, the Army planned to introduce a special press badge in two grades. The higher grade badge was to be limited to 40 pieces and reserved for wear by journalists in the Hokuto-Kai (Northern Dipper Group) specializing in General Staff and Army Ministry news coverage. They were the counterpart to the Kuroshio-Kai (Black Current Group) that had access to high level Navy news. Both groups were formed during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894/95.

The other 40 pcs of B-grade badges were intended for the other press members with lower army accreditation.

These two badges, however, were never approved. WW1 was an easy victory for Japan and the Army must have felt it wiser to exploit the press to the hilt.

The badge only became reality on 29th May 1934, and was called the Badge for the Ministry of the Army Press Club (陸軍省記者倶楽部員徽章 ). It was a silver lapel badge with the army star in gold.

The lapel badge design was revised on 16th June 1939, and this time each was serial numbered.

[Nick Komiya]

Here are three more obscure army badges I came across during my last romp through the archives. I haven't checked what earned you these badges, but I should be able to find out, if you happen to have any of them.