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sidering it is a State undertaking, and the supply is quite unequal to the demand.
There are 127 movie studios in Japan, of which 61 specialize in the production of educational pictures. The capital invested in the latter, however, is so far very limited and they are unable to turn out pictures in any appreciable number.
The demand for educational films, on the other hand, has grown rapidly and considerable difficulty is found in obtaining suitable pictures. Hence the importance of the Film Library of the Osaka Mainichi.
The Osaka Mainichi, one of the biggest and most influential dailies of the Empire, is known as the pioneer in the field of educational films for schools and social gatherings. To-day practically all those who are interested in the motion picture education movement in this country are united and affiliated with the educational film movement of this newspaper.
It was in September, 1908 that the Osaka Mainichi started to use motion pictures for educational purposes. It created a cinema department within the company and inaugurated a movement of social education through the medium of educational films and newsreels. It sent out a travelling cinema, all over the country, including the Main Island, Korea and Formosa. Side by side with its newspaper enterprise, the motion picture department of the Osaka Mainichi was thus enabled to distribute the day's news not only through print but through pictures.
Particularly noteworthy are the activities of this branch at the time when H. M. the Emperor (while still Crown Prince) proceeded to Europe in 1921. This foreign four by the Heir to the Throne was as memorable as it was unprecedented.
The Osaka Mainichi had the honour and pleasure of taking pictures showing His Majesty's reception wherever he landed; these valuable news reels were rapidly despatched to Japan and there screened first before the Imperial family and then publicly. This enterprise not only marked an epoch in the newsreel service of a single newspaper company, but inaugurated a new era in the annals of Japan's motion picture industry.
In the meantime, the organisation of the educational films campaign in Japan proceeded on systematic and scientific lines. The Osaka Mainichi opened the first Film Library of the Empire in 1927. The Osaka Mainichi Film Libraries are now to be found at the head office in Osaka, at the branch office in Tokyo (The Tokyo Nichi Nichi), and at its branch in Kyushu. To-day the company has about 2,000 different kinds of pictures at these libraries.
In 1928, the AllJapan Association of Cine-Education was organized under the auspices of the Osaka Mainichi. The Association has its main offices both in Tokyo and Osaka. Its board of management includes all the prominent authorities in the field of motion picture education. Branch offices have been opened in various parts of the country to aid in unifying the educational film movement.