A timeline of major events for the gas industry in Japan 1871 The manufacture of gas from coal begins
gas utility, is founded; it starts supplying
for lighting in the Imperial Mint in Osaka; the
gas in 1905.
use of gas for lighting spreads to other cities such as Yokohama (1872) and Tokyo (1874). Cities set up Gas Boards. 1885 Tokyo Gas, today Japan’s largest gas utility, is set up from the Tokyo Gas Board. 1886 Tokyo Electric Lighting set up; the focus of gas marketing moves from lighting to cooking and heating. 1897 Osaka Gas, today Japan’s second largest
1912 The Imperial Gas Association is founded. 1923 On September 1, the Great Kanto earthquake causes extensive damage in Tokyo and surrounding areas but gas supplies are resumed after two months. 1945 Following World War II the Japanese gas industry rebuilds. The gas industry body goes through a number of changes until in 1947 the
c Period gas lamps at Tokyo’s Gas Museum commemorate the early lighting installations of the 1870s. xc The Iwasaki gas works of Osaka Gas in 1905. xv (below ) The Osaka Gas headquarters in Nakanoshima in 1911. A new office building was completed in 1933 (opposite below ).
28 A t i m e l i n e o f m a j o r e v e n t s f o r t h e g a s i n d u s t r y i n J a p a n
