Days in Toba 1

Edogawa Rampo lived in Toba for about a year and three months, from the age of 23 to 24, which was five years before his debut as a detective novelist.

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In November 1917, Rampo joined the Electrical Department of the Toba Shipyard, operated by the Imperial Steamship Company, and worked as a general affairs clerk. Later, in his own record Chōzatsu Nenpu (Scrapbook Chronology), he reflected on that time, describing his job as "a very relaxed and almost playful kind of work."

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His main task at the shipyard was launching the company’s internal magazine, Hiyori. As the publisher and editor, he released the first issue in November 1918 and the second in December.

 

Although Rampo left the job after a little over a year, his connections with colleagues from that time—such as Hon’ida Jun’ichi, who later became a magazine editor, and Niyama Hisashi, who temporarily supported Rampo as a writer—continued even after he left Toba.