In 1919, after
World War I,
Yamamoto Sanehiko's company, called
Kaizōsha (改造社), began publishing
Kaizō. Although it is well known for carrying works of fiction, its sales grew because of the articles it carried pertaining to labor and social problems. At this time, due to the influence of the
Russian Revolution,
Japanese intellectuals were also examining social issues and socialist thought. Essays by writers such as Christian socialist
Kagawa Toyohiko, Marxist
Kawakami Hajime, and
Yamakawa Hitoshi were published and helped the magazine gain popularity. It also published
Shiga Naoya's novel ''
A Dark Night's Passing'' (1921–37),
Riichi Yokomitsu's
Shanghai (1929-1931), and
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's
Quicksand (1928–30). Another popular general-interest magazine
Chūōkōron (中央公論) was established before
Kaizō, but sales of
Kaizō overtook it despite its radical content. In 1922,
Kaizōsha invited
Albert Einstein to give lectures in Japan. He arrived in Japan 7 days after the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences had announced he won the
Nobel Prize.
Jun Ishiwara, a Japanese theoretical physicist, summarized his lecture at
Keio University and published it in
Kaizō.
Kaizōsha published translations of Einstein's lecture texts in Japan the next year and during the period from 1922 to 1924 it published translations of all of his papers. ==Oppression==