Hōji Shimanaka

was a Japanese magazine publisher who was the president and publisher of the prominent monthly magazine Chūō Kōron for nearly five decades. According to Shimanaka's longtime friend and sometime rival Kengo Tanaka, the publisher of competing Bungei Shunjū magazine, "Shimanaka was a virtual synonym for Chūō Kōron."

Early life Hōji Shimanaka was born on February 7, 1923, the second son of journalist Yūsaku Shimanaka, who would later rise to become the owner and publisher of Chūō Kōron magazine. As a boy, Shimanaka attended Tokyo Higher Normal School Elementary School (present-day Tsukuba University Elementary School). Shimanaka's elementary school classmates included philosopher Shunsuke Tsurumi and sociologist Michio Nagai.

After graduating from high school, Shimanaka majored in German studies at prestigious Tokyo Imperial University. Shimanaka's education was interrupted by World War II, when he was drafted as mobilized labor and worked Nakajima Aircraft Corporation's research institute.

Returning to his university studies after the war, Shimanaka was heavily involved in the publication of the 14th edition of the famous Tokyo University literary magazine Shinshichō (新思潮, "New Trends in Thought").

After graduating from university, Shimanaka joined the staff of his father's magazine Chūō Kōron in 1948, but hoped to pursue an academic career. His older brother, Shinya Shimanaka, briefly succeeded their father to the presidency of the Chūō Kōron company, but also died shortly thereafter of illness, so Shimanaka resigned his positions as a part-time lecturer at Meiji University and Tōyō University and became full-time president of Chūōkōron-sha at the age of 25. Japanese right-wing ultranationalist groups were outraged and mounted a long series of protests and attacks aimed at Chūō Kōron in an attempt to force an apology. and on the evening of February 1, 1961, a 17-year-old rightist named Kazutaka Komori invaded Shimanaka's home in Shinjuku, Tokyo in an apparent assassination attempt. Shimanaka was away from home at the time, but his housekeeper was stabbed to death and his wife Masako was seriously injured, in a terroristic attack that became known as the "Shimanaka Incident." He then offered his "deepest apologies" for “having disturbed society to the point of causing violent incidents."

Later life and death In 1994, Shimanaka resigned as president of Chūō Kōron after 45 years, succeeded by his eldest son Yukio, and became chairman of the board of directors. However two years later, in 1996, he fired Yukio and for a time the company had no president.

Shimanaka died of lung cancer on April 3, 1997, at the age of 74. Shimanaka's wife Masako became chairman and president, but was not able to resolve the company's financial crisis. In 1998, Chūōkōron-sha and all of its assets were bought out by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper company.