39Telephones Were a
Status Symbol!?
Finally, telephones
make an
appearance!
Aye, but even around
1935, only about
1,200 households in
Chiba City—roughly
ten percent—had
phone service. Only
shops, government
offices, and a few
wealthy families
could afford one.
So phones were a status
symbol back then. Some
of the shops in the
sugoroku game don’t
even have phone
numbers!