Tanizaki was born to a well-off merchant class family in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, where his uncle owned a printing press, which had been established by his grandfather. In his Yōshō Jidai (Childhood Years, 1956) Tanizaki admitted to having had a pampered childhood. His childhood house was destroyed in the 1894 Meiji Tokyo earthquake, which Tanizaki later attributed to his lifelong phobia for earthquakes. His family's finances declined dramatically as he grew older until he was forced to reside in another household as a tutor. Despite these financial problems, he attended the Tokyo First Middle School, where he became acquainted with Isamu Yoshii. Tanizaki attended the Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University from 1908 but was forced to drop out in 1911 because of his inability to pay for tuition.