An Industrial Japan?
1. Write a list (min 10 stats) which show how Japan was emerging as a truly industrial and more urbanised nation. E.g. Between 1914 and 1918 Japan’s industrial output rose from 1.4 billion to 6.8 billion yen (pg 139 Gordon)
Between 1912 and 1932, real income per capita more than doubled (pg 15 Hanneman)
2. What role did the zaibatsu play in Japan’s industrialisation?
Zaibatsu were very unique. They didn't broaden their horizons on business but instead had business within trade, shipping, finance, mining... The Zaibatsu were very diverse.
Role was to support the business empire in Japan and help dozens of cooperations in finance, transport, trade, manufacturing and mining. In 1918 the Zaibatsu contained 20% of manufacturing, mining and trading sectors within the economy.
3. What happened in April 1920?
During April 1920, the stock market plunged, so did the silk market and banks failed.
4. Outline the causes and effects of the economic downturn Japan suffered from in the 1920s?
5. Explain the term ‘Rich Country, Strong Army’.
To modernise and industrialise Japan so that it became a rich country that didn't need to rely on other countries. To have a nation with a richer education to become intellectually wealthier have entrepreneurs and businessmen. Needed to be rich in multiple aspects.
6. What was rural-urban migration? Why did it occur in Japan in the first few decades of the 20th Century?
Development of the the rural (working class) becoming a new urban working class.
- 1914 - 1918 Japanese overseas sales on cotton cloth rose by 185%
- 1914 - 1920 Retail price of rice increased by 175%
- 1914 - 1920 Wholesale prices rose by almost 150%
- 1918 the eight largest zaibatsu held more than 20% of all private capital - manufacturing, mining, trading sectors of the economy
- 1890s - 1905 Average height of military conscripts' height rose by 3 centimetres (over an inch)
- 2-3% of all rural households didn't do their own farming themselves
- 1923 - 1931 1500 - 2700 disputes between landlords and tenants took place
- 1922 10% of all tenants unionised
- 1908 41% of all of employed people fell under the category 'merchant and tradesmen'
- 1908 - 1920 the number of private and public sector office workers in Tokyo rose from 6% - 21%
- 1927 Skilled machinist males were paid 2.6 yen/day
- 1928 Male office workers were paid 20 - 30 yen/month
- 1922 Ban on female attendance and speaking at political meetings was lifted
Between 1912 and 1932, real income per capita more than doubled (pg 15 Hanneman)
2. What role did the zaibatsu play in Japan’s industrialisation?
Zaibatsu were very unique. They didn't broaden their horizons on business but instead had business within trade, shipping, finance, mining... The Zaibatsu were very diverse.
- During the WWI era the Zaibatsu dominated the economy and politics
- Each Zaibatsu was a business empire
- Zaibatsu were very exclusive
- Generated and organised scale economies
Role was to support the business empire in Japan and help dozens of cooperations in finance, transport, trade, manufacturing and mining. In 1918 the Zaibatsu contained 20% of manufacturing, mining and trading sectors within the economy.
3. What happened in April 1920?
During April 1920, the stock market plunged, so did the silk market and banks failed.
4. Outline the causes and effects of the economic downturn Japan suffered from in the 1920s?
- The cost of Japan goods rose during WWI and were considered overpriced in the global market
- Japanese refused to go against Orthodox values and to devalue the Japanese yen - This would lower the cost of Japanese exports
- Restoration of the economy though decreasing domestic prices.
5. Explain the term ‘Rich Country, Strong Army’.
To modernise and industrialise Japan so that it became a rich country that didn't need to rely on other countries. To have a nation with a richer education to become intellectually wealthier have entrepreneurs and businessmen. Needed to be rich in multiple aspects.
6. What was rural-urban migration? Why did it occur in Japan in the first few decades of the 20th Century?
Development of the the rural (working class) becoming a new urban working class.
- The expansion of education from the Meiji Restoration
- Japan's increased contact with foreign nations
- Impact of the universal male military service
Rural-Urban Tensions
1. What impact had earlier legislation surrounding Education had on Japan’s urban population?
1872 Fundamental Code of Education - Required all children to attend school for four years. 1907 this was changed to six years of school. Helped to improve the literate population in Japan and enabled more people to read.
2. How had continued contact with the west shaped the urban culture of Japan?
1870s onwards more Western diplomats, industrialist and educators had spent more time in Japan. Japanese also had more opportunities to travel outside of Japan and to the West. 1921 the Crown Prince Hirohito became the first member of the Japanese imperial family to travel to the West. He went to Great Britain and France - Tone to increase Japan's contact with the West, signify Japan's growing international image.
3. What was life like for the middle and working classes in the cities?
4. How had conscription into the Imperial Army affected the attitudes and westernisation of
young men?
5. In what ways were there huge gaps between rural and urban society?
6. How were women emancipated, if at all, by rural-urban migration?
Women weren't necessarily emancipated. They were given a choice between two harsh lives. Either deal with the back-breaking work of your arranged marriage or work in a textiles mill.
7. What was ultra-nationalism?
8. Summarise Document 3 pgs 121-4 in Hanneman.. Kita Ikki, Outline Plan for the Reorganisation of Japan, 1923
9. What were the main issues between tenants and landowners through the 1920s?
Landlords held a great power through the economy and social aspects within the countryside. Tenants were expected to convey respect and loyalty to their landlords. They would do anything for their landlords even if they had to stop doing work on their own fields. Landlords were obligated to provide relief in bad harvesting years.
1872 Fundamental Code of Education - Required all children to attend school for four years. 1907 this was changed to six years of school. Helped to improve the literate population in Japan and enabled more people to read.
2. How had continued contact with the west shaped the urban culture of Japan?
1870s onwards more Western diplomats, industrialist and educators had spent more time in Japan. Japanese also had more opportunities to travel outside of Japan and to the West. 1921 the Crown Prince Hirohito became the first member of the Japanese imperial family to travel to the West. He went to Great Britain and France - Tone to increase Japan's contact with the West, signify Japan's growing international image.
3. What was life like for the middle and working classes in the cities?
- Western culture was beginning to takeover Urban middle class life
- 1920s The salari-man (salaryman, man in a suit) was only 5.5% (1.5 million workers) of the employed population
- Western clothes were worn more in public, urban homes now had Western-styled rooms - Carpets, curtains
- Sports became more popular - Specifically golf, tennis and baseball
- Movies became more popular
- 1925 Government now did broadcasts about government owned stations - 1928 500,000 households owned radios
4. How had conscription into the Imperial Army affected the attitudes and westernisation of
young men?
- 1872 Meiji leaders instituted a conscription to model the Japanese Imperial Army - Based on Prussian and French models
- All young men were required to serve in the Army for three years
- Yamagata Artiomo called the Army a 'national university' - Importance of the Army in shaping the male citizens of Japan
- Army reenforced ultra-traditionalist values
- Army introduced men to the Western aspects of 'trousers, jackets and boots as well as biscuits, beef and beer.' (Irokawa 1995:133)
- Military brought the levels of society together - One of the only areas were urban and rural societies could converge
5. In what ways were there huge gaps between rural and urban society?
- Hane 'Two Japans' (1982:33)
- Strength of Japanese farming had provided the economic basis for military and industrial growth
- Rural-dwellers (larger population than the urban) grew a distaste towards the urban
- Urban people received higher wages as well as more available consumer goods
- Urban were snobbish towards the rural
- 'Rural villages remained almost wholly unaffected by the changes until the end of World War II' (Hane 1982:34)
6. How were women emancipated, if at all, by rural-urban migration?
- Women expected to work in fields and take care of any household matters
- Marriages were arranged between families
- 'Wife shouldn't speak for the first fifteen years of marriage'
- Better to work in a textiles mill than worker in a rural area living in a house with 2-3 generations of your new husbands family'
- 'An average of 200,000 young girls were sold annually to serve as maids and nursemaids - a number exceeding 179,000 women who became factory workers each year' (Irokawa 1995:8)
Women weren't necessarily emancipated. They were given a choice between two harsh lives. Either deal with the back-breaking work of your arranged marriage or work in a textiles mill.
7. What was ultra-nationalism?
- Took over Japan in the 1930s and early 1940s
- Promoted the importance of the state of Japan above everything else
- Japan should be Asia's powerhouse
- Spectrum of patriotism
- My country is better / superior than every other country
- Ultra-Nationalism - Superiority (racial, ethnicity, entitlement), getting rid of the rule of other countries, so superior that we are the imperial power.
8. Summarise Document 3 pgs 121-4 in Hanneman.. Kita Ikki, Outline Plan for the Reorganisation of Japan, 1923
- Emperor needed to suspend the constitution for three years to reorganise Japan - Dissolve the Diet and place the nation under martial law
- The Emperor must have a true significance
- A Reorganisation Cabinet (chosen by the current military, bureaucratic, financial and party cliques) under martial law will be in effect
- The current ministries will have ministries for industry
- Diet will have no right to deliberate on any basic policy of reorganisation
9. What were the main issues between tenants and landowners through the 1920s?
Landlords held a great power through the economy and social aspects within the countryside. Tenants were expected to convey respect and loyalty to their landlords. They would do anything for their landlords even if they had to stop doing work on their own fields. Landlords were obligated to provide relief in bad harvesting years.
Men of Action - Documentary Notes
- Tokyo - Centre of change in Japan
- Early 20th coffee shops appeared in Japan - Meeting places of urban culture - Bourgeois
- Most difficult change was the pace
- People were moving from their farmlands to the cities
- New people were converging
- Cities enabled people to have better lives
- New jobs and location
- No time to reflect on the changes
- Tokyo - Symbol of the new Japan
- 1912 - New Taisho era - Struggle between military and civil authority for government control
- Military had a veto on the cabinet
- Military were only ruled by the Emperor
- Movement to preserve constitutional government
- March 1913 the riots ended - Retired officers could hold cabinet posts now
- Stage - Platform for political rallies, speeches and debates
- 1920 3 and a half million people lived in Tokyo
- Industrial class - Mainly women and children - Long hours, bad working conditions
- Zaibatsu - Controlled most of the industrial sector and overseas empire
- Japan benefitted from WWI - Newest highest supplier of textiles to Asia (Overthrew Great Britain)
- Russian Revolution - Japanese saw light sociology, more social problems
- 1918 Price of rice causes riots
- University campuses - Debating grounds
- September 1st 1923 - Tokyo Earthquake - 130,000 + died
- Most of Tokyo and Yokohama had been reduced to rubble - State of shock
- New Tokyo emerged - New modern lifestyle - New concept of leisure
- More consumer goods
- New nightlife - Modern boys and girls experimented with new music, dances, smoking, drinking, sports, screen and sex
- Popular participation in Government - political parties were more commonly supported by the businesses
- 1920 - 1925 - 3 millions to 12 million
- 1926 Emperor Hirohito - Symbol of hope, national symbol - Serious economic and political problems
- Japan was better educated and gained more knowledge from media
- Economic depression was starting - Japan was one of the first to be effected
- 1925 - Universal male suffrage, police could now also arrest anyone with radical political views
- The draft - Hope
- Military officers - Concerned about famers'
- Military was dissatisfied with politicians - Military budget was cut in half
- 1938 Killed Manchurian warlord - Government was outraged and the Army couldn't be disciplined
- Military had the discipline Japan needed - Men of action
- 1930 Political extremist shot the Prime Minister
- September 1931 - Blew up a section of the Japanese railway and decided to blame it on the Chinese, needed an excuse to attack China - Manchurian incident
- Army officers - True patriots (in their own minds) - Staged an international incident and used it as an excuse to raid Manchuria - Who was ruling Japan?
- Those who opposed the Manchurian decision were punished by the Army
- May 1932 military extremist killed the Prime Ministers - 'Politics by assassination'