Vol.
66, No. 1
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Atsushi HIRAMOTO
The formation of the radio receiver industry in Japan
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The aim of this article is to analyse the characteristics of the early
radio receiver industry in Japan. Broadcasting in Japan was started
in 1925 by non-profit foundations. Unlike the U.S. and the U.K., therefore,
it had no links with the receiver manufacturing industry. However, as
the beginning of broadcasting caused a sharp increase in the demand
for radio apparatus, many enterprises and individuals began to make
receivers and other parts. While big enterprises were involved, there
were also many small companies, and in addition, radio hobbyists who
made their own receivers.
Japanese receivers were basically
imitations of foreign products, because several big companies were technically
tied up with foreign companies and small companies often imitated foreign
products and sometimes even faked them. Because the consumer could not
estimate exactly the contents of the radio products and preferred cheaper
goods, the market was flooded with cheap but inferior goods. As a result,
the influential companies, whose products were superior but more expensive,
were driven out of the market. The early radio industry was then exclusively
composed of small companies, which was peculiar to Japan. It means that
the market of the early Japanese radio industry did not function properly.
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Satoshi BABA
The annexation of Hoechst to Frankfurt: the expansion of a big city
and the reorganisation of the surrounding area
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The aim of this article is to investigate the expansion of Frankfurt
am Main from the 1870s to the 1920s, with particular reference to the
annexation of Hoechst am Main in 1928.
At the end of the nineteenth
century it was the adjacent suburban communities which desired annexation
with Frankfurt rather than the other way around, since they hoped to
take advantage of Frankfurtês superior administrative services. After
the turn of the century, however, annexation of smaller communities
became an important prerequisite of urban planning and the attitude
of Frankfurt grew more positive. This was because it needed land for
public facilities, and wanted to regulate both industrial and residential
development.
After World War I the state
(Prussia) took the leadership in the process of annexation. While the
Prussian government supported the expansion of Frankfurt, it also wished
to create a balance between the financial power of the city and that
of surrounding areas (Landkreis). For this reason, the state established
a new district (Main-Taunus-Kreis). However, the influence of Frankfurt
reached beyond the borders of Prussia, and the city planned to construct
economic regions (Rhein-Main-Gebiet) in cooperation with neighboring
cities which belonged to other states.
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Susumu HIRAI
The lower classes and the rural social order in north west Germany during
the late early modern period: a case study of the regulation of settlements
in the Osnabruck region
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This study of changes in the regulation and control of settlements in
the village society of the Osnabruck region from 1763 to 1806 shows
how the rapid growth of the lower classes influenced the rural social
order of early modern Germany.
The problem of overpopulation
in Osnabruck villages grew in the late eighteenth century, and the economic
position of the Heuerlinge (landless tenants) deteriorated. The government
of the region (Hochstift Osnabruck) thought that the Hofbesitzer (peasant
farmers) should restrict the number of Heuerlinge who could reside in
the Hofe (peasant farms). The Poor Laws of 1766 and, most notably, 1774
therefore obliged village communities to support, or banish, poor Heuerlinge.
In response, the Hofbesitzer
as a body began to organise strict settlement control over the Heuerlinge,
through both local administrative mechanisms and autonomous peasant
movements. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, groups of Hofbesitzer
were controlling and monitoring the influx of members of the lower classes
into rural areas. This is probably how the rural social order began
to evolve into its modern form.
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Sayako MIKI
The English East India Company and indigenous trading systems: a case
study of the grain trade in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century
Bengal
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This article will explore
the dynamism of indigenous trading systems in Bengal under colonial
control through a case study of the grain trade. In 1794 the government
attempted to stabilize prices and to prevent famines by establishing
state-run grain storehouses, but these policies were unsuccessful. Two
major factors contributed to this failure. First, the government had
not fully understood the spatial geography of the Bengal grain trade;
second, there was strong resistance to market intervention from native
traders.
To understand the background
factors that led to this failure, we need to examine the operation of
the indigenous trading system which was centered on wholesale grain
markets, known as ganjs. The ganjs played an important role in linking
producing areas and town markets. The traders in ganjs held stores of
grain in their granaries, and by using their knowledge, trade experience,
information and trading networks, they controlled both prices, and supply
and demand. In other words, although the expansion of Company rule brought
major changes to the overall economy, indigenous trading systems adapted
to the new situation and continued to play a significant economic role.
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