Vol.
66, No. 4
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Futoshi KINOSHITA
The migration pattern of Tokugawa peasants: an analysis of documents
from Northeastern Japan, 1760-1870
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Although recent studies by Japanese historical demographers have enormously
enriched our knowledge of the fertility and mortality of Tokugawa peasants,
their migration patterns still remain poorly understood. Using the shumon
aratame-cho (religious registration records) of Yambe, a village in
northeastern Japan, this article clarifies several critical aspects
of migration in the Tokugawa period. The main findings can be summarized
as follows:
(1) The gross migration
rate of Yambe was relatively high, 46 per thousand per year. But in-migration
and out-migration offset each other, and thus net migration made very
little impact on the village population.
(2) Marriage and employment
as servants (hoko) were the dominant reasons for migration. Both reveal
distinct patterns as do the movements of males and females.
(3) The number of migrants
declined precipitously after about 1840, because servants (hoko-nin)
were replaced by day laborers (hiyatoi).
(4) The age profile of migration
showed a sharp peak from the upper teens to the lower twenties, because
marriage and hoko were concentrated in these age groups. The male profile
peaked at a higher age than the female profile.
(5) The average distance
of migration was 4 km, and almost all migration took place within a
radius of 10 km from Yambe. Villagers tended to migrate farther away
for marriage than for hoko.
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Takao NAITO
The growth strategy of Hoden Oil Company, 1893-1908
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Hoden Oil Company grew through a strategy of merging other mining companies.
Success in mining led to high profits, which led to high dividends,
which caused the capital to increase and made possible mergers through
the issue of stock, with an expansion of the scale of business as the
end result. When Hoden Oil achieved mergers with refining and wholesale
companies in a process known as daigodo (amalgamation), it became one
of the leaders of the Japanese oil industry, on a scale rivalling Nippon
Oil Company.
Soon, however, its production
rate of crude oil began to reach a ceiling, signalling that its growth
strategy was coming to an end. However, the company continued to pursue
the strategy of mergers, expansion and capital increase, until in 1909
the discovery of falsified accounts brought disaster.
The next year saw the beginning
of reforms known as naibu seiri. Professional managers were introduced
and, most important, the growth strategy was changed to one based on
gradual advances through technical innovations in mining.
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Kohji KOMINATO
The subcontractor system in Japan from 1955 after the period of high
growth: a historical analysis of the Japanese auto industry
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As one of the most characteristic features of the Japanese auto industry,
the system of subcontracting has been evaluated in various ways and
regarded as an important factor in Japanese industrial competitiveness
overseas. There have been, however, many arguments which tend to apply
only to the relations between car assemblers and their direct suppliers,
and also deal only with the rational side of one-to-one relations between
firms. The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of
the Japanese subcontractor system with an emphasis on its structural
stratification and how the collective interests of the suppliers have
influenced its workings.
First, I analyze interactions
between a group of car assemblers (the Japan Automobile Manufacturers
Association) and a group of major suppliers (the Japan Auto Parts Industries
Association). Second, I examine smaller suppliers' relations with their
buyers, based on the results of a survey which I carried out in the
Keihin district.
While the subcontractor
system in Japan has been reinforced since the 1960s, various problems
have also emerged during the process. Although the solutions to the
problems differ from one tier of the system to another, they reflect
the collective interests and activities of the suppliers in each tier.
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Chisako TSUJI
The failure of the early Meiji attempt to cultivate American cotton
in Japan, 1874-1887
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In the early Meiji period,
the Japanese government embarked on a project to cultivate American
cotton as part of its industrial promotion program. The project was,
however, unsuccessful. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the causes
of its failure.
Earlier studies have concluded
that the attempt to transplant the cotton itself was unsuccessful as
well as the project as a whole, mainly because of 'the dominance of
small-scale farming' in Japan or the 'backwardness' of Japanese agriculture.
However, since there is evidence that in some areas farmers actually
succeeded in rearing American cotton, the 'supply side' cannot have
been the decisive factor.
This paper takes into account
the 'demand side', focusing on how American cotton was handled by cotton
growers and processors. There was a deep concern on the part of the
growers that the raw cotton would not sell unless the government was
willing to buy it up. At the same time, the processors complained that
long stapled American cotton was unsuited to processing machines built
for the short stapled Japanese variety. Thus, the major cause of the
failure was that American cotton was unable to find a market in Japan
at the time.
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Yoko IZUTANI
The policy of the People's Republic of China toward private enterprise
in the early period after its foundation
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The purpose of this article
is to review the early economic policies of the People's Republic from
a standpoint critical of the revolutionary view of history. Specifically,
by studying the actual conditions of steamship companies, we intend
to show that political movements such as 'the Movement Against Three
and Five Evils' and 'the Democratic Reform Movement' had a significant
influence on China's subsequent transformation into a socialist state.
After entering the Korean
War, China made a drastic move away from 'neo-democratic' policies and
started to exercise control over economic activities. In the middle
of 1951, the Communist Party started 'the Movement against Three and
Five Evils' and 'the Democratic Reform Movement', which took a similar
form as the land reforms in targeting the bourgeoisie. Through these
political movements, many major private enterprises were converted to
semi-governmental corporations, and as a result, the Communist Party
established a dominating role in the economy. As there was little difference
between semi-governmental and state-run corporations, we can say that
the China's transformation into a socialist state really began in 1951,
and that the Korean War acted as the turning point.
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