Vol. 72, No. 2

Jin Sung CHUNG
The coal policies on the adjustment process of the Japanese coal-mining industry during the high-growth era

The Japanese coal-mining industry underwent adjustments around 1958 when a full-scale energy revolution started to take place. The coal policies, which had great influence on the adjustment process, affected production and employment differently. On the one hand, coal production was maintained at an output level of 55 million tons per year until 1966. This output level was considered a form of ‘social insurance’ to ensure energy security. On the other hand, the number of employees in the coal-mining industry decreased by 58 percent between 1959 and 1965. This drastic step was imperative: to overcome the problem of high coal prices, productivity of the coal industry needed to increase rapidly. While the adjustment in employment practices contributed positively toward the shift in labor from a declining industry to growing industries, it also resulted in such negative consequences as unemployment of miners and the decline of mining districts.

Ikki SUGE
Construction and governance in postwar British urban society: the expansion of the metropolitan area and new town development in Basildon

This article considers the nature of urban governance through a case study of the construction of Basildon new town, Essex, and the expansion of London metropolitan area in the 1950s and 1960s. The aims of the article are, first, to place a ‘grassroots’ study in the wider context of 20th-century urban history; second, to link the problems of urban governance with the social experience of residents; and, third, to link the local concerns of urban governments and residents with national issues in postwar Britain. In this article, the author examines six aspects of the British new towns policy: the Development Corporation, planning, infrastructure, industry, housing, and social amenities. One can suggest that 1) in postwar British society, urban governance and city life still retained a regional aspect; 2) the new mode of postwar urban development based on the power of central government did not solve the difficulties faced by residents of the new communities; and 3) the problems might not be particular to Basildon, but shared widely by postwar British society.

Noriko FUJII
Analysis of the management of Mito Isenza [iron coin mint in the late 18th century], focusing on its organization and working processes

Mito Isenza was located at Mito, a hundred kilometers from Edo (present-day Tokyo). It minted national coins under the approval of the central government (Tokugawa Shogunate) from 1768 to 1777, bringing huge minting profits to the local government (Mito domain). But the wealthy merchant designated as commissioner procured resources such as workers, raw materials, and funds from the Edo market.

The commissioner’s reports of estimated revenues and expenditures enable us to calculate seigniorage. However, the reports contain no information on the cost and volume of funds raised to finance minting activities.

The minting process comprised three phases: melting, minting, and polishing. The wages of workers in each process showed substantial differences according to the level of their technical skills. The number of skilled workers receiving high wages was relatively small, and many unskilled and low-paid workers were recruited from lower classes that had emigrated to Edo from poor farming villages.

The commissioner did not administer the minting process directly. On-site management was delegated to head skilled workers. The management policy was to respect the practices and customs of the workers, and the commissioner monitored daily output through clerks.

Tokihiko SETTSU
Excess entry and credit crisis: ‘small retail trade issues’ in interwar Tokyo

In the interwar depression period, the rate of unemployment in Japan was comparatively lower than in other countries. It was because the tertiary industry could absorb the unemployed temporarily and worked as a ‘cushion for employment’. But at the same time, this absorption became one of the causes of ‘small retail trade issues’, which consisted of an excess in the number of retail shops and their financing difficulties.

This financing problem was commonly said to be difficulty in borrowing from banking institutions and caused by the convergence of small banks after the banking crisis in 1927. The analysis in this paper, however, suggests that the financing problem for small retail shops was not difficulty in borrowing but a credit crisis between retail and wholesale merchants. And the analysis, which is based on a commercial survey taken in Tokyo city in 1930 and newspaper articles at that time, reveals that the excess in the number of retail shops affected this credit crisis. These results imply the ‘small retail trade issues’ were caused by the excess entry into retail trades at the time of recession, one of the characteristics of the labor market in modern Japan.