Vol. 75, No.1

Hideyoshi YAGASHIRO
Colonial merchants and the development of marine products trade in Hakodate

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the distribution system between Japan and colonial Taiwan and examine the influence that the Japanese empire exerted on the distribution network in East Asia in the modern age. The specific issue studied is the distribution of marine products between Hakodate in Hokkaido and Keelung in Taiwan through an analysis of the relationship between Japanese and Taiwanese merchants. This paper is based on research on the Japanese empire, as well as studies in Japanese national history and theory of ethnic Chinese networks. The conclusion is as follows. First, the role of the colonial merchant was as intermediary between the Japanese empire and Asia. At this time, Taiwanese merchants had to deal with the changes that colonization brought to their immediate environment. Their existence was important in the expansion of trade of the Japanese empire with Taiwan and South China. Second, the role of the colonial merchant diminished with the deterioration of the political environment between Japan and China. The most important point made in this paper is that the Taiwanese merchants' activities were defined by the development of Japanese fisheries in Okhotsk and activities of Japanese fishing enterprises.

Hidenao TAKAHASHI
The sterling crisis of 1931 revisited: an analysis of spot and forward rates and bid-ask spreads in the London foreign exchange market

This paper focuses on the impact of the London forward exchange market on the sterling crisis from July to September 1931, examining changes in daily data of pound-dollar exchange rates and bid-ask quotes before the onset of the crisis. After World War I, the forward market expanded in London and information about the bid-ask spread became important in the price-making process. Even after the British restoration of the gold standard, the London forward market worked well through international interest rate arbitrage. In January 1931, when two- and three-month forward rates fell sharply against the dollar, spot and one-month forward pound rates did not fall, while, under the crisis, the spot and forward pound rates fell sharply against dollar. The difference of the market behaviours of these two cases depended on investors' expectations of whether or not the British abandonment of the gold standard was urgent. The behaviour of forward rates reflected changes of the investors' expectations of the credibility of the British gold standard. The establishment of the well-functioning forward market in London before the onset of the crisis had the potential to force the British government to abandon the gold standard.