Vol. 79, No. 4

Anthony REID, Writing history in a dangerous environment: how does the “ring of fire” make a difference?

The earthquakes and tsunamis in Northeast Honshu in March 2011 and in Aceh and the Indian Ocean in December 2004, have forcibly reminded us humans how dependent we are on the normal beneficence of our planet. Evidence accumulates that the 20th century was abnormally benign from a tectonic point of view, while traumatic politically, misleading both historians and planners. The indications are that in the 21st Century climatic and tectonic disasters are likely to replace wars as the major challenges for mankind. Historians too need to change their focus from the dominant concern with political history to more fundamental changes in humanity’s relation with the environment.
Scientific research since the 2004 tsunami suggests that it had at least equally violent antecedents in Southeast Asia’s 14th century, ending the period of Hindu-Buddhist dominance in the islands. A warmer period followed this 14th century crisis, but was interrupted by another cold spell of disruption to agriculture in the 17th century. Scientists and historians will need to cooperate to determine the relative importance of the primarily political crises of the 18th century (central to Victor Lieberman’s argument) and the economic/demographic crises of the 17th century which I have stressed.

Yuto ISHIBASHI, The standardisation of Greenwich Time and its social impact in nineteenth century Britain

This paper examines the transformation of public timekeeping and its social influences in late nineteenth century Britain through a study of the role of a time signaling service provided by the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. This service was formed in order to meet a demand for accurate timekeeping in an age that experienced a remarkable expansion in transportation, overseas trade, and the development of information networks. It was only through active collaboration of public sector entities such as the national observatory and the Admiralty as well as private telegraph and railway companies that time distribution became possible. However, the nationalisation of all of the telegraph lines in Britain in 1870 led to a significant change in the way the service was maintained. The General Post Office, which took over all of the telegraph businesses at the time, implemented a new scheme that charged for the time signals. Despite the limited number of subscribers to the GPO’s service, the time signals disseminated from Greenwich were employed for the operation of the railways, the activation of time balls and time guns, and the navigational practices of the Royal Navy. Consequently, this advanced the development of accurate public timekeeping and promoted the widespread use of standard time.

Hajime YAMAMOTO, Financial reform involving jusuo (provincial bureau) in Shanxi province in the late Qing

This article examines the growing authority of governor-generals and governors in the late Qing, through an examination of the financial reforms carried out by Zhang Zhidong, who was appointed as provincial governor of Shanxi in 1871. Zhang’s reform involved the customary practice of tanjuan, a system in which funds collected by lower-level officials were transferred to higher-level officials. Zhang established new bureaus (jusuo), independent from the central government and the provincial administrations commissions, to collect and handle fund transfers, reducing the amounts of tanjuan. Zhang established and used jusuo because he didn’t trust clerks in the provincial administration commissions. The new institutions gave the governor greater control and flexibility in the management of local finances, and allowed him to take action against both central government financial pressure and exploitation by clerks in the provincial offices. At the same time it created a flexible structure that contributed to the maintenance of the Qing dynasty’s centralization of administrative power. From this case we can see that one of the reasons for the growing authority of governor-generals and governors in the late Qing was the way in which they were able to deal flexibly with local administrative problems.

Kenta KATO, Mitsubishi Corporation and Ajikawa Iron Works Co. Ltd.: an essay on management intervention by a general trading company

This paper examines and clarifies the functions a general trading company performed in the relationship with its counterparty company by analyzing the case of Mitsubishi Corporation and Ajikawa Iron Works Co. Ltd. during the inter-war period in Japan.
Mitsubishi Corp., which sought to acquire commercial rights to sell Ajikawa’s products in the both the domestic and overseas markets, provided multiple services to the Ajikawa firm. First, when Ajikawa’s business performance declined, Mitsubishi Corp. shifted its policy to more aggressive intervention in management. It played an important financial role, not only by supplying unsecured loans but also by negotiating loan conditions with the Yamaguchi Bank, Ltd., which had dealings with Ajikawa. Second, Mitsubishi Corp. sent their staff members and directors to Ajikawa as either temporary or resident staff, which served dual functions of supplying business resources and monitoring management conditions. It should also be noted that Mitsubishi Corp. actively took part in the formulation and implementation of the revival plan of Ajikawa. In this process, Mitsubishi Corp. pushed forward the market development for Ajikawa’s products using their own intra-firm trade network centering on Osaka.

Keiichiro KATO and Masato SHIZUME, Flow of goods and circulation of money during the late Edo and the early Meiji period: evidence from the eastern Sanuki region

This paper explores the transition of the circulation of money during the late Edo and the early Meiji period (1860s-1870s). We focus on the transition from paper money in monme (an old unit of account inherited from the Edo period) issued by feudal lords to that in yen issued by the central government as a means of exchange. To this end, we look into individual transactions appearing in accounting books of a merchant in the eastern part of Sanuki (now Kagawa prefecture). We find that, when the central government introduced the yen as the new unit of account in 1871, people in the eastern Sanuki mainly used paper money in monme issued by the feudal lord. Between 1871 and 1876, people seemingly used various types of monies such as the old monme-denominated paper money, copper coin, and the new yen-denominated paper money at the same time. In the fall of 1876, the new yen-denominated paper money suddenly prevailed in the region. Our methodology may be applicable to explore the use of money in other regions.