Vol. 81, No. 1

Yanying LIN, The source of Japanese small retailers after World War II: focusing on the era from the late 1950s to the early 1980s

The number of small retailers, which had been termed 'excessive' even in the pre-war period, continued to increase from the 1950s to the 1980s. Earlier studies have focused on external factors to explain this increase. This paper shifts the focus to consider career patterns among small retailers. There were three main routes to becoming a small retailer during this period: successors, ex-clerks and other newcomers. This paper proposes that from the 1970s, the share of successors and ex-clerks fell in comparison to that of newcomers. There are two main reasons for this decrease. One is the change in employment choices of potential successors, so that more people chose not to take over the family business; at the same time, fewer young people became clerks. The other reason is the development of distribution technology and a change in distribution patterns which made it easier for newcomers to enter the sector. These changes in the backgrounds of small retailers, a reduction in the number of successors and ex-clerks and a rise in the number of newcomers, were central factors contributing to the decline of the small retailer sector in the 1980s.

Yoshihiro CHIBA, The birth of Philippine public health policies: a case study of cholera epidemics in Manila under the Spanish and American empires

This paper considers the public health policies of Manila in the period from the late 19th century to the early 20th century under the Spanish and American empires, highlighting interventions by the two empires in response to cholera epidemics in urban society. During the Spanish era, local societies around Manila responded to such health risks primarily through dependence on families and volunteers and respect was given to religious rituals which were under the control of parish priests. In contrast, during the Filipino-American War, American colonialism established a centralized authoritarian rule to carry out cholera-control measures, based on bio-medical knowledge; however, these measures may also have reflected racist tendencies. As a result, the public health policies along with house inspections gave rise to Filipinos’ anger, increasing the sense of nationalism and finally resulting in policy changes. There were some similarities in the public health policies of Spain and America. Under the more centralized authoritarian rule that prevailed through the cholera epidemics of the 1880s, Spanish colonial Manila established some institutions, such as médico munićipale [municipal physician] and the scientific laboratory, which the American empire then inherited.

Keita NAKANISHI, Corporate expansion in local regions and municipal tax problems during the middle to late Meiji period: the development of institutions and the actions of municipal governments

This article analyzes municipal taxes on corporations during the middle to late Meiji period, considering relationships between municipal governments and corporations, and those among municipal governments. Taxes on industry and commerce were initially collected locally, but changed to national taxes by the business tax law (eigyozeiho) in 1896. This caused a problem for municipal governments because it became difficult for them to impose local taxes on corporations. To guard against multiple taxes, some corporations brought lawsuits against municipal governments. In 1911, the government established a new rule to allow municipal governments to split taxes so that revenue would be shared between big cities (which contained most corporate headquarters) and local governments. This required close consultation among municipal governments, which communicated with each other to maintain the system, and the Home Ministry, which helped improve the system.　Influence from economic development and national institutions gave the tax split fiscal significance to corporations located in each region and lead to increased local tax revenue. The relationships among municipal governments and those between municipal governments and corporations were placed under this tax rule and it stabilized the management of local administration and finance during this period.

Yu MANDAI, Farm management and organization of tenant farmers by landowners in the first half of the nineteenth century: a case study of the Kaname family in Hatakenaka village, Hine county, Senshu area

This article examines the Kaname family’s management of farms and their ability to organize tenant farmers in the first half of the nineteenth century. The Kaname family served as a village headman (shoya) in Hatakenaka village, southern Senshu. Previous studies emphasized that landowners improved tenant management either through economic changes or by building on communal traditions which enabled them to build strong ties of trust between landowners and tenant farmers. This paper reevaluates the independent ability of landowners to expand the system of landownership. It argues that the Kaname family was able to develop the management of the tenant land by their skillful organization of tenant farmers.
The case study reveals the following points. The Kaname family’s management was influenced by local circumstances under which the opportunities to work in town (machikata) were increasing and the number of people who wanted to be tenant farmers was decreasing. In this area, the development of landowners’ management required the ability to constantly recruit tenant farmers. In other words, the Kaname family’s successful management of tenant farmers depended on their substantial support for the latter.

Keishi SHIRATORI, Hokkaido Takushoku Bank as a city bank during the rapid growth era

The definitive features of the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank (Abb.,Takugin) during the rapid growth era are as follows: First, the bank demonstrated a very strong inclination to grow bigger and bigger as one of the city banks. Second, the bank held a great deal of idle money due to its failure to form its own keiretsu like the big six banks in the latter half of 1960s. These two features are directly linked to the 1997 bankruptcy of the bank following the collapse of the bubble economy.