Abstract
This chapter adopts a comparative lens in comparing the historical changes in the coal mining industry with those in agriculture and forestry, which also belong to the primary sector. There are similarities in the historical performance of these three industries. From the proto-industrialization period to the light industrialization period, the three industries experienced relatively good performance. During the post-war heavy industrialization period, the government provided enormous subsidies to the three industries. This income redistribution policy contributed to post-war Japan’s high economic growth and its prerequisite of social stability by preventing social unrests. This chapter shows that, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the economic history of the coal mining industry, comparative studies with other industries in the primary sector are useful.
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Notes
- 1.
The Colin-Klerk model further posits that, after an economy completes the industrialization stage, it will move to the post-industrialization stage, wherein the economic gravity moves from the secondary sector to the third. In the post-industrialization stage, the percentages of GDP and labour force of the primary sector kept declining. Japan’s post-industrialization period started around the 1980s. As discussed in section “Protection for the Primary Sector During Post-war Japan’s Heavy Industrialization”, at that time, the coal mining industry had already shrunk to a negligible level in the Japanese economy. Thus, this chapter does not cover Japan’s post-industrialization period.
- 2.
Vegetation transition is used for both agriculture and forestry. Thus, forestry is sometimes categorized as part of the agricultural industry in Japan (Source: Sekioka, H., Chishiki Zero Karano Ringyo Nyumon (Basic Knowledge on Forestry), (Japan: Ieno Hikari Kyokai), 2016, p. 19).
- 3.
Some agricultural products are inedible. A typical example is the thread from a silk cocoon, which is also in competition (in commercial use) with new types of materials such as chemical fibre and glass fibre.
- 4.
Teruoka, S., Nihon no Nogyo Hyakugoju Nen (Japanese Agriculture 150 Years), (Japan: Yuhikaku), 2003, p. 7.
- 5.
Hayami, Y., and S. Yamada, The Agricultural Development of Japan, (Japan: University of Tokyo Press), 1991, pp. 61–62.
- 6.
For example, see Saito, O., Kankyo no Keizaishi (Economic History of Environment), (Japan: Iwanami Shoten), 2014, pp. 38–42, and Richards, J. F., The Understanding Frontier: An Environmental History of the Early Modern World, (California: University of California Press, Berkeley), 2003, p. 622.
- 7.
Details of Hanba Sei are discussed in Yano, M., T. Tanji and M. Kuwabara, Sekitan no Kataru Nihon no Kindai (Coal and Modernization in Japan), (Japan: Soshi-ete), 1978, pp. 145–152.
- 8.
Yamaguchi, A., Shinrin Shigen no Kankyo Keizaishi (Environmental History of the Forestry Resource), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2015, p. 5.
- 9.
Yada, T., Sekitan Sangyo Ron (Studies on the Coal Mining Industry), (Japan: Harashobo), 2014, p. 16.
- 10.
Japan became a coal importer in 1923 (Source: Sugiyama, S. and T. Ushijima, 2012, Nihon Sekitangyo no Suitai (Decline of the Coal Mining Industry), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2012, p. 8).
- 11.
Fuji Paper Kushiro Factory, which was one of the biggest paper factories in the pre-war period, started its operations in 1920.
- 12.
Please refer to the following for a full treatment: Thompson, E. P., “Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism,” in Past and Present, 38 (December), 1967: 56–97.
- 13.
Please refer to the following for a full treatment: Smith, T. C., Native Sources of Japanese Industrialization, 1750–1920, (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press), 1988.
- 14.
Japanese Ministry of Education, Wagakuni Kyoiku no Ayumi (History of Japanese Educational Development), (Tokyo: Meiji Tosho Shuppan), 1967.
- 15.
Teruoka, S., Nihon no Nogyo Hyakugoju Nen (Japanese Agriculture 150 Years), (Japan: Yuhikaku), 2003.
- 16.
Nagata, S., Rinseigaku Kogi (Lectures on Forestry Policy), (Japan: University of Tokyo Press), 2015, p. 47.
- 17.
In 1924, the government reduced the tariff on imported wood as an emergency measure to address the wood shortage after the Great Kanto Earthquake. As a result, wood imports from the US (including British Colombia) increased from 0.77 million goku (1 goku is equivalent to 0.278 cubic metres) in 1920 to 9.93 million goku in 1924 (Source: Yamaguchi, A., Shinrin Shigen no Kankyo Keizaishi (Environmental History of the Forestry Resource), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2015, p. 45).
- 18.
Forestry in Sakhalin suffered substantial damage from insects in 1919. In response, the Japanese colonial government in Sakhalin cut down the damaged wood as a preventative measure to protect the insect-free forestry areas. This damaged wood was shipped within Japan and sold at cheap prices domestically. In addition, although overcutting of forestry reached a critical level in Sakhalin, the Japanese colonial government did not employ effective measures to prevent it (Source: Yamaguchi, A., Shinrin Shigen no Kankyo Keizaishi (Environmental History of the Forestry Resource), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2015, p. 46–48).
- 19.
Yamaguchi, A., Shinrin Shigen no Kankyo Keizaishi (Environmental History of the Forestry Resource), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2015, p. 47.
- 20.
Hayami, Y., and S. Yamada, The Agricultural Development of Japan, (Japan: University of Tokyo Press), 1991, p. 79.
- 21.
Hayami, Y., and S. Yamada, The Agricultural Development of Japan, (Japan: University of Tokyo Press), 1991, p. 79.
- 22.
Yano, M., T. Tanji and M. Kuwabara, Sekitan no Kataru Nihon no Kindai (Coal and Modernization in Japan), (Japan: Soshi-ete), 1978, pp. 147–149.
- 23.
Yano, M., T. Tanji and M. Kuwabara, Sekitan no Kataru Nihon no Kindai (Coal and Modernization in Japan), (Japan: Soshi-ete), 1978, p. 20.
- 24.
Since coal mining is a labour-intensive industry, keeping a sufficient number of miners is one of the biggest problems when lowering the coal production cost. When the labour shortage became serious in the Pacific War period, the government forced people in Japanese colonies and prisoners of war to work as involuntary labourers at coalfields. (Source: Yada, T., Sekitan Sangyo Ron (Studies on the Coal Mining Industry), (Japan: Harashobo). 2014, pp. 67–68).
- 25.
The nominal protection rate for imported rice increased from 11% in 1923–1927 to 45% in 1933–1937 (Source: Hayami, Y., and Y. Godo, Nogyo Keizai ron (Agricultural Economics), (Japan: Iwanami Shoten), 2002, p. 147).
- 26.
Annual statistics on coal production are available at the Sekitan Kogyo Go-rika Seisakushi Kenkyu Kai (1990). The government’s estimates regarding the food balance sheet are available at http://www.maff.go.jp/j/zyukyu/fbs/. The government’s estimates regarding the wood balance sheet are available at http://www.maff.go.jp/j/tokei/kouhyou/mokuzai_zyukyu/
- 27.
Sugiyama, S. and T. Ushijima, Nihon Sekitangyo no Suitai (Decline of the Coal Mining Industry), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2012, pp. 218–219.
- 28.
Sugiyama, S. and T. Ushijima, Nihon Sekitangyo no Suitai (Decline of the Coal Mining Industry), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2012, pp. 14–16.
- 29.
Mochida H. and K. Endo, Ringyo Kozo Mondai Kenkyu (Studies on Industrial. Structure of Japanese Forestry), (Japan: Japan Forestry Investigation Committee), 2015, p. 20.
- 30.
Murao fiercely criticizes such misunderstanding as the “propagation of a cult” (Source: Murao, K., Machigai Darakeno Nihon Ringyo (Mistakes of the Japanese Forestry), (Japan: Japan Forestry Investigation Committee), 2013, p. 53).
- 31.
Please refer to: Murao, K., Machigai Darakeno Nihon Ringyo (Mistakes of the Japanese Forestry), (Japan: Japan Forestry Investigation Committee), 2013, pp. 163–167, and Ogi, T., Kokusanzai wa Naze Urenakattanoka (The Reasons for Stagnation in Japanese Forestry), (Japan: Japan Forestry Investigation Committee). 2009, p. 116.
Bibliography
Hayami, Y., and Y. Godo, Nogyo Keizai ron (Agricultural Economics), (Japan: Iwanami Shoten), 2002.
Hayami, Y., and S. Yamada, The Agricultural Development of Japan, (Japan: University of Tokyo Press), 1991.
Japanese Ministry of Education, Wagakuni Kyoiku no Ayumi (History of Japanese Educational Development), (Tokyo: Meiji Tosho Shuppan), 1967.
Mochida H. and K. Endo, Ringyo Kozo Mondai Kenkyu (Studies on Industrial. Structure of Japanese Forestry), (Japan: Japan Forestry Investigation Committee), 2015.
Murao, K., Machigai Darakeno Nihon Ringyo (Mistakes of the Japanese Forestry), (Japan: Japan Forestry Investigation Committee), 2013.
Nagata, S., Rinseigaku Kogi (Lectures on Forestry Policy), (Japan: University of Tokyo Press), 2015.
Ogi, T., Kokusanzai wa Naze Urenakattanoka (The Reasons for Stagnation in Japanese Forestry), (Japan: Japan Forestry Investigation Committee). 2009.
Richards, J. F., The Understanding Frontier: An Environmental History of the Early Modern World, (California: University of California Press, Berkeley), 2003.
Saito, O., Kankyo no Keizaishi (Economic History of Environment), (Japan: Iwanami Shoten), 2014.
Sekioka, H., Chishiki Zero Karano Ringyo Nyumon (Basic Knowledge on Forestry), (Japan: Ieno Hikari Kyokai), 2016.
Sekitan Kogyo Go-rika Seisakushi Kenkyu Kai, Sekitan Kogyo Go-rika Seisakushi (History of the Streamlining Policy for the Coal Mining Industry) (Japan: Sekitan Kogyo Go-rika Seisakushi Kenkyu Kai), 1990.
Shiga, K., Shinrin Kanri Ron (Forestry Management), (Japan: Japan Forestry Investigation Committee), 2016.
Shimanishi, T., Nihon Sekitangyo no Sengoshi (History of the Coal Mining Industry), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2011.
Smith, T. C., Native Sources of Japanese Industrialization, 1750–1920, (California: University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles), 1988.
Sugiyama, S. and T. Ushijima, Nihon Sekitangyo no Suitai (Decline of the Coal Mining Industry), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2012.
Teruoka, S., Nihon no Nogyo Hyakugoju Nen (Japanese Agriculture 150 Years), (Japan: Yuhikaku), 2003.
Thompson, E. P., “Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism,” Past and Present, 38 (December), 1967: 56–97.
Yada, T., Sekitan Sangyo Ron (Studies on the Coal Mining Industry), (Japan: Harashobo). 2014.
Yamaguchi, A., Shinrin Shigen no Kankyo Keizaishi (Environmental History of the Forestry Resource), (Japan: Keio University Press), 2015.
Yano, M., T. Tanji and M. Kuwabara, Sekitan no Kataru Nihon no Kindai (Coal and Modernization in Japan), (Japan: Soshi-ete), 1978.
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Lim, T.W., Shimazaki, N., Godo, Y., Lim, Y. (2019). Comparison of the Impacts of Japan’s Industrialization on the Coal Mining and Agriculture and Forestry Industries. In: Coal Mining Communities and Gentrification in Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7220-9_2
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