Figure 1.--As in many countries, industrilization in Japan was led by the textile industry. In Jspan's case silk was very important because unlike cotton, it was a material produced in Japan and a ready export market existed. This is a silk factory around the turn of te 20th century and gives an idea how some of the first industrial factories looked in Japana in the late-19th century. Photographer: Herbert Geddes.

Japan was the first Asian country to develop an industrial economy for which the country is best known today. This was a process begun with the Meiji Restoration (1868). Commodore Perry's Black Ships and the West's pillaging of China made it clear to the Japanese. Japan if it remained isolated and traditional would have to submit to Western intrusion as was occurring in China. The only way of preventing this was to open up to the outside world and industrialize. There was little or no industrial production in Japan until the Meiji Restoration. The country's agricultural productivity, however was sufficient to sustain significant craft activity which can be seen as proton-industrial production. This was prevalent in both both rural and urban areas before industrialization. [Mosk] The new Meiji leaders who had risen against the Shogunate which had begun opening Japan. Once in power, the Meiji leaders aw the need to open up and industrialize. They would launch a rapid transformation that would eventually lead Japan to becoming one of the leading industrialized nations in the world. The Meiji Government made decisions that facilitated industrialization;. The Government began building the first public school system in Japan. There were major infrastructural projects to provide needed facilities. The government played an important role, but the mechanism was private enterprise which many countries attempting industrialization in the 20th century ignored and as a consequence largely failed. (The Soviet Union did industrialize without a public sector, but developed an inefficient industrial system which in the long run could not compete with the West.) . The Government also projected Japanese industry from foreign competition. The Government at first had to import European technology which it would copy and improve. Japan aggressively adopted Western technology, while at the same time maintaining Japan's own unique cultural identity. Agriculture financed Japan's industrial development. It was agricultural exports that provided the foreign exchange needed to purchase the needed technology and raw materials. Farmers were heavily taxed on the harvests they brought to market. [Collingham, p. 51.] By farmers we are talking about the rural peasantry which for the most part did not own the land they farmed. Most of the land was in the hands of the nobility. Land reform would not take place in Japan until the American occupation following World War II. Japanese industrialization was primarily led by domestic, not foreign investment. [Mosk] We note suggestions that agricultural productivity was high and that this was an important factor in Japan's industrialization. We are not sure about this. Japan's agricultural system at the time of industrialization does not seem especially productive. What does seem the case in Japan was that wealth was extracted from the peasantry and this under the direction of Meiji leaders was invested in industrialization. (This was what Stalin did in a much more brutal way during the 1930s through forced collectivization.) Both private and public sectors invested in needed infrastructure. Here both the national and local governments were involved in infrastructure profits. One economist summarizes what occurred in Japan, "Investment in manufacturing capacity was largely left to the private sector. Rising domestic savings made increasing capital accumulation possible. Japanese growth was investment-led, not export-led." [Mosk] As in many other countries, Japanese industrialization was led by the textile industry. In Japan silk was of special importance. An important step by the Meiji Government was to launch Asia's first public school system needed to create an educated the skilled workforce needed by industry.

Sources

Collingham, Lizzie. The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food (Penguin Books: New York, 1962), 634p.

Mosk, Carl. Robert Whaples, ed. "Japanese industrialization and economic growth," EH.net Ecyclopedia (2004).

Created: 5:46 AM 12/3/2022
Last updated: 5:46 AM 12/3/2022