Figure 1.--This magic-latern slide ar the turn-of-the 20th century shows a Japanese boy enjoying a bowl of rice. This was the preferred staple of the Japanese diet. Many Japanbese could not, however aford rice, especially in rural areas. Japan had only a limited area of arable land and much of that was not suitable growing rice. Rice was a cash crop which the peasanbtry often did not consume. Part of the problem was Japan's inefficent agricultural sector with most of the land in the hands of a small number of powerful aristocratic families. Rather than land reform, the Japanese decided on war and aggression to solve the food problem.

The economic history of Japan like most countries is dominted by agriculture. Agrculture in northeast Asia develoed from the Chinese River valleys, especially the Yellow River. China was the last of the great river valley civilizations to merge (about 4,000 BC). Agiculture was slower to develop in Japan. The technology was not easily transferable as there are no great rivel valleys in Japan. Agriculture began to develop in China, but not the intensive agriculture we see in China. Millet was for the first millennia the stape crop. Millet bgan to be replaced by rice as the main staple food (300 BC). We only begin to see substantial development with the introduction of iron tools and farming techniques from Korea during the Kofun Period that efficient farming methods were adopted in Japan (3rd-6th century AD). Japanese farmers even during the Nara Period (8th century AD) were still using primitive tools. Limited areas were being farmed and irrigation techniques were still inadequate to prevent crop failures and periodic famine. Especially severe famies were experienced (about 730 and 1180 AD). Japan like Europe and many other contries had a feudal era. Warlords dominated the Home Islands and the Emperor's authority declined. It is during this era that the shoguns emerge. The feudal era emerged at about the same time as it did in Europe (8th century AD), but lasred longer (19th century). Agricultural development was slow. There apparently was some state support such as loans for seed-rice (9th century AD). The impact was, howver limited because of high interest rates (30-50 percent). Only in the Kamakura Period (1183-1333 AD) do we begin to see advanced techniques like double-cropping, better seed selection, and more extensive use of fertiliser. From an early point, seafood was preferred to meat by the Japanese. To raise meat you had to either feed animals or devote large areas to pasture. Seafood in cojntrast could be gathered or taken in Jaopan's rich coastal waters. The introduction of Buddhism only reinforced alread existing trends (6th century AD). Buddhism discouraged the killing of animals and birds, but not fish. Despite being an island nation, Japan did not extenively pursue foreign trade. Whike Chinese traders were active in Southeast Asia including what is now Indonesia. this was not the case of the Japanese. As Japan’s agricultural productivity improved we see the deveopment substantial craft in both rural and urban areas. There was also some mining. The relative abundance of surface ores characteristic of a volcanic country, before large-scale deep-mining became possible in Industrial times. Japan was to become a major exporter of copper and silver during the period. Japan was the first Asian country to develop an industrial economy for which the country bis best known today. This was a process begun with the Meiji Restoration (late-19th century).

Agriculture

The economic history of Japan like most countries is dominted by agriculture. Hunter gather peoples in the Japanse islands by the Jomon Period (about c14,500 - c300 BC) began to harvest and eventually plant millet and edible grasses. Some evidence of crop cultivation havve been found of slash and burn techniques (c5700 BC). Farming of specific areas an evidence of of the behinng of settled agriculture is believed have begun (c4,000 BC). Intensive agrculture in northeast Asia develoed from the Chinese River valleys, especially the Yellow River. China was the last of the great river valley civilizations to merge (about 4,000 BC). Agiculture was slower to develop in Japan. The technology was not easily transferable as there are no great river valleys in Japan. The prefered staple crop throughout northeast Asia became rice. Rice was introduced to Japan by migrants from mainland Asia in the late Jomon Period (c1250 BC). The first actual; cultivation occurred much later (c800 BC). The first evidence of cultivatin in wet fields dates pccured two centuries later (c600 BC) when the technique was introduced, again by migrants from Asia, during the transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi Period. The first paddy fields appeared in the southwest and gradually spread northwards. Yayoi immigrants also introduced other crops such as azuki beans, soybeans, and wheat. The first agriculture in Japan was not the intensive agriculture we see in China. Millet was for the first millennia the staple crop. Millet began to be replaced by rice as the main staple food (300 BC). We only begin to see substantial development with the introduction of iron tools and farming techniques from Korea during the Kofun Period that efficient farming methods were adopted in Japan (3rd-6th century AD). Japanese farmers even during the Nara Period (8th century AD) were still using primitive tools. Limited areas were being farmed and irrigation techniques were still inadequate to prevent crop failures and periodic famine. Especially severe famies were experienced (about 730 and 1180 AD). Japan like Europe and many other contries had a feudal era. Warlords dominated the Home Islands and the Emperor's authority declined. It is during this era that the shoguns emerge. The feudal era emerged at about the same time as it did in Europe (8th century AD), but lasted longer (19th century). Agricultural development was slow. There apparently was some state support such as loans for seed-rice (9th century AD). The impact was, howver limited because of high interest rates (30-50 percent). Only in the Kamakura Period (1183-1333 AD) do we begin to see advanced techniques like double-cropping, seed selection, and more extensive use of fertiliser. Small farmers gravitated toward the landed aristocrats and their large estates (shoen). Security in a violnt age was a factor. In additiuon, the land on the states was often irrigated providiung a degree of harvest security. Small independent farmers on he other hands had to depend on the vageries of precipitation. They were thus limited for dry field crops like millet and hemp or to a lsser exent barley, wheat, and buckwheat. The preferred and more marketabklr crop was rice, but it often had to be used to to pay taxes. Another crop was mulberry leaves needed for silk production. When the Meiji Restoration began to modernize Japan, the stunning changes in the cities were not repeated in the countryside. Land by the time of the Meiji Restoration was concentrated in the hands rich landlords. This led to great inequities in Japanee society. Often tenants only retained half of their crop. This meant that they were surviving at very close to subsistence levels and as Japan industrialized, they were falling further behind. [Myersand and Saburo, p. 448.] The Japanese Government was using taxes on farmers to fund its industrialization efforts. School childre wre arriving at the schools being opened in rural areas without ny food for lunch. Operating at subsistence levels, few farmers has the money to invest in improvements. Nor did the landowners, benefitting from a ready supply of low-income workers have any interest in making costly investments.

Fisheries

From an early point, seafood was preferred to meat by the Japanese. To raise meat you had to either feed animals or devote large areas to pasture. Seafood in contrast could be gathered or caught in Japan's rich coastal waters. The introduction of Buddhism only reinforced alread existing trends (6th century AD). Buddhism discouraged the killing of animals and birds, but not fish. There is a long history of fishing and a fishing industry in Japan. There are reports of fisheris management dating to the medieval period (8th century AD). This was something organized by the fishermen themselves. [Makino] At the time of the Meiji Restoration, Japan's fishing industry was still basically an inshore artisanal activity. Japan’s ultra modern fishing industry of today is largely built on technology it imported from Europe and the United States. Japan’s begining steps toward economic modernization and industrialization was at first constrained by a series of unequal trade treaties it had to sign after the opening of Japan by American Cimmodore Perry (1853). his was with the British, Americans, and Russians. Japan at the time had no modern ships meaning iron hulls or steam power or the ability to build such ships. As a result, when the Meiji era modernization began (1880s), most of the country's trade and coastal shipping was conducted by foreign companies. This forced Japan into hat one historian called a 'third world' relationship with the West, especially concerning the all important area -- manufacturing. [Halliday, p. 52.] Japan at this beginning stage couldn’t very well impose protectionist tariffs on imports because it did not yet have an industrial manufacturing sector to protect. The Meiji planners had at first focus on niche areas and on areas that it had a clear advantage such as very low labor costs. The most important niche was the countries fisheries and the coastal marine environment. The first major steps toward a more modern fishing industry was taken by a few intrepid individuals who traveled to the West to learn about modern high-seas fishing methods which with the advent of steam power primarily meant trawling. The most important was Kosuke Kunishi from a samurai family. He went to Britain and Germany (1887). He began at the bottom, working as a sailor and fisherman on a trawler. He brought knowledge of high-seas trawling home when he returned to Japan. He was followed more than a deade later by Kamezo Okuda, also frm a samurai family. He went to Britain (1902). He focused ion trawling methods which were advancing with the greater power of engines. He oversaw the construction of sh trawl methods. When he returned, he built the 152-ton Kaiko Maru and inaugurating Japanese off-shore trawl fishing with European technology. The Japanese imported a British trawler (1908). The Government financed the building of a copy in Japan's developing ship-building industry. From those early begining. trawl fishing grew rapidly. With Japan's expanding industrial cities, there was a ready market for the expanding catch. Japan's trawler fleet totaled 136 ships (1912). As in the West, conflicts began with the existing inshore fishery. The government began to closed off coastal areas areas to the trawlers and terminate subsidies as the trawler fishermen no longer required Government promotions. There were important social destictions. Women played an important role in the inshore fishery, notably diving for shellfish. The offshore trawl fishery was a higher status occupation and an all-male undertaking. Fishing with the contribution of the trawler fishermen became an even more important contribution to the Japanese diet. The industry was virtually destroyed during World War II. The United States heavily bombed Japanese ports and attacked virtually anything that floated. This added to the developing food crisis because food imports had been largely cut off by the American submarine campaign and the virtual destruction of the maru fleet. After the War, a priority for the American occupation was to increase food production. The major step was land reform to improve agricultural yields. Reviving the fishing industry was another important step. Here the country had the experienced fishermen and technology. All they needed was the ships. And this very quickly occurred as Japanese shipyards were rebuilt and began to function again. As part of the drive to produce more food, an all new fishery was launched--whaling. Longlining also became imprtant as well as aquaculture.

Trade

Despite being an island nation, Japan did not extenively pursue foreign trade. Whike Chinese traders were active in Southeast Asia including what is now Indonesia. this was not the case of the Japanese.

Shipping

Crafts

As Japan’s agricultural productivity improved we see the deveopment substantial artisanal craft in both rural and urban areas.

Sericulture

Sericulture or the production of silk was developed in ancient China, but little is know anoutjust when and where. Confucian texts texts privide the first written evudence (2700 BC). Archaeological date it even earlier to the Yangshao period (5000–3000 BC). It became a state secret, but a secret that leaked out to other parts of Asia, including South ssi, incliding the Indus Valley civilization. The Chinese were more successful in keeping the silk secret from Europeans. But for some reason, they suceeded in kepping it from Japan for thousands of years. Silk worms finally reached Japan, although accounts varyv as tin just when this occured. It may have occued as early as #rd ventury BC), but some accounts are much later (4th century AD). This wide chronological range may be due to the many different skills involved. It is bekieved that Japanese living in China and Korea or immigrants from thsec countrues introduced seruiculture techniques, silk-reeling, dyeing, and weaving as well as refuinements over time. Sericulture seems to have become an important ecionomic activity in Japan (7th century AD). It was a kind of cottahe industry. Simething gthat could bev carried out in the humlest of himes. And silk would lead Japan into the industrial era. Japan did not export large quantities of sikn to the west unti Commodire Perry opened Japan (1853). Silk, both raw silk and silk fabrics, were by far the most important item in the earliest stages of Jaoabese industrialization. Silk exoorts in the late-19th century were nearly half of Japan;s tital exports and in 1905 exceeded those frim China. [Kiyokawa, p. 31.] As Japan industrialized, the relative importabce od silk decklines as many new priducts began to bev imported, but silk xontinuedto be imprtant until Japan launched the Pacific War (1941).

Mining

There was also some mining. The relative abundance of surface ores characteristic of a volcanic country, before large-scale deep-mining became possible in Industrial times. Japan was to become a major exporter of copper and silver during the period.

Industry

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.

Halliday, Jon. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1975).

Kiyokawa, Yukihiko. "The diffussiion of new technologies in the Japanese sericulture industry: The case of the hybrid silkworm," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics Vol. 25, no. 1 (1984), pp. 31–59.

Makino M. "A brief institutional history of Japanese fisheries management," Fisheries Management in Japan Fish & Fisheries Series, Vol. 34. (2011).

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

Myers, Ramon h. and Yamada Saburo. "agriculture develoment in the Empire,' in Ramon H. Myers and Mark R. Peattie,' The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945 (Pribceton Universty Press: Princetin, N.J., 1984), pp. 420-54.

Created: 10:31 PM 8/24/2018
Last updated: 5:48 AM 12/3/2022