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The Birth of the Japanese Labor Movement: Takano Fusataro and the Rodo Kumiai Kiseikai.

1991; University of British Columbia; Volume: 64; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/2760379

1715-3379

John Price, Stephen E. Marsland,

Asian Industrial and Economic Development

O N THE morning of January 3, 1868, troops under the command of Saigō Takamori of the Satsuma feudal domain seized the imperial palace gates in Kyoto.A council of those favorable to the coup approved a decree stripping the ruling dictator-the shogun-of his lands and office.In place of the shogun, the Emperor Meiji was returned to power.It was this event that inspired the name the Meiji Restoration and marked the end of the feudal dictatorship that had governed Japan since 1603.With the change of government came changes in policies.The feudal dictatorship had tried to shut Japan off from intercourse with foreigners and spurned foreign technology.The new government sought out foreign contact and foreign technology in an effort to modernize the country.As Japan became more open to new ideas and modern technology, sweeping changes began to take place.It was in this rapidly changing and evolving situation that Japan began to develop modern labor organizations and a labor movement.The environment of the early labor movement must be understood to appreciate how and why the unions appeared when and where they did.Many factors-politics and government, the legal framework, the structure of industry and employment, the labor market, labor relations and conditions of labor in the period-influenced work stoppages and labor organizations.Even as Japan changed rapidly, certain aspects of Japanese culture and tradition remained unchanged.Labor relations, even as they evolved, still relied strongly on hierarchical traditions such as the fictional parent-child relationships established be-ment rights.The industrial work force was still very small, and Japanese society did not yet regard labor conditions and industrial-safety issues as important.It was only natural that Japanese labor organizations and labor conditions should have gone unregulated at this time. 24 The Structure of Industry and EmploymentThe structure of Japanese industry in 1868-1900 was determined by the Japanese government's efforts to solve two key problems-one military, and one financial.The military problem was the threat of colonization or conquest by the much stronger Western powers.In order to prevent this, the Japanese government sought to achieve self-sufficiency in weapons manufacture and to build up a rail and telegraph network to allow rapid troop movements and communication without relying on sea transport, which could be blocked by superior foreign naval strength.The financial problem was a chronic trade deficit and shortage of foreign exchange as Western goods flooded into Japan after 1868.Not only did the Japanese government need to import weapons, technology, and transportation and communications equipment, but the Japanese people preferred the cheap, comfortable cotton cloth of Western manufacture to the coarse, expensive Japanese cotton goods.To pay for these imports, the Japanese government needed to boost exports, and do it quickly.Japan had agricultural and natural products in high demand in the West-raw silk and tea, as well as reserves of coal, silver, copper, and gold.So the Japanese government adopted a twopronged trade strategy: first, to increase exports by increasing the value of Japanese raw material exports (raw silk to silk thread, ore to refined precious metals, etc.), and second, to cut imports and dependency on foreign supply by boosting domestic output of key imported goods (cotton and cotton cloth, heavy machinery, weapons, and ships).This "added value to exports plus import substitution" strategy resulted in a large and increasing proportion of Japanese industrial output and employment being focused on four key sectors in the period 1868-1900: silk-reeling, cotton-spinning, heavy industry (shipbuilding, iron and steel, and weapons manufacture), and metals mining and processing.