Japan’s unique accomplishment

Gross domestic product, 1885-1920

Overall 280% growth

Agri, forestry, and fisheries—67%

Commerce and services—180%

Mining and manufacturing—580%

Trans., communic., pub. utilities—1,700%

Contemporary and Historical Debates

Governmental vs. private initiative

Government

30 to 40% of all investment, 1897-1914

Heavy industry

Infrastructure

Private initiative

Light industry

*Crony capitalism?

Role of agriculture in modernization

Based on the two charts below, what was the role of agriculture in Japan's industrial revolution?

Major exports

Raw silk

Tea

Silk textiles

What are the significance of these statistics?

1868-1912

2% annual growth in agricultural output

1% annual pop growth

Agricultural Output

More than half of government tax revenue until 1890s

Government promotion of Agriculture

2 Agricultural colleges, 1870s

Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, 1881

Agricultural societies, 1880s

Agricultural Innovations

Rice farming

Transplanting seedlings

*Silkworm hatching

Labor intensive

Feeding 8x/day

Cleaning 3x/day

Natural breed

April-June

New breed, 1870s

July-September

Silk production, 1880-1930

1000% increase

Farm work days, 1880-1930

40% increase

Silk and silk products

40% of exports, 1900

30% of exports, 1930

Late Tokugawa-Early Meiji economic focus

Military related industries

Iron, ships, munitions

Broader economic reform, from 1874-81

#3 Okubo Toshimichi, Home minister, 1873-78

Need for "productive power"

Public investment

Financial Stabilization

#11 Okuma Shigenobu, Finance Minister

Currency unified (Yen), 1871

National Bank, 1872

Tax reform, 1873

Tokugawa land tax

Fixed payments based on village productivity ca. 1600

Payment in rice

Meiji Reform

3% land tax based on assessed value

Payment in cash

Government Infrastructure Investments

Telegraph

Government Railroads

Tokyo-Yokohama RR, 1872

Osaka-Kobe RR, 1874

Extended to Kyoto, 1877

Less than 200 miles, 1881

Cotton and silk spinning factories

Loans to 3 private investors

Government purchased factories

Tomioka Silk Reeling Factory, 1872

Mizunuma Silk Mill, 1872

Unprofitable

Changing Government Policies

#3 Okubo Toshimichi, d. 1878

*#11 Okuma Shigenobu, Finance Minister, resigns 1881

Inflationary policies

Deficit spending

Liberal constitutional ideals

*#6 Matsukata Masayoshi

Deflationary policies, 1881

Divestiture, 1884

How did the cotton thread industry fare after government divestiture of factories?

Railroad Mileage, 1872-1907

Privatization encouraged, 1881

Nippon Railway founded

Nationalization, 1907

To be covered on Monday 10/28:

*Zaibatsu: Private Initiative or Crony Capitalism?

Conglomerates

Family owned

Close ties to government

Mitsui
Mitsubishi
Sumitomo
Yasuda

*Mitsubishi

Iwasaki Yataro, 1835-85

Farming family

Tosa financial manager, 1865

*Crony capitalism?

Tosa assets and debts, 1870

11 steamships and other enterprises

Meiji steamships, 1874-5

Nagasaki Shipyard, 1883

Mitsui

Dry goods stores, 1800s

Supplied Tokugawa armies

*Crony capitalism?

Collected public tax revenues, 1868-82

Miike coal mine, 1888

Mitsui Bank

Loans to govt officials, 1870s-80s

Tomioka Silk Reeling Factory, 1893

Based on the chart below, what was the relative importance of small businesses and Zaibatsu in Japan's economic development?