The Shifting Axis of Specialization Within the Japanese Empire: A Study of Railway Distribution of Cereals in Colonial Korea

Yusuke Takeuchi ()
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Yusuke Takeuchi: Tokyo Metropolitan University

Chapter Chapter 3 in Economic Activities Under the Japanese Colonial Empire, 2016, pp 51-76 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The aim of this chapter is to elucidate how the “specialization in cereals” emerged and evolved in the imperial Japanese market —Japan, Chōsen, and Manchuria— and to analyze how this structure related to “industrialization.” The “rice production development program” and increased exports to Japan created demand for Manchurian millet as a subsistence food in the rice-producing south. The result was the “specialization in cereals within the empire” which formed along the axis of exports to Japan. However, in 1927–1928, import volumes for millet declined considerably as its rose relative to that of rice. This change in demand differed with region: in the north, the demand for millet stayed stable because of the expansion of railway and the industrialization along it, which created a new market for millet. Demand for millet fell in the southern provinces as the improve standard of living increased demand for rice. In farming districts, improved irrigation facilities and the use of fertilizers, both promoted by the “rice production development program”, led to increased production of barley varieties and enabled the consumption of those, which contributed to the fall in demand for millet. Industrialization created a new axis along which “specialization in cereals within the empire” emerged.

Keywords: Specialization in cereals; The Japanese empire; Market consolidation; Railway distribution; Industrialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:msschp:978-4-431-55927-6_3

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DOI: 10.1007/978-4-431-55927-6_3

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