Ordinary life in Japan during WWII

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Ordinary life in Japan during the World War II period had become harder than pre-WW II life. Certain comforts that most Japanese had always been accustomed to--the availability as beer, meat, bread and butter, the use of automobiles, and entertainment in jazz concerts--as well as western diet, such as American-style breakfasts of eggs, jam, coffee and bread, were some of the first aspects of life to succumb to shortages. For comparison, the traditional breakfast at that time consisted of a small portion of rice, broad bean soup and small cucumbers. Dinners usually consisted of boiled rice, lentils and dried fish with wheat macaroons and soy bean sauce.

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[edit] Consumer goods and clothing

There were widespread scarcities of consumer goods, with articles such as silk stockings and leather shoes practically disappearing from stores. When such goods were available, the prices were out of reach of the average citizen.

Faced with shortages, people were forced to trade in their finer comforts and join the masses of commoners, returning their kimono so the material could be reclaimed to accommodate some of the shortages. This act won the approval of ultranationalists despite its effect on attempts to preserve Japanese cultural history.

Native Japanese abandoned their oldest costumes for the good of the nation, and adopted the contemporary lifestyle and culture in anticipation of the trouble that would accompany the first stages of wartime.

[edit] Fuel

From 1937, gasoline prices were raised, and the government restricted public access to fuel. At Nationalist pro-government rallies, the public was urged to conserve energy as a patriotic measure, but later this suggestion was given force of law, and the Civil Police Service installed agents to check for prohibited gasoline consumption and to arrest any offenders.

In 1941, it became illegal to distribute gasoline to the public. This prompted automobile owners to turn their vehicles to other uses, namely surrendering them to the government in support of the war effort. A small number of vehicles were adapted to run on wood or coal, but this caused significant damage to the engines.

In the absence of tires, some Japanese invented wooden tires or engines to maintain air pressure in otherwise unsuitable tires. Fishermen whose boats used gasoline engines were only permitted to fish when stocks were abundant. In Hokkaidō, the government decided to replace iron rail lines with wooden lines, for older trains with engines powered by soot recovered from other coal-burning engines.

[edit] Architecture

Some important buildings of the period were:

[edit] Important modern western-style cities

The most distacated and modern cities was Tokyo,Yokohama,Kobe,Osaka and Nagasaki.in Tokyo exist the commercial distric of Ginza where poses one Newspaper sector why poses the principal newspaper principal offices.in same city are one Banking sector was are the Baking heart of nation.

As similar samples of these arquitecture style if seeing in Toyohara (Karafuto), Seoul (Chosen),Taihoku (Taiwan),Dairen and Ryojun (Kantoshu) and Hsinking (Manchukuo)

[edit] Religious Temples and interests places

Certain important temples in period are:

Interest places in time

  • Ritsurin Gardens in Shikoku

[edit] Cultural aspects

The count Aisuke Kabayama was the president of "International Cultural relations Society" in these period.one of best musicians of Japanese Empire was Michio Miyagi: as expert in use of Koto,one traditional Japanese instrument.

Teiichi Muto was official journalist in Asahi Shinbun and Japan Time and Advertiser News, two of government media.others journalist in government was Shiro Mashida,Masanori Ito and Akinaru Jisawa.

In that period was surging some military writers how Yasuo Mishina,Tadashi Saito,Otsughi Narita, and Kinoaki Matsuo.such authors was supported the militarist regime and analyzed the local military strategies and tactics amongst the Army and Navy experts..

Some important artistic activities if seeing in "Bunraku" Theater of Osaka,The Tokyo Budokan and Tokyo Theater.the followers of Kendo realizing practices in local Dojos.

For entertaning at foreign diplomatic and government personalities the "Information Department" was offered some presentations of Japanese Classic concert at charge of Michio Miyagi,the most expert in use of Koto and other Musician expert of "Samisen" for finalizing with one Children Chorus.the last was dedicated to "East expedition of the Emperor Jinmu" the first mytic governor of Japan and for honoured the important present foreign visitors

Radio Tokyo for realizing same labour of entertaining overseas present your cultural and music program with sougth "More force for theirs" for guiving "one reception more easy, best programs and more audition hours"

For entertaining at Kangde Emperor and your court, the Japanese local establishment offered some shows of Japanese Ballet,Kabuki Theater or Judo Combats, with Japanese artistic companies for present in Palace of Emperor of Manchukuo.

in Tokyo exist some centers as similar at private "Clubs" how Saiwai Club and Tokyo Club.in last center was meenting with frequency some foreign diplomats and journalist with Japanese "Moderate" and "liberals" personages how :Hachiro Harita,Kichisaburo Nomura,ex foreign affair ministries,Renzo Sawada ex France ambassador and Chamber of Peers member, and known "United States friend",Juji Kasai,previous official policies support, Representant Chamber member and other "Pro-American" and Baron Takumo Dan,president of Mitsui Bank and other "U.S. friend".the proper Joseph Newman poses membership in these private club and known at theirs and others important members in club.the Imperial forces poses similar centers how the "Navy Officer Club" and "Navy Club" for example for entertaining of your officers.

in these centers if usually making conversations about inner or foreign policy, or military success accompanied with beer, local beverages, coffee or tea and snacks or "Snooker" parties (British billiar game in one great long table)

another cultural meeting center was the "American-Japanese Society" some foreign American Japanese private center.

In "South Pacific Mandate" the Japanese government amongst Japanese Navy autorities was conducted one program of Japanization when run to stablished schools, shrines, temples and even education of local natives also.

[edit] Emperor Worship cult public manifests

During Emperor birthday, the most important day in year, were if making demonstrations with motif of military victory over enemy, or debt Imperial Armed Forces day, Thousand of diverse subjects arriving to Place front at Imperial Palace for present your respect at Emperor:Children's with scholar uniform with Hinomaru civil banners,seamans and soldiers in great groups with Kyokujitsu-ki war military flags, members of nationalist and Patriotic groups with your symbols and badges, and Shinto priest with ceremonial dress and religious signs.

When promptly any nationalists partidaire or soldier criying "Tenno Heika Banzai!"(Three Hurrahs for your Majesty the Heaven Emperor), all presents raising your arms and continuing to cry three times "Banzai!"(Hurrah), for desired three thousand life years at Tenno.if the success was more important also, the same proper Hirohito in person appearing in any Balcony in Palace or mounted on "Sirayuki"(White Snow) the Emperor Horse, where the Hurrahs was arriving to paroxism and shaking the waters of moat surrounded the palace.

[edit] Staple foods

Initially the government denied any rice shortage, but this stance was contradicted by local newspapers, which carried stories that read: "The number of birds in Kanazawa (Ishikawa Prefecture) is reduced, and rice scarcities in residences were drawing attention to rice consumption" or "The residents of Kaminogo(Osaka Prefecture) decided that, in customary funerary meetings, guests were no longer obliged to leave a ration of rice, as this may cause some people to do without for the sake of custom". The grave scarcities was exacerbated by reduced local production and massive transfers of rice to the Japanese military on Chinese fronts.

Before the war, the local production of rice topped out at 14,000,000 metric tonnes of rice, but dropped to just 8 million due to the great needs for both public and the war effort. Other factors in this reduced production was scarcity of manpower, fertilizers, farm tools and government policies to fix the prices at public markets.

The government decided to import more rice from Indochina and Thailand along with barley and beans. The public, seeing the rice supply in the market was diminished by approximately 50%, mixed rice with other grains. The federal government resorted to rationing in order to properly distribute rice. This method was also used for wood and coal. The wheat ration for unmarried persons for one month was of half a pound. For families with 20 or more persons, sugar was rationed at 3/5 of a pound per month, and matches were limited to one or two large packages per family.

The scarcities of vegetables and fish provoked a 400% price rise in one year. An eight-pound watermelon went from 16 cents to 60 cents; one melon or bottle of honey went from four to ten dollars. As the per capita salary of the average Japanese worker was 40 Yen, the government threatened to impose price regulation in order to keep these goods available to the public and to prevent price gouging. Farmers decided instead to sell their product directly to the consumer, avoiding the market and pocketing the profits themselves.

In a typical inspection of a store in Tokyo, one could observe 50 cucumbers and eggplants accompanied by one solitary tomato. Eggs were scarce, which was surprising considering the abundance of chickens. At first, the public believed the farmers were eating the hens, artificially inflating the price of eggs. One native journalist was charged in the Dutch Indies for blockading the import of chicken feed in order to freeze Japanese capital, creating shortages in retaliation for earlier Japanese invasion of these lands. The government made a public statement that the "Hen Fruit", which had previously been held in Chinese-occupied territory, was now being delivered to the country.

Tours and excursions to farms became very popular to obtain vegetables and fruits for return full of such products for their own consumption or for sale to interested customers. In the latter case the value in Yen was high.

One police inspection encountered some furniture with cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants hidden inside. In one store the public message was "All For Sale", but such stores only sell these products to "regular" customers.

Rationing provoked queues. Long lines of people at Tokyo businesses especially to get some bread and other foods while the urban public was served, along with the traditional rice. The official ration of bread was the middle part of a loaf, per day, but the "rice eaters" can wait until later, with some hope of obtain more bread without a ration chart when all the "official" ration was "served". In Tokyo residents were permitted to buy some candies for 25 cents while in the western area of the nation such food was obtainable for 15 cents.

[edit] Beverages

When the price of a cup of coffee cup rose, the government ordered its reduction to 4½ cents. Coffee companies reacted by mixing pure coffee with soy bean powder, making some 130 cups of bitter "coffee", from the pure coffee previously making 50 cups.

Watered whiskey was served as the authentic liquor; with some syrup added, it was a "cocktail". Until the spring of 1941, real contraband whiskey cost US$12-15 for a 0.8 liter bottle.

Shortly after the Pacific War broke out, the government began to ration sake, an alcohol made from scarce rice. Common workers found it difficult to obtain. Mining and factory workers were treated preferentially, "for aiding to support the daily fatigue and capacity to recover your forces for making productive labour the next day". The great effort of the working class as a result of long working days and very hard living conditions made the establishment to allocate some of their one "stimulant". It was mixed with water or added formaldehyde by illegal sellers.

[edit] Public health

The press reported that government had a grave preoccupation with the state of health of citizens, in the prolonged war.

The official trade union ordered the physical examination of some 6,000,000 workers, and the Society of Tuberculosis Prevention sent 500 medical students to all factories for research.

Japan had in wartime an incidence of tuberculosis higher than the United States (three times) and United Kingdom (twice). In a two-year period from the start of the war against China, the number of tuberculosis victims rose at a rate of 50%. The number of deaths from it in 1938 was 148,872.

Japan had no more than 10,000 beds for 1,500,000 annual tuberculosis cases. War conditions had exacerbated the problem, but hospital beds for military casualties had priority. Civilians could be discharged early. Cases of rickets, the "youth plague", attested to a lack of butter and milk. In rural towns 70% of children suffered from parasites, and 50% from trachoma. There was a serious shortage of trained medical personnel, because of military requirements. Those who qualified could expect to work all hours.

[edit] Black market

The raising of wages in military industries and official rationing provoked the rise of "economic criminals". Civil law enforcement, courts and judges, were very busy with "speculators" who surged in numbers rapidly. Police authorities created "Economic Police" units to pursue black market activity. "Luxuries" were: wool and cotton clothes, leather articles, typewriters, photographic cameras, and other overseas articles, raising prices five or ten times those on official lists.

Rural criminals stole cows to obtain milk for sale to the public. Milk mixed with water was sold at fantastic prices in hotels and restaurants. Farmers sold their products directly on public train services. Other businesses which surged were in the Black Market, where all needs or any articles which one would like to buy was obtainable for high prices in accord with the "market". These illegal transactions continued until 1941.

[edit] Import substitutions and ersatz

Inventiveness ruled. Some fabric fibers were replaced with horsehair or seaweed, other natural fibers replaced cotton and wool fibers in fabrics. The paper industry made a national uniform in paper for rapid disposal. Sugar potatoes and lirium roots were used as coffee substitutes. Radish leaves were dried for flour.

The government ran a campaign to collect tea leaves for forage for military horses. One loyal farmer discovered bat excrement's use as fertilizer, confirmed by the Experimental Farming Station, in Tokyo. To save matches, double-headed matches were sold.

[edit] Public censorship

Heavy sacrifices against western cultural influences were demanded. The Kempeitai and Tokko police, with the Tonarigumi watch groups, campaigned against American films, jazz bands, records, theatrical productions, magazines and dance halls. Hollywood films were banned by the censors. Cinemas showed and Axis Power films such as the German "Victory in the West"

  • The project of Official Propaganda Films with government support was as important as iron and bullets, said one government servant.
  • Theater spectacles was prohibited and dance actresses found work in Comfort private houses or bars for intimate entertaining for "patriotic" subjects and tonarigumi loyal citizens.
  • The censors prohibited the private listening of overseas Radiobroadcasts and the personal possession of any radio receiver to prevent the entry of any democratic decadent western radio program or any Communist Soviet radio propaganda, which would undermine the national thinking and moral efforts in favour of national policies.
  • The reading of any foreign journals, leaflets or papers was prohibited
  • Baseball was denounced as a "foreign sport" and all followers were ordered to return to Sumo fighting, Kendo, Karate and other native sports.
  • The use of english idiom was banned from 1940 in commercial letters and public announcements.
  • In Rail Stations the English equivalent to native names was erased to replace with similar word in "native" phonetic English.
  • The "Office of Tourism" official tourism agency changed its name to "East Asian Travel Corporation".
  • Nationalist supporters petitioned official spokesman Koh Ishii not to use English in interviews and press conferences, including with the foreign press.
  • The use of English automatically marked any person as a foreign spy in danger of enemy powers and object of a citizens' arrest by members of the Tonarigumi. For example, the wife of Renzo Sawada, (ex-ambassador to France) was arrested for these reasons, and was the object of heavy interrogation as a spy.
  • The local supporters in the Diet suggested the native "romanization" of Japanese words as opposed to the previous grammatical romanization, created by American J. C. Hepburn when he arrived as a missionary in Meiji period. For example: Chosen should change to Tyosen and Chichibu to Titibu
  • The Military enacted a heavy campaign against supposed espionage, when they arrested any western persons and finished with the death of a British journalist.
  • At the suggestion of any local "loyal" citizens to break contact with foreigners, along of banned the contact of local women with white foreign men in bars and coffee places.
  • It was totally prohibited in conversation with foreigners to mention of any local energy resources or minerals as they were considered as state secrets.
  • It was prohibited by the Railway Ministry for any person to measure the length of any rail tunnels and bridges, or measure the speed of trains.
  • Proclaim one new national objective in life for media of Collectivism under motto of "Realization of Justice in Life" and suggest "one minimal personal budget" and putting your saving in native government and pro-militarist clans banks.
  • The authorities imposed the celebration of "New Asia Day" to support national efforts in overseas campaigns.
  • In Formosa the Japanese Navy authorities banned non-authorized books to prevent pernicious cultural influences. Literature was strictly monitored in Japan itself too.

[edit] Persecution of Christianity and minority beliefs

Western Christian missionaries were once again considered as spies operating under a religious cover, as had last been the case in the seventeenth century. A "Christian Association" was set up under government supervision, with the declared object of maintaining Japanese Christianity as sovereign and without dependence on England or the United States. Churches could not accept financial help from outside the country, and missionaries were advised discreetly that their services were no longer needed. The Salvation Army was banned and its local leaders and helpers and your collaborators was arrested under accusations being secret agents reporting to London.

Diverse religious communities (Christian Catholics, some Buddhists, Confucians, Taoists, etc.) in Manchukuo, the Wang Jingwei Government, Mengjiang, Occupied Chinese mainland, were "unified" under official policies, in a way to lead them towards Shintoism thinking. The Christian line of belief offended those committed to the cult of the Tenno

  • Militarists and Shinto thinkers poses your dudes about if how "Japanized Spiritually" the "Christianism" when such religion teaching about the peace against militarists beliefs in Hachiman native war deity and theirs sense why these western beliefs stay against your divine mission in conquests overseas lands.
  • Chikao Fujisawa, a noted State Shintoism supporter in Parliament, suggest why debt making one debt the compliment of Shinto rites, also suggest why Christianity,Buddhism and Mahometism was considered "minor popular religions" along official cult. He and others right thinkers opined why taken severe measures against such religions are convert in violation at Meiji Constitution, for all theirs suggest other measure more less evident, the gradually undermine and japanizing such beliefs.
  • In Formosa, Japanese Navy authorities banned local religions and obliged household observance of Shinto rites. Ancestral religious altars were used covertly.

[edit] Standard of living

Rationing at "minimal life level" constituted a return to "medieval lifestyle". The fall in standards of living, poor public health and prolonged war in China prompted the questions of Takao Saito in 1940. The military allowed subjects new uniforms and nationalist doctrine.

[edit] See also

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