Demographics of Imperial Japan

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This article deals with the population of the Empire of Japan. See also demographics of Japan.

The population of Japan at the time of the Meiji Restoration around 1870 was estimated to be 33,000,000.[1] This was comparable to the population of the United Kingdom (31,000,000), France (38,000,000), Austria-Hungary (38,000,000), and the United States (38,558,371) in 1870.[2]

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[edit] Japan proper

The first national census was conducted in Japan in 1920, and was conducted every ten years thereafter, with a simplified informal census every five years in between. Per the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the population distribution of Japan proper from 1920-1945 is as follows [3]

Date Population  % Change Area (km2) Density (km2) % Urban
1920-10-01 55,963,053 NA 381,808.04 147 18.0
1925-10-01 59,736,822 6.7 381,810.06 156 21.6
1930-10-01 64,450,005 7.9 382,264.91 169 24.0
1935-10-01 69,254,148 7.5 382,545.42 181 32.7
1940-10-01 73,114,308 5.6 382,545.42 191 37.7
1945-11-01 71,998,104 -0.7 377,298.15 195 22.8

The above figures include Hokkaidō, the northernmost island, sparsely populated, with area similar to the state of Maine; the central island of Honshū, larger than Ohio and Indiana, site of the most important cities and industrial centers; and smaller islands of Kyūshū and Shikoku, and Okinawa (except for the 1945 census values).

In Japan proper, the population of the nine major cities was:

Rank City 1890 census 1910 census 1920 census 1930 census 1940 census
1 Tokyo 1,165,000 2,186,000 2,173,000 1,995,000 6,779,000
2 Osaka 432,000 1,117,000 1,253,000 2,114,000 3,252,000
3 Nagoya NA 328,000 430,000 NA 1,328,000
4 Kyoto NA 442,000 591,000 NA 1,090,000
5 Yokohama NA 394,000 423,000 NA 968,000
6 Kobe NA 378,000 609,000 NA 967,000
7 Hiroshima NA 143,000 NA NA 344,000
8 Fukuoka NA 82,000 NA NA 307,000
9 Sapporo NA 70,000 123,000 NA 201,000

In 1937 Japanese demographers projected the Japanese population in 1980 to reach 100,000,000, in accordance with observed growth rates.

[edit] Japanese overseas possessions

Japan annexed Taiwan after the First Sino-Japanese War, while victory in the Russo-Japanese War gained Japan the Kwantung Leased Territory, Karafuto, and Chosen (Korea). These acquisitions increased the area controlled by Japanese to 262,912 square miles (680,939 km²).

Per the 1920 census, the total population of the Empire of Japan, including Taiwan, Chosen and Karafuto was 77,005,112, which could be broken down as follows [4]:

  • Japan proper: 55,961,140
  • Chosen: 17,284,207
  • Taiwan: 3,854,000
  • Karafuto: 105,765

In 1925 the total population of Japan proper was 59,737,000; with Karafuto, Chosen and Taiwan came to 83,458,000 subjects. In 1925 in the Kwantung Leased Territory, it was estimated that there were 91,000 Japanese (mostly military personnel and government workers) and 660,000 Chinese.

For the 1935 census for the whole Japanese empire, the figures are:

  • Japan proper: 69,254,148 residents
  • Chosen: 22,899,038
  • Taiwan: 5,212,426
  • Karafuto: 331,943
  • Kwantung: 1,656,726
  • South Seas Mandate: 102,537

Total: 97,697,555 inhabitants

The estimated population in the exterior provinces in 1940 was:

  • Chosen: 24,327,326
  • Formosa: 5,746,959
  • Karafuto: 339,357
  • Kwantung: 1,889,123 (of whom 309,029 were Japanese, and 2,185 other nationalities)
  • South Seas Mandate: 121,128

Total: 105,226,101

[edit] Urban population in overseas territories

In terms of cities, the population of major cities:

Rank City 1890 census 1910 census 1920 census 1930 census 1940 census
1 Keijō 1,165,000 230,000 247,000 350,000 1,100,000
2 Fusan NA 81,000 74,000 130,000 400,000
3 Heijō NA 40,000 60,000 137,000 286,000
4 Jinsen NA 30,000 40,000 54,000 171,000
5 Taihoku 78,000 95,000 164,000 249,000 326,000
6 Tainan NA 44,000 112,000 166,000 296,000
7 Kīrun NA NA 48,000 79,000 100,000

[edit] Taiwan and Chosen

Year Population
(Taiwan)		 Population
(Chosen)
1897 2,728,800 NA
1900 3,046,000 11,310,000
1920 3,654,900 17,264,100
1925 3,994,900 19,522,900
1930 4,679,100 21,058,300
1935 5,212,400 22,899,000
1940 5,872,100 24,730,000
1945 6,940,000 27,275,000

[edit] Manchukuo

The population of Manchuria in early 1934 was estimated at 30,880,000. These numbers included 30,190,000 Chinese, 590,760 Japanese, and 98,431 other nationalities (Russians, Mongols, etc). The Chinese numbers included 680,000 ethnic Koreans. In 1937, shortly after the foundation of Manchukuo, the government launched a twenty-year colonization program, with the goal of increasing the population through the immigration of 1,000,000 Japanese families (5 million people) between 1936 and 1956. This was in additional to the Japanese military garrison of approximately 300,000 men in 1937. Between 1938 and 1942 a contingent of young farmers of 200,000 arrived in Manchukuo; joining this group after 1936 were 20,000 complete families. In Shinkyo Japanese made up 25% of the population. By 1940, the total population of Manchukuo was estimated at 36,933,000, which including approximately 1 million Japanese civilian and 500,000 Japanese military personnel. These figures exclude that of the Kwantung Leased Territory and Dalien, which were included within that of the Japanese overseas territories.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Boys, World Population 2000 [1]
  2. ^ United States Census, 1870
  3. ^ Statistics Bureau, The Population of Japan, [2]
  4. ^ New York Times, Mar 2 1921

[edit] Books

  • Taeuber Irene B., and Beal, Edwin G. The Demographic Heritage of the Japanese Empire,

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 237, World Population in Transition (Jan., 1945), pp. 64-71

[edit] External links