Rice riots

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Suzuki Shoten in Kobe, burned to the ground during the rice riots on August 11, 1918.

The rice riots ( Japanese 米 騒 動 , kome sōdō ) were a series of public unrest within Japan between July and September 1918, which forced the government of Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake to resign.

A steep rise in rice prices led to a severe economic crisis, especially in rural areas where rice was the main staple. The gap between the low rice prices paid by the peasants and the very high end prices partially regulated by the government led to a hostile relationship between the peasants and the rice traders and the government, who had done nothing to counter the sharp rise in prices. The rise in the price of rice was just the tip of a sharp inflation following World War I , which drove up both most consumer goods and general rental prices. These circumstances turned both the rural and the urban population against the government. The Japanese intervention in Siberia as a result of the Russian Revolution exacerbated the unrest as the government bought large stocks of rice for the troops in Siberia and raised the price again. Little heeded by the government, the minor, rural unrest soon spread to the cities and across the country.

The rice riots exceeded all riots in recent Japanese history in size and violence. The starting point of the protests was the small fishing village of Uozu in Toyama Prefecture on July 23, 1918. Starting from a peaceful rally, the discontent soon turned into unrest with strikes, looting, attacks on police stations and government offices and armed clashes with the law enforcement officers. By mid-September 1918, 623 unrest had been reported in 38 cities, 153 small towns and 177 villages with over 2 million participants. Approximately 25,000 people were arrested and 8,200 of them were sentenced to sentences ranging from fines to the death penalty for various crimes .

Taking responsibility for the collapse of public order, Prime Minister Terauchi and his cabinet resigned on September 29, 1918.

The rice unrest is linked by various researchers to Japanese imperialism. These state that rice cultivation in the colonies of Formosa and Chōsen was intensified in order to cover the rice demand that was above production capacity .

Remarks

  1. ↑ MacPhearson: The Economic Development of Japan 1868-1941
  2. ↑ Smitka: Japanese Prewar Growth (Japanese Economic History 1600-1960) . P. 192

literature

  • WG Beasley: Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945 . Oxford University Press, 1991
  • WJ MacPherson: The Economic Development of Japan 1868-1941 . Cambridge University Press, 1995
  • Michael Smitka: Japanese Prewar Growth (Japanese Economic History 1600-1960) . Routledge, 1998