Tonarigumi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Feeding the poor by Tonarigumi housewives

The Tonarigumi ( Japanese 隣 組 , dt. "Neighborhood Association") was the smallest unit of the national mobilization of the Japanese Empire in the Second World War . It was organized in units of 10–15 households each for fire fighting, civil defense and internal security.

History and Development

Mutual neighborly aid existed in Japan before the Edo period . It was made official on September 11, 1940 by a Ministry of Interior decree under the cabinet of Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro . Participation was compulsory. Each unit was responsible for the distribution of food rations, distribution of government bonds, fire fighting, public health and civil defense in its area. Each unit was also required to support the national intellectual mobilization movement ( Kokumin Seishin Sōdōin Undō ) by spreading government propaganda and organizing and participating in patriotic rallies.

The government also saw the tonarigumi as a means of maintaining public order. A network of informants was set up, which connected virtually every unit with the Tokkō and served to register violations of the law and suspicious political behavior.

Tonarigumi were also established in Japanese-occupied areas such as Manchukuo , Mengjiang, and the Reorganized Republic of China, and later in other occupied areas of Southeast Asia.

Later in the Pacific War , the members of the Tonarigumi received some basic military training and served as flight and coastal observers to report incoming enemy planes and suspicious ships and boats near the coast. In the final stages of the war it was planned to use the Tonarigumi as an additional militia in the event of an enemy invasion. Some tonarigumi took part in fighting in Manchukuo, Chosen and Karafuto .

The tonarigumi system was formally dissolved by the American occupation authorities in 1947, but has survived in part to this day in the form of the Chōnaikai or Jichikai . These are independent volunteer associations, but they have a quasi-official status with limited administrative and organizational rights at the local level, such as organizing neighborhood guards and disaster relief.

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b I.CB Dear, MRD Foot: The Oxford Companion to World War II . Oxford University Press, 2002
  2. ^ Robert Pekkanen: Japan's Dual Civil Society. Members without advocates . Stanford University Press, 1979
  3. ↑ Haruko Taya Cook, Theodore F. Cook: Japan at War: An Oral History . The New Press, New York 1992
  4. ^ Frank J. Schwarz, Susan J. Pharr: The State of Civil Society in Japan . Cambridge University Press, 2003
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Konoe is the family name, Fumimaro the first name.