Press translations [Japan]. Economic Series 0256, 1946-02-04.

Summary:

A desire to get rid the blackout was felt simultaneously throughout the country immediately after the end of the war. In suite of this, cities, towns, trains, cars, various production centers and citizens' houses in JAPAN are still suffering from the darkness. Then, when are our towns to be lighted? That is to say, "when are light bulbs and other electric instruments going on the market? The JAPAN Light Bulb Industry Control Union (NIPPON DENKYU KOGYO TO SEI KUMIAI) gave an answer to this question, and told of future production prespects.

The light bulb industry was one of the representative light industries in JAPAN before the war, and. the annual production of 150 million, not only met the demand in JAPAN proper which was 130 million, but also was an export item. However, since the outbreak of the war, the actual production of light bulbs has declined gradually as a result of the conversion of industry to war production, as well as war damage which affected approximately eighty per cent of all factories. In August last year, when the war ended, production had fallen to only 180 thousand a month. Nevertheless, by means of full operation of the remaining factories, a production of about ten million a month seems possible.

In addition to the above, by the establishment of new factories whose capacity is two million per month, production is likely to meet the demand in JAPAN. However, its completion will be delayed for about one year from now. The other factor in light bull production, for example, the supply of glass and fuel gas ate., which have been a cause of bottlenecks in production hitherto, are being improved gradually. Agencies f or the distribution of light bulbs are also being improved by the businessmen etc.

Meanwhile, the unions concerned with light bulbs, wiring, illumination, dry cells, tungsten and fuses have decided to organize.

At the present time, the outrageous price of bulbs on the black market is about 10 to 35 yen a bulb. The normal prices of light-bulbs in co-operative are: fifteen candlepower 4.80 yen, sixteen candlepower 6 yen, one hundred candlepower 11.25 yen, two hundred candlepower 15.90 yen, and five hundred candlepower 30.30 yen. As a remedial action for such prices, the JAPAN Light Bulb Industry Control Union is now setting up a plan for the free sale of light bulbs in TOKYO and OSAKA from the middle of this month.

On the other hand, for the repair of street lights, the KANTO Electric Power Distribution Company (KANTO HAIDENKAISHA) said, that though the first plan scheduled the restoration of 6,000 lights in TOKYO and 4,000 lights in other cities by the end of December, due to the lack of various electric instruments, only half the plan had been completed by now. 2,600 other street lights in TOKYO are scheduled to be completed by the end of March.

ECONOMIC SERIES: 256 (Continued)

ITEM 1 (Continued)

The darkness in Government cars is entirely due to the different size of bulbs used in the cars, and the public wants the authorities to solve this problem.

Full Translation:

The official purge directive of MacAPTHUR's Headquarters is applicable to KAWAKAMI, the present president of the JAPAN Industry Bank (NIPPON to KOGYOGIWKO) who has held a directorship of the Foreign Banking Office (GAISHI KINKO). Therefore his resignation has been accepted.

The Ministry of Finance appointed the present vice-president, ITO as president and SHUHIRO Kojiro, the Managing Director of the TOHO Coal Mine Joint-stock Company (TOHO TAMKO KABUSHIKI KAISHA) as Vice-President on 2 February 1046.

Summary:

with the shortage of materials, and with the decrease of purchasing power, the future pros[illegible]pect of stall-keepers is not very bright. Probably these small dealers will become unable to carry on their business by the beginning of March, and as a result comparatively big merchants who have large scale purchasing capacity will survive.

At present the licensed street vendors in the metropolis number about 60,000 and the average number who carry on the business daily is 15,000. The rest are unable to do business owing to the shortage of materials and the decrease of the purchasing power of the people. The difficulty of the stall-keepers will increase more and more on account of the decrease of purchasing power on the one hand and the scarcity of commodities owing to the industrial Sabotage of capitalists on the other. Therefore these stall-keepers will be eliminated by the law of natural selection. If we classify them according to trades, the result will be as follows.

Restaurants and. grocers comprise 30 per cent. The dealers in fresh foods, leather, and textiles come next. But mostly small dealers have decreased in number recently. On the other hand, "street restaurants" and restaurants have been increasing. This is because people are hungry due to the shortage of foods. They must eat first even by sacrificing everything else. Such being the case, in a couple of months 50 per cent of street vendors will be converted to restaurant keepers.

How much profit to these stall-keepers get per day? They used to get a large profit just after the termination of the war, for materials were easily obtained then, and the purchasing power of the people was high. But at present commodities are getting short and the purchasing power of the people is decreasing. Therefore these dealers must pay a comparatively high cost price, and the profit will be about 20 per cent at the maximum. According to the words of the Livelihood Section of the Metropolitan police Office, the average profit of the stall-keepers per day is from 50 to 100 yen,

Recently in SHINJIKU a Union of stall-keepers has been organized on a chanin system. The purchase of commodities will be made by the manager and they will be distributed to the dealers. According to this system the dealers are nothing but employees profiting from the sale of his goods. This is the proof of the law that small dealers will give place to merchants who have the capacity of buying in large quantity. The same thing may be said of the rise of the consumer guilds among the members of town associations.

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ECONOMIC SERIES: 256 (Continued)

Full Translation:

In order to carry out an extensive organizational reform, the Ministry of Finance on 2 February revised the Government organization and requlations concerned. The Ministry took immediate steps throughout the central and local offices to reform the organization and reduce its personnel.

The organization of the Ministry has been reduced to what it was in about 1931 or 1932. Organizational reform:

• (1).Three bureaus out of five, National Savings, Banking and Foreign Capital are abolished, and the two bureaus of Banking (GINKO KYOKU) and Finance (RIZAI-KYOKU) are newly established. Thereby, the five bureaus and three divisions existing hitherto in the Central Office are reduced to four bureaus and three divisions.
• (2).Thirty sections in the Central Office hitherto, are simplified to twenty-four sections.
• (3).In view of the important business, in the Monopoly Bureau, three local bureaus, TAKASAKI, KAKAZAWA, and KAGOSHIMA which had been abolished last May have to be restored. In the Tobacco Division, Central Bureau, one section concerned chiefly with labor control has been newly established.
• (4).The Mint, hitherto has had three divisions, General Affairs, Manufacture and Assaying, which are now consolidated into two divisions, General Affairs and Work. A reduction of 2,651 officials and employees has been fixed. This includes 343 men in the Central Office, 4l per cent of total staff, and 2,308 men, 14 per cent of the total, in the Mint, Printing, Monopoly and Taxation Bureaus.

DISTRIBUTION "X"

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