Press translations [Japan]. Social Series 0148, 1946-01-05.
Date5 January, 1946
translation numbersocial-0632
call numberDS801 .S84
Persistent Identifier
SOCIAL SERIES: 148
ITEM 1 Crime in KANAZWA - Hokkoku Mainichi (KANAZAWA) - 19 Dec 45. Translator: T. Ogawa.
Summary:
Crimes commited by youths have been increasing rapidly as the year's end approaches.
In this connection, Mr. ANDO, Kenji, who
has devotedly worked for many years in the education and protection of youths as District
Commissioner of KANAZAWA-Shi,
yesterday urged the persons concerned to give serious consideration to the matter,
as follows: We cannot attribute the cause
of the recent crimes commited by youths to the food shortage alone. It apparently
indicates the moral decadence of the people.
We district commissioners, have mostly dealt with the congenitally depraved youths.
Their style of crime was so simple that it
could easily be found out. The recent crimes commited by youths, however, have become
a collective action, done in an
extremingly systematic manner. That is where the difference lies.
The Commissioner further states that "The family has never been aware of the offense
committed by their sons. I believe,
because no such atmosphere has been seen at the home of these little culprits. The
majority of them have been brought up free
from all care. Such environment, however, has changed greatly due to the sudden shift
in the social situation after the
termination of the war. The parents have begun to talk heedlessly about black-marketeering
in the presence of their sons. It
is needless to say whet bad effect such topics have on youthful minds."
Referring to the demobilized naval flying cadets, the Commissioner also stated, "Having
lost their hope so suddenly, due to
the termination of the war, these naive youths didn't know what they should do. Under
such social circumstances, no one knows
that further crime will appear. In an effort to prevent these youths from committing
evil, I hope to restore the boy scouts as
soon as possible. The positive guidance of youths through the organization of the
boy scouts is an urgent problem, I think, At
the same time I want to ask the parents to be more careful and not to speak words
which might have a bad influence on their
children."
The statistical data show that the crimes committed by youths after the termination
of the war in ISHIICAWA-Ken have
increased. They reached a grand total of 884 cases involving 640 men up to 20 December.
The classified figures are as follows
figures show cases) (1) Secondary School Students: theft and fraud-43; immorality-4;
secret meeting-8; illegal smoking-50;
non-attendance without reporting-15; movie-going-55(including 15 girls); (2) Delinquent
youths: theft and fraud-188 male, 13
female; immorality-25 male; secret meeting-6 male, 3 female; illegal smoking-120 male,
8 female; (3) Delinquent youngsters:
theft-120 male, 15 female; secret meeting-4 female; illegal smoking-18; non-attendance
without reporting-22
SOCIAL SERIES: 148 (Continued)
ITEM 1 (Continued)
movie-going-18; (4) University students: theft - 7; (5) School children: theft -
90 male, 4 female; illegal smoking - 4;
non-attendance without reporting - 44.
Those who have been admonished for misconduct amounted to some 100 cases. This was
a 300 per cent increase as compared with
the four-month period before the termination of the war. In this connection the HIROSAKA
Police Station statistics show that
the number of arrested is as follows: five cases in August, one case in September,
16 cases in October, six cases in November,
16 cases in December. These figures show that a sudden increase was seen in October.
It is also noticeable that the number of
minor offenses has been decreasing, that is, three cases in September, two cases in
October, too cases in November, one case
in December. As for the classification of offenses, from August to September, they
are mostly theft of gree crops; in November
it changed to rice thefts. In December there as one case of large-scale theft of a
rice distribution office and live other
theft cases throughout KANAZAWA-Shi, seven cases of steeling in a grocery, and four
cases of pick-pocketing at black markets
and on tram-cars. The above figures sho that offenses were transformed to the theft
of ready cash. This money, of course, was
to be spent to satisfy their appetite.
The TAMAGAWA Police Station statistics are as follows: The number of arrests up to
this date since the termination of the war
was 43 cases of theft, five cases of fraud; the classification by ages shows that
under 14 years of ago there were [illegible]e:14 - 18 years of age - 29; 18 - 20 years of age - ten persons. These figures represent
37 per cent
of the total arrests during the same period, showing an increase of figures every
month. The change of the offense from theft
of gree crops to theft in the waiting rooms of the railway station, and pick-pocketing
in the railway train, tram-cars, or at
the black market, is also seen here. It is also noticeable that the number of offenses
committed by youngsters under 14 years
of age has been increasing. In fraud cases without exception, they swindled big sums
of money from their acquaintances or
friends on the pretext of helping purchase food at black market prices
The recent tendency is for the criminals to spend all the money they have assembled
from the sale of stolen goods in eating
and drinking at the stall restaurants and ether places.
ITEM 2 HIROSHIMA to punish black market dealers in American Army Coeds - Provincial Newspaper-Chugoku Shimbun (HIROSHIMA - 28 Dec 45. Translator: J. Kinoshita.
Summary:
A warning against purchasing commodities of the Occupation Army has been given by
Major Robert KIRK of the 41st Division to
the Governor of HIROSHIMA-Ken. He says that most of the Occupation Army's goods in
the black market are purchased from the
American forces by Koreans and a few Japanese. They buy them at such a high price
that the Americans cannot resist selling to
them. Existing Japanese laws cannot prevent these transaction, and so, until the enactment
of new laws, the prefectural
authorities are requested to see to it that suitable measures are taken to prevent
these transactions.
Among the offenders so far discovered have been several children who will be severely
punished in the juvenile courts and
reported to the Occupation Army. To stamp out these offenses, and especially to watch
for Korean and Chinese offenders, the
Japanese police force will be assisted by the Occupation Army.
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SOCIAL SERIES: 148 (Continued)
ITEM 2 (Continued)
A prefectural act was issued by the HIROSHIMA prefectural authorities on 26 December
1945 to control the purchase or barter of
goods belonging to the Occupation Army.
ITEM 3 War-Sufferer Relief Union in TOKUSHIMA-Ken Organized - Provincial Newspaper-Tokushima Shimbun (TOKUSHIMA) - 29 Dec. 45. Translator: K. Minagi.
Summary:
In order to extend sympathy and relief to war suffers in TOKUSHIMA-Shi, TOKUSHIMA
people held a meeting on 28 December to
establish a War Sufferer Relief Union. A committee of 33 was elected and all the neighborhood
association chiefs were
nominated by the Committee. The office is to be installed in the TOKUSHIMA City Hall.
Another committee meeting is to be held
on 7 January to build up the movement on a large scale. Contributions to the Union
totaled 39,000 yen.
ITEM 4 Repeated Directive from Education Ministry Regarding the Disposal of Military School Implements - Provincial Newspaper-Tokushima Shimbun (TOKUSHIMA) - 29 Dec 45. Translator: K. Minagi.
Summary:
SBNDAI First Middle School and SHIOGAMA Primary School were both discovered by the
Allied Forces in the act of holding fending
classes and using imitation rafles for military training. The principal of the school
has been punished.
According to an investigation made by the Education Ministry, insufficient information
in the directive caused these
mistakes.
The Education Ministry issued on 27 December another dispatch to make the abolition
of military training thoroughly understood
and decided to send officials to give practical guidance and to investigate what steps
had so far been taken;
- 1.Military training, whether within or outside the school should be abolished.
- 2.Military methods, such as lining up boys and saluting and marching in gymnastic classes should be abolished to avoid any misunderstanding.
- 3.All school outfits for military training should be completely destroyed.
- 4.Japanese jujitsu and fencing classes, whether they be regular classes or supplementary, and conducted by School Associations, are not to be allowed in school.
- 5.F[illegible]cing and jujitsu outfits should be disposed of by lending or selling to individuals, and both fencing and Jujitsu rooms should be used as gymnasiums.
ITEM 5 Number of Elementary School Boys Increases in MIYAZAKI-Shi - Provincial Newspaper-Hyuga Nichi Nichi Shimbun (MIYAZAKI) - 30 Dec 45. Translator: H. Nishihara.
Full Translation:
The number of school boys in MIYAZAKI-Shi has been gradually increasing since August
of last year, when the number reached a
minimum.
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SOCIAL SERIES: 148 (Continued)
ITEM 5 (Continued)
The number amounted to 9,752 on 20 December, approaching the maximum of 12,400 of
April 1945.
The most notable point of this increase of school boys is that many boys have come
from other prefectures and overseas areas:
22 boys came from KANTO Districts, 96 from KANSAI Districts, 25 from SHIKOKU, 753
from KYUSHU, 77 from other prefectures,
totaling more than 1,000.
The number of school boys in MIYAZAKI-Shi was expected to amount to more than 10,000
in March 1946. School buildings to
accomodate the boys were damaged during the war, and only one of the schools has been
repaired completely. The fathers of the
boys are earnestly concerned, but they must be disappointed. The town's office plans
to divide the schools into three grades
in order of importance, and repair those in the most important grade first. The budget
is now being studied.
ITEM 6 Readers Association Formed - Tokyo Shimbun - 4 Jan 46. Translator: J. Kinoshita.
Summary:
A reader's union, the first in JAPAN, has been formed by several well known scholars
and literary men, namely, KIKUCMI, Kan;
OSARAGI, Jiro; YANAGIDA, Kunio; FUJINURA, Saku; TAKA[illegible]URA, Mitsutaro; KATAYAMA, Tetsu TSUDA,
Saukichi; and Dr. KAGAWA, Toyohiko. The union is called the JAPAN Reading Association
(NIPPON DOKUSHO-KAI). ARISAKA, Yotaro,
has been appointed its president. Anyone can join the union, which publishes books
selected by a monthly conference from
publications requested by its members. Every member has priority in getting books
published by the union. The union's
temporary office is located at the JAPAN Complete Classic Works Publishing Society
(NPPON KOT[illegible]N
Z[illegible]PHN [illegible]AMKO-KAI) at NISHIKAEDA, KA[illegible]DA-Ku. It is expected to start work in early January.
DISTRIBUTION "X"
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