Press translations [Japan]. Social Series 0131, 1945-12-29.
Date29 December, 1945
translation numbersocial-0556
call numberDS801 .S84
Persistent Identifier
SOCIAL SERIES: 131
ITEM 1 Rice Distribution Difficulties - Mainichi Shimbun - 27 Dec 45. Translator: T. Ogawa.
Summary:
The food crisis in the metropolis is not only caused by the failure of rice delivery
from the districts where it is produced.
In TOCHIGT-Ken it has recently been revealed that the rice which is scheduled to be
delivered to the Government was
overflooding a warehouse because of the lack of transportation.
The total amount of rice delivered up to 24 December in this prefecture reached 156,500
koku and out of this, 10,000 bales
were shipped to TOKYO. At present approximately 10,000 bales are at NIITA Station
on the KARASUYAMA Line, 10,000 bales are at
HOSEKIJI Station and at UJIIYE Station on the TOHOKU Main Line, about 5,000 bales
are at OTAHARA Station on the TOYA Line,
each overflooding the warehouses of the NIPPON Transport Company, Limited pending
shipment.
Despite the ardent efforts of the UTSUNOMIYA Controling Section to secure adequate
transportation facilities, the recent cut
made on freight train operation between UTSUNOMIYA and TOKYO has been adversely effecting
the food crisis in TOKYO. The
UTSUNOMIYA Controling Section authorities are planning to ship 5,000 bales per day
shortly. Regarding this, Mr. AKAMA, a
freight chief official of the section, states as follows: "Now we have a rush delivery
of rice and are shipping 80 per cent of
this rice to TOKYO. For the transportation of rice, we have arranged for smooth operation
of cars. We hope that a 5,000-bale
shipment to TOKYO will be realized shortly."
ITEM 2 Tokyo Grime Wave Mounts - Asahi Shimbun. Yomiuri Hochi, - Nippon Sangyo Keizai - 27 Dec 45. Translator: Y. Akabane.
Summary:
In difiance of the crime prevention activities by the police and autonomous vigilance
bodies, robbers armed with pistols are
rampant in TOKYO these days. Gang cases are continually reported, the number reaching
15 on the night of 25 December in
KAMEARI, KATSUSHIKA-Ku alone. In one instance, a factory hand was robbed of an envelope
containing his bonus at a point about
50 meters from the guard station, where there were 20 young members on the alert;
it was pitch dark due to the interruption of
electric current. As gangs have pistols, and police members are inadequate, the KATSUSHIKA
Police Office requested the
co-operation of two squads of American Military Police to make a search for the culprits,
and as a result of the strict
vigilance of these forces, there were no incidents that night. In view of this experience,
the KATSUSHIKA Police
SOCIAL SERIES: 131 (Continued)
ITEM 2 (Continued)
asked SCAP's to station military police within its jurisdiction and has obtained
that request. The police office also opened a
crime prevention meeting of the representatives of various citizens' organizations
to strengthen the guard by the citizens
themselves. In KAMEARI-Machi, over 50 young men, together with demobilized soldiers,
have organized a Death Defying Unit
(KESSHITAI) for the prevention of crime, because of the frequency of robberies, which
reached almost 100 cases since the
beginning of this month. As robbery in the neighborhood of KAMEARI has been done by
a gang of 3 armed robbers, vigilance is
made by a company of five to ten persons with clubs, police whistles, etc. They are
given an extra ration of rice, 3 go 5
shaku for each ten persons a day, and are taught to be, observant of physical characteristics
and dress, as well as how to
shadow. Self-protecting organizations in TOKYO are still very primitive, remaining
in a state of old fire-watch sheds, as
there are many difficulties at present in obtaining station cottages, fuel, and food,
but only recently, a very effective
vigilance organization has been made in OSAEI-Ku, with 24 men on night duty to be
continued until next March.
Crimes perpetrated in the Metropolis on Christmas eve were record breaking, numbering
over 30 and decreasing to 20 the
following day, on which day the chief watchman of the Imperial Sea Disaster Relief
Association was shot at SHIBA-Ku by an
unidentified culprit; a gang of fuel robbers with pistols appeared in ASAGAYA-Ku,
making the citizens very uneasy. The
dressing of members of this gang is similar to that of the gang which appeared in
DENENCKOFU with pistols on the night of 24
December. They are Japanese in physiognomy but dressed as soldiers of the occupation
forces, one of them wearing a soldier's
cap and jumper while another wore a jacket and black overcoat, which gives a few clues
to the search. These last few days,
many atrocious robberies were committed throughout the city and in some cases robbers
wore soldier's uniforms, but we can not
consider that the culprits are the sane men in every case, as a large quantity of
such uniforms have been scattered throughout
the city.
It may be noted in this connection that the headquarters of the military police in
TOKYO is guarding against any incidents
likely to occur due to drinking or indulgence in making merry over Christmas by particularly
strengthening the night patrols.
In co-operation with the military police in the prevention of crimes and in military
discipline, American radio stations in
TOKYO and YOKOHAMA are repeatedly warning American officers and men four times a day
following world news, broadcasting, "Take
good care that you are correctly dressed when going out and be careful about your
actions. Even during night, many military
police and officers are patrolling. Be careful!"
According to the YOMIURI NOCHI, a large number of demobilized ex-soldiers are now
left unemployed; they are roughly divided
into two groups, some becoming black market dealers and some resorting to crime in
order to sustain themselves. Though these
dealers make much money, they are apt to degenerate and finally be driven to all sorts
of vice. The others commit crimes as
they cannot live without employment, and only recently there appeared a number of
soldier-criminals, most of them in gangs,
and they show a tendency of increasing rapidly.
The Chief of Metropolitan Police, TAKANO, is quoted by the NIPPON SANGYO KEIZAI as
saying in regard to the counter-measures
for maintaining security: "Recent increase of crimes is due to complicated circumstances,
but it is mainly due to the
difficulty of living. Demobilized soldiers
- 2 -
SOCIAL SERIES: 131 (Continued)
ITEM 2 (Continued)
and factory workers are unable to get employment with sufficient income owing to
the closing down of industries. Most of their
houses were destroyed and in addition to the scarcity of necessities, with the removal
of price control, fish and vegetables
are appearing on the market in abundance but at high prices.
"Greed has a definite connection with crime. I greatly regret to see so many crimes
committed daily, and I am doing my best to
prevent them. However, criminal search has become extremely difficult, owing to various
postwar circumstances, but we are
endeavoring to complete the census investigation and reconstruct telephone connections.
We are striving for an increase in
research personnels and the number of police automobiles. We are also trying to secure
an extra supply of a reasonable
quantity of rice for policemen and detectives. Instructions have been issued to encourage
the establishment of vigilance
organizations by citizens, but I do not like to have them armed, such organizations
must be entirely autonomous to co-operate
with the police service. There must be no compulsion. The relationship with the Occupation
Forces is now going very smoothly
through the good offices of the Commander of the military police. At our request,
military police have been posted especially
for the Christmas season. We are endeavoring to have military police stationed at
city police offices in the future."
ITEM 3 Future of Japanese Labor Unions Mainichi Shimbun - 28 Dec 45. Translator: Y. Akabane.
Summary:
Democracy is now powerfully forcing forward the reorganization of the laboring masses
all over the country. According to
reports which reached the Welfare Ministry un to 12 December, movements for forming
labor unions have resulted in the
appearance of 65 unions comprising altogether 77,000 members, or 130,000 if members
of YAWATA Iron Factory of JAPAN Iron
Manufacture Company and the Mitsui Chemical Company at OMUDA, where labor unions are
going to be organized, are included.
The labor movement in JAPAN has its origin at the conclusion of the MEIJI era and
rapidly developed after World War I. In
1936, the highest point was reached with 973 unions and 420,589 members. With the
outbreak of the Chinese incident the
following year, they gradually decreased and completely collapsed prior to the end
of war, most of them being absorbed by the
Industrial Patriotic Association, organized in 1940. However, after the end of war,
the movement restored its activities and
the JAPAN seamen's union was formed on 10 October, followed by the Press Workers'
Union and then various unions in
transportation, mining, etc. The number of unions and their members in the transportation,
mining, and machine and tool
industry is considerable. Leaders in the formation of unions are classified as follows:
1. Some staff members of companies or factories; 2. Business owners who guide their
employees, forming unions along the labor
and capital harmonization principle, ostracizing leaders of professional labor movement;
3. Professional leaders of unions,
who usually recommend the formation of a union to both labor and capital; 4. Laborers,
themselves, who form unions
autonomously.
Overthrow of capitalism, absolute opposition to capitalistic exploitation, etc were
the slogans of the movement before 1931,
but now no such obvious objectives can be found. On the contrary, it may be noted
that the recent labor movements have as
their objectives promotion of world peace,
- 3 -
SOCIAL SERIES: 131 (Continued)
ITEM 3 (Continued)
construction of a new state or new economic structure, etc, taking upon themselves
the duty and responsibility of
laborers.
Unions composed of both laborers and white collar workers are most numerous, and
those of laborers alone are next in number.
The staff union of the YOKOHAMA KOSEIN Bank is composed of white collar workers only,
and the KYOTO salary men's society is of
the salaried class.
Condition of organization of labor unions classified by industrial enterprises on
12 December:
Industries | Number of unions | Number of members |
Metal industry | 6 | 4,051 |
Machine and tool | 7 | 11,176 |
Chemical | l | 425 |
Gas electric & water works | 2 | 2,880 |
Porcelain and stone mason | 2 | 36 |
Lumber and wood manufacture | 4 | 1, 441 |
Printing and book binding | 6 | 6,033 |
Engineering and construction | 7 | 2,700 |
Mining | 6 | 10,386 |
Transportation | 10 | 35,306 |
Total | 45 | 74,434 |
In addition to the above, there are 20 additional unions, but the number of members
is not exactly known. According to the
reports received by the Welfare Ministry up to 12 December, the number of labor disputes
are as follows:
Total is 93, of which strikes number 45, involving 38,669 members and classified:
Industries | Disputes | Strikes |
Metal industry | 4 | 4 |
Machine and tool | 20 | 5 |
Chemical | 3 | non |
Engineering and construction | 5 | 3 |
Foodstuff | 2 | 1 |
Other industries | 8 | 3 |
Mining | 32 | 23 |
Transportation | 11 | 4 |
Others | 8 | 2 |
Immediately after the end of war, anti-dismissal, increase of retirement allowance
and establishment of the right of
collective bargaining were the chief causes of the disputes, but later these changed
to demands for an increased supply of
food and the increase of wages and salaries on a large scale. The change was caused
by the aggravation of food conditions,
accompanied by the sudden rise in the prices of commodities.
DISTRIBUTION: "X"
- 4 -
Loading...