ITEM 1 Smallpox in Tokushima - Provincial Paper Tokushima Shimbun (Tokushima) - 31 Jan 46. Translator: H. Nishihara

Summary:

The TOKUSHIMA Prefectural officials are taking measures to check the outbreak of additional cases of smallpox. The Sanitary Section has sent its members to TOKYO, OSAKA and KOBE to purchase vaccine. But vaccine production has decreased in quantity because of the sudden rise in the price of cows. The demand for it is great in the OSAKA and KOBE district owing to cur increasing number of smallpox cases. Therefore it is very difficult to get vaccine. The officials are demising practical measures to prevent outbreaks of other cases of the disease and are urging it's members to get as great an amount of vaccine as possible.

Patients suspected of smallpox and who have an attack of fever should consult the doctor. The doctor should report the case to the police as soon as possible. The officials of towns, cities, and villages are asked to do their utmost to find the patients, if any, as soon as possible

ITEM 2 Text Books to be Withdrawn from Schools - Jiji Shimpo - 3 Feb 46. Translator: S. Sakata

Full Translation:

In accordance with the directives issued by MacARTHUR's Headquarters on 31 December regarding the elimination of the teaching of morals, Japanese history and geography, the following text-books published by the Ministry of Education have unofficially been earmarked for withdrawal by the Ministry.

(1) Text-Book for Primary School (A) Both volumes of "Good Children" (YOI KODOMO): Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4 of "Morals", an elementary course; Vols.1, 2 of "Morals" for male pupils in higher elementary course; Vol. 1 of "Ethics" for female pupils in higher elementary courses. (B) Both volumes of "Japanese History," an elementary course; Both volumes of "Japanese History," a higher elementary course; Both volumes of "Geography", an elementary course; Both volumes of "Atlas" an elementary course; Both volumes of "Geography," a higher elementary course.

(2) Text-Books for Young Men's School. (A) Both volumes of "Young Men's Morals and Citizenship," a general course; Vols. 1, 2, 3, 5, of "Young Men's Morals and Citizenship," for the regular course in the five-year system; Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4 of "Young Men's Moral and Citizenship," for the regular course in the four-year system; Vols. 1, 2, 3, of "Girl's Ethics and Citizenship" for the female regular course in the three-ye-r system.

(3) Text-Books for Middle Schools. (A) Vols. 1, 2, 3 of "Morals for the Middle School" for boys; the same for girls; "Morals" (from the authorized list of the Ministry) (B) Vols. 2, 3, of "History for the

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Middle School"; "The World History", from authorized list. (C) Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4 of "Geography for the Middle School"; the volume "Japan", of "Geography," from authorized list; "The New World Atlas"; Vols. "Japan," and "Foreign Countries" of the authorized atlas.

(4) Text-Books for Normal Schools. (A) Vols. 1, 2, of "Morals and Citizenship, for the Regular Course in the Normal School"; The first part of "Citizenship for Normal Schools" (standard text book). (B) Vols. 1, 2 of "History for the Regular Course in Normal Schools". (C) Vol. 1 of "Geography for Regular Course in Normal Schools"; "New Atlas of Japan for the Normal School," (revised edition from the authorized list; "New Atlas of Foreign Countries for Normal School," (revised edition).

The other old text-books of the affected lessons which are being used as reference books will also be withdrawn by the authorities.

The Ministry's notification in detail regarding the method of withdrawing the text-books will be issued in the near future. Every authority of the Metropolis and prefectures will carry out the duty of withdrawing the text-books from each of the schools under their supervision by the enc of February in the four big cities, namely, TOKYO, KYOTO, OSAKA and KOBE, and by the end of March in the other places.

ITEM 3 The Future of Music - Mimpo - 4 Feb 46. Translator: T. Ogawa

Summary:

A ray of hope has begun to appear in the future of the musical world of JAPAN. NORISUGI, Yoshihisa, the former President of the TOKYO Music Academy, who had an out-of-date bureaucratic and militaristic trend, has been ousted and KOHIYA, Toyataka has been appointed its new president. The new president is well known for his personality, scholary attainments and intelligence as well as an art critic and also as one of the late SOSEKI's best followers. It is beyond dispute that he is the leading light of our music world since the death of the late Prof. IZAWA, Shuji, the first president of the academy.

There is, however, still much about him that makes us wonder whether he is really suitable for the job of reconstructing the academy which has been devasted by the bureaucratic president.

In an attempt to expel the followers of NORISUGI, who promoted militaristic education. Senior Professors TAKAORI, Miyaji, IGUCHI, Motoycshi, of the Piano Course; KINOSHITA, Tamotsn, of the Vocal Course; INOUE, Takeo, of the Violin Course; HASHIMOTO, KUNIHIKO, of the Composers Course; and Endo, Hiroshi, of the Library Course, were forced to tender their resignation in the name of the Reform Committee organized by progressive young instructors such as NAGAI, Susumu, of the Piano Course; HIRAI, Yasuki, of the Composers Course; etc. It is quite natural that the senior professors should assume responsibility during the war. It is not a democratic reform, however, when the committee forces them at its own discretion to tender their resignations without consulting the faculty. The abolition of the Japanese Music Course end the separation of the Normal Course are other examples of this sort of behavior.

ITEM 4 Temporary Houses - Nippon Sangyo Shimbun - 4 Feb 46. Translator: Y. Akabane

Summary:

As one of the measures to solve the citizens' housing problem for this winter, the Metropolitan Office promised to build by the end of last year; (l) 5,000 simple dwellings as part of the Ministry of Welfares' plan to build 300,000 houses throughout the country; (2) 1,000 small dwellings in the metropolis itself and three apartment-houses, by

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repairing half destroyed buildings and other well constructed edifices such as national schools etc to be offered for the use of war-sufferers. However, the present prospect is not so bright, and the above measures to tide over the severe winter season, do not seem to be completed as planned owing to the difficulty of obtaining the necessary materials. They will not be completed before the middle of April.

The housing problem must be solved as soon as possible to liberate citizens from their unhealthy shanty life, to hasten the rehabilitation of the demobilized and to relieve the grief of young men and women who have to delay their marriages for lack of housing.

The following is the gist of the story told by a clerk in charge of the Housing Section of the Planning Bureau of the Metropolitan Office;

"We planned to build by the end of last year 5,000 of 50,000 houses with materials to be obtained on the basis of a plan by the Welfare Ministry, beside 1,000 to be built in the Metroplis! itself. The rent for these will be partly borne by the Metropolitan Office as rents have become very high. Only 430 houses were built by the middle of January in OJI, EBARA, ADACHI, NAKANO, ARAKAWA and TOSHIMA-Ku. TWO thousand are now under construction and will be completed by the end of March. From the condition of incoming materials, it is likely that houses originally intended for winter won't be finished before spring. The supplies of lumber are expected to become a little greater than before, but due to the difficulty of transportation, large supplies from places of production in HOKKAIDO, AKITA, NAGANO, TOCHIGI etc., can not be expected.

Moreover, the lack of nails, boards and fitting, in addition to the insufficiency of labor in the sawmills prevents us from predicting accurately the progress of dwelling construction works. To meet the bottle-neck in obtaining materials, and to eliminate it the Metropolitan office is endeavoring to recover sunken wood in the bay of TOKYO through the TOA Diving Industry Research Institute and to enlarge the lumber-mills in FUKAGAWA-Ku. "On the other hand, the repair of half-destroyed buildings is progressing speedily and by the middle of April around 25,000 tsubo will be completed as planned. Buildings already accommodating war-suffers at the hands of the ward offices concerned are as follows: (numerals in parenthesis show the number of families accommodated)

SANNO Hotel (89); TSURUKAKI National School (50); ICHIJUKU Pharmaceutical Company, HONJO-Ku (13); YAMATO-RYO, SHIBUYA-Ku (20); HATCHO-HARA former military barracks ITABASHI-Ku (12); Second military arsenal building in the same place (57); HAMADA building, NIHONBASHI-Ku (7); KAWASHIMA building in the same ku (5); OKAZAKI Hospital, USHIGOME-Ku (lb); former military barracks SETAGAYA-Ku (300); and two national schools in SHITAYA OKACHIMACHI (517) and ASAKUSA ISHIHAWA (110) are 90 per cent complete. In addition, about 10 buildings with accommodation for about 350 families are now under repair and will be opened to war-sufferers by the end of March and 17 other buildings including ten national schools with accommodations for 1,230 families will be completed by the middle of April. What is the cost of these simple swellings? The following are sums calculated on the official prices of various materials obtainable through regular channels, so it must be noted that the cost of building houses will amount to several, or sometimes more than ten times more, if individuals construct houses with materials obtained at black market prices.

1. A simple dwelling of seven tsubo for the use of war-sufferers costs around 6,000 yen, (of which about 2,500 yen are for lumber, from 420 to 480 yen for 6 mats, 15 yen for sliding screen paper, yen roofing, 500 yen boards for fit[illegible]ings, 10 yen for nails. The cost of labor is about 1,300 yen and certain amount for electricity and water supply). At any rate, it is a very difficult task to obtain materials, especially at official prices. Nails are most difficult to buy at present. 2. What is the rent of rooms and houses to be rented from the

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metropolis or the Housing Association? Repairing expenses of half destroyed buildings and schools are from 200 to 500 yen per tsubo, so a building covering 1,000 tsubo will need about 500,000 yen at the most. The rent is to be calculated on the basis of such expenses, but a part of these expenses is borne by the metropolis, so the rent to be paid by renters is far cheaper, varying from 2 yen 50 sen to 3 yen 50 sen. The rent for a metropolitan simple dwelling varies in from 20 to 35 yen a month for a house of 7 tsubo;"

What are the conditions of living in these simple dwellings? The following has actually been seen by the reporter: 1. Fifty families are now in the TSURUMAKI national school in WASEDA. There pre 26 suites of two room with 6 mats each intended for families and rooms with 6 mats for bachelors. Rooms for families are now furnished and fit for a family of several persons, but at night it is cold as the outside windows of the building are not yet repaired. Rent is 35 yen a month, but there are rooms rented at a lower rate of 12 or 13 yen. A common bath covering 25 tsubo is now under construction. As there is no kitchen tenants are using SHICHIRIN in their respective rooms for cooking. 2. Sixty simple dwellings are being built on the premises of the former prison in ICHIGAYA. Each house has two rooms, one with six and the other three mats, but no mats are put in the latter. Moreover, the roof is covered with [illegible]ofing paper as bad as cardboard, and does not seem to be strong enough to ward off heavy rain or snow. The height of the floor is only three sun from the from the earth and doubts are entertained about what will happen in the rainy season. Only 2 families are living there. 3. Behind the SHINJUKU Station, there is a shop dealing in sets of temporary simple dwellings. This shop is run by the metropolitan Housing Corporation. About 200 sets were there and these were all taken. According to a clerk, lumber is coming in on an average of 40 freight trains a day, but as the supply of roofing materials, mats and window glass is not sufficient, only wooden sets are being sold at 2,400 yen each. More than 3,000 yen will be necessary for putting them up, including transportation. One two storied house, re-built with materials brought from a workers' dormitory in YOKOSUKA Naval Arsenal, and capable of accommodating about 30 families, is in AOYAMA, Here there is a room on both sides of a passage, with 9 mats, a closet end a dirt-floor of one tsubo. Several families are living there. Other buildings are now being built on the same site and if completed they will be able to accommodate a total of 685 families. The inhabitants are complaining of the difficulty in getting water.

ITEM 5 Distribution of Hoarded Rice - Mainichi Shimbun - 4 Feb 46. Translator; S. Shiba

Full Translation:

(NAGANO), the actual state of affairs in the army base ration depot has been exposed by the demobilized student officers who reported that 1,800 koku of rice were being kept hidden by the Army which persuaded a certain member of the Agriculture Society to do this, and the prefectural authorities have begun to examine the situation closely.

With regard to this, the prefectural provisions authorities concerned said that they received 1,620 koku of rice as class A commodities and 1,520 koku as class B commodities from the Army and they were all dispose of as the distribution of rice for la3t year. 1,620 koku of class A rice were described on the distribution list but 1,520 koku was the amount that has been found by the prefecture investigators. Therefore the above mentioned 1,800 koku of rice might have been mixed in with the amount which was distributed for the above-stated term, but the case will be closely examined, considering the large quantity of staple food involved.

DISTRIBUTION "X"

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