Li Kaihang | Wen

1、 The "Salary Reduction Order" in the early years of Showa

In 1929, then Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Komeito Party, Yuuki Hamaguchi, resolutely implemented a deflationary policy in order to bring Japan back onto the track of the gold standard. Without warning, he decided at the regular cabinet meeting on October 15th to include the reduction of salaries for civil servants as part of the "structural reform". Although reducing salaries for officials is not the best policy, since forcing the people to endure the hardships of austerity policies, officials should also lead by example.

But he added that the "salary reduction" is limited to officials with a monthly salary of 100 yuan or more, that is, an annual salary of 1200 yuan or more, with a reduction of about one tenth. As for why it is "an annual salary of 1200 yuan", Finance Minister Junnosuke Inoue, who was responsible for implementing the salary reduction plan at the time, said, "There is no other special reason for the standard of an annual salary of more than 1200 yuan, but it is a natural way to use the so-called 100 yuan as a measure of living.

At that time, the monthly income of a newly hired ordinary primary school teacher was about 50 yuan. In the bureaucratic system, those who can earn 100 yuan are mostly young men who have just started their families after working for a few years. Due to the fact that women had almost no job opportunities before the war, 100 yuan was not considered generous for them. From this perspective, Minister Inoue, who has an elite background, answered with a hint of ignorance of human suffering.

Once the "salary reduction order" was announced, it caused an uproar. The next day, the Asahi Shimbun published a report in which reporters questioned Secretary Suzuki Fujimi all night long, "Isn't an average monthly salary of 100 yuan an excessively meager living allowance?" The secretary replied with a sense of loss, "Yes!" The reporter then asked again, "Why not set the salary reduction for officials above 3000 yuan?" From this, it can be seen that the values at that time believed that people with a monthly salary of 100 yuan should be sympathized with.

Prime Minister Binkou's "salary reduction" plan has naturally been resisted. There were reports in the newspaper that 'this move will cause pain for lower level officials'. A week later, the government had to withdraw the salary reduction order citing the influence of public opinion. However, not everyone is against reducing salaries. Rural people generally support officials' salary reduction orders. Two years later, the second cabinet led by Tojiro Wakasa implemented a salary reduction order under the condition of "not involving judicial officials and expecting officials to voluntarily donate to the national treasury".

As a result, the annual salary of the Prime Minister, who has been earning 12000 yuan since the Meiji era, has been reduced to 9600 yuan, while the annual salary of provincial ministers has been lowered from 8000 yuan to 6800 yuan. In terms of officials, the provincial director level has been reduced from 5200 yuan to 4650 yuan, and the oldest department head in each province has been adjusted from 4500 yuan to 4050 yuan. Due to the extremely high salaries of senior officials, the impact of the salary reduction order is not significant. Lower level officials are complaining incessantly.

Showa office workers earn a monthly salary of 100 yuan

Written by Akira Iwase

Chen Baiyao | Translation

Wanchuan | China Workers' Publishing House

April 2020

The Asahi Shimbun reported on the life of a "railway official" who had been working in a government agency for 20 years. His family of 8 has 4 males and 2 females, with the oldest child being 19 years old. After much effort, my monthly salary finally reached 150 yuan, but it has not been increased for 4 and a half years, so I have to rely on this salary to support my whole family. Due to living in a public dormitory, there is no need to pay rent. However, he also pointed out the dilemma, "We used the rent for the house as our eldest son's education expenses, allowing him to attend high school. During his school years, he couldn't even participate in one off campus trip, and his textbooks were all second-hand books from others. In addition to the monthly tuition fee, he had to work hard to save up miscellaneous expenses. Finally, he graduated this spring and finally felt at ease, but he didn't expect to face the problem of employment again. As a result, he is now idle. Therefore, after graduating from primary school, the second son decided to sacrifice himself to work in a factory to supplement his family expenses and also allow the other two sons and one daughter to have tuition fees for primary school.

2、 Most people earn less than 100 yuan per month

Although mainstream news is complaining about salary cuts, some have pointed out a common fact that the majority of ordinary salaried workers earn less than 100 yuan per month. Although the government claims that salaries will not be reduced for those with an annual income of less than 1200 yuan, the backlash from officials remains strong. It is not difficult to see that as officials, most of you have an annual income exceeding 1200 yuan. In today's Japan, those who earn an annual income of over 1200 yuan are only required to reduce their income slightly. They are willing to stop running railways and cause inconvenience to the lives of the largest number of people in Japan with an annual income of less than 1200 yuan. Newspapers that should protect public rights, and even the proletarian party that should exist, have not issued any statements or protested. This is truly the most bizarre thing in history. (omitted) Most office workers today, those who are the most hardworking, have not made any statements. The most hardworking office workers actually earn less than 1200 yuan per year. So, how do ordinary people live?

Sociologist Eiji Kojima once interviewed his father, Kenji Kojima, who spent his childhood in Taisho Japan. At that time, Qian Er followed his maternal grandfather and grandmother to run a pastry shop near Takayama Temple in Tokyo. He reviewed the living situation at that time. About 10 households share one tap water and need to borrow a key from the manager to open it. Laundry is done by hand with a large basin by my grandmother, who was born in 1877. However, due to a lot of household chores, I only change my underwear once every 4 to 5 days. Taking a shower is done every four to five days at nearby Qiantang.In terms of diet, "as long as there is rice and salty food, you can make do with a meal", mainly consisting of pickled vegetables and rice, "with almost no memory of eating fish or meat". Because the logistics is underdeveloped, the fish meat is mostly dried fish, and the fresh fish is probably only sardine, and it is not really fresh.

The Man Who Returned Alive

[Japanese] Little Bear Eiji | Written by

Huang Yaojin | Translation

Ideal Country | Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore

March 2024

You may not be able to eat meat once a month, and pork is the main ingredient. Occasionally, if you get a chicken, you will share it with your neighbors. In a society without a refrigerator, sharing freshly slaughtered chicken is the most effective way to preserve freshness. Vegetables are purchased from nearby vegetable and fruit shops, while fish or meat are purchased from markets near silk testing sites. My grandmother was busy with household chores and had no time to cook exquisite dishes. At that time, our family's Engel coefficient was probably around 60%. Nevertheless, 'there is also tap water, and the dining experience is even better than in Zorujian (my hometown in the countryside).'. At that time, the common people had neither an annuity system nor health insurance. In order to prepare for illness or old age, they lived frugally and saved money. The cashier and financial situation in the store are recorded by my maternal grandfather. Every night, I ask my grandmother, 'Where did you spend what money today?'

In 1929, the monthly salary for elementary school teachers was 46 yuan, while the basic direct tuition fee for Tokyo Municipal High School that year was 146 yuan and 19 yuan. Even if they passed the exam and enrolled, many people dropped out midway due to financial problems. Even if they reached this level of education, except for a very small number of people who entered the government or large enterprises, this degree had little effect in other workplaces. Grandparents who had only completed elementary school and started from scratch would think that further education was just a waste of money and time, and it was not unreasonable. From this perspective, it can be seen that the inability of "railway officials" with a monthly salary of 150 yuan to afford the education expenses of several children at the same time is actually the norm for most Japanese salaried workers. So, what was the price level at that time?

3、 Cost of living and income gap

According to Akira Iwase's statistics, in the early Showa period, eel rice was about 60 yuan, tempura bowls were 30-40 yuan, rice cake and red bean soup were 15 yuan, and cold buckwheat noodles or a cup of coffee were 10 yuan. The restaurant has launched a set meal for 1 yuan, but also a railway bento for 30 yuan. A large canned beer from a bulk vendor costs about 35 yuan, while the famous beer companies Kirin and Ebisu Beer in Ginza's restaurant charge 25 yuan for a small cup and 45 yuan for a large cup. Sake costs 1-2 yuan. Of course, there are also vendors engaged in price wars, resulting in the emergence of "10 yuan vendor bars" mixed with water liquor. A box of "Xiang" brand cigarettes costs 10 yuan. The postcard is 1.5 cents. The ticket price for Tokyo tram is 7 yuan.

At the end of the Taisho era, a taxi system with a uniform fare of 1 yuan appeared in Tokyo. One yuan can also be used to subscribe to a one month newspaper and buy a medium-sized movie ticket to the Imperial Theater. In addition, in 1926, the Reform Society launched the "Complete Works of Modern Japanese Literature" for 1 yuan per book in order to seize the market. Comprehensive magazines such as "Transformation" and "Literary Spring and Autumn Annals" cost about 50 yuan.

In addition to basic living expenses, household appliances, rent, tuition fees, and other expenses are all considered large expenditures. At that time, electric fans and radios had already become popular. But the newly emerged refrigerators, mainly imported products from companies such as General Electric in the United States, cost 600-800 yuan per unit and are rarely owned by people. In addition, Ford or General Motors priced at 2450 yuan and 3598 yuan respectively are luxury goods that most people dare not imagine.

In the early years of the Showa era, Japan was generally an agricultural country with a GDP that was one seventh that of the United States and a world trade share of only 3%. The 1930 Japanese population survey showed that the total population of the country was about 64 million. Among the total employed population of 20.09 million, 13.7 million people were engaged in agriculture, accounting for about 50%. The secondary industry accounted for 20%, while the tertiary industry accounted for less than 30%. Even the rapidly developing manufacturing industry accounts for only 16% of the total, or 4.7 million people; The service industry accounts for 8%, with only 2.48 million people. The proportion of salaried workers who wear mouse gray suits every day and take the tram to work in the city center is even smaller. In 1929, Ichiro Koike classified full-time employees such as civil servants, private enterprise workers, and physicians as "salaried workers", estimating that there were approximately 1.7 to 2 million people. In other words, it accounts for less than 7% of the total employed population.

Between 1926 and 1927, the Japanese government investigated the income and expenditure status of households in cities. The reason for the investigation is that only Japan, among the major countries in the world, has not yet released the cost of living index, and there is also a need to establish a minimum wage. At that time, there was a "rice riots" in Japanese cities. In order to cope with social instability, the government also needed to investigate rice prices and household income and expenditure, so as not to affect social stability.

In fact, since the end of the Meiji period, labor capital conflicts in Japan have become increasingly prominent, and worker movements have emerged one after another. Takeuchi Minoru pointed out that during the Taisho period, the skyrocketing prices of grain and food in Japan had exceeded the level of the warring countries between Britain and the United States. Daily news of suicide, abandonment, and theft caused by living difficulties appeared in newspapers. Under the rising inflation, the society was crawling with small and medium-sized nouveau riche on the surface, but at the bottom of society, small farmers, small fishermen, small merchants, workers in small-scale small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as lower level civil servants, company employees, and teachers known as' western-style poor ', were under severe threat of difficult living conditions. Since 1917, labor disputes have significantly increased due to the reduction of actual wages for laborers and salaried workers. In the same year, Professor Kawakami Akira of Kyoto Imperial University published' The Story of Poverty '. Following the trend of the times, this book immediately became a bestseller.

In 1927, a government survey showed that the average number of people per household was about 4.2, and the average monthly income of the head of the household was 93 yuan and 19 yuan, including household income or rent income. The total average income per household was 113 yuan and 62 yuan, with an annual income of 1260 yuan. In the end, the government set the minimum wage at 75 yuan per month. At that time, the personal tax threshold was an annual salary of 1200 yen, but in reality, very few people met this condition, less than 10%.

In 1921, Morimoto Takayoshi believed that living a "middle-class" life in Japan required an annual salary of over 3000 yuan. But at that time, the number of households with an annual salary of 3000-5000 yuan was less than 0.3%, and 98% were below 2000 yuan. Among them, the so-called "lower class of superiors" accounted for about 9% with an annual salary of 600-2000 yuan, and as many as 90% with an annual salary below 650 yuan. According to Morimoto's analysis, out of a total of 242900 civil servants in 1918, 9442 were equivalent to the rank of section chief or above, with an average annual salary of 2375 yuan, belonging to the middle class level. There are 77500 convicted officials with an average annual salary of 774 yuan, which is equivalent to being "above the poverty level".

But no matter what, they are still considered "poor people" with fixed salaries. The real poor are actually workers. According to critic Katsuji Kato, who was born in a Tokyo slum, elementary school students went to work as soon as they graduated. When he enrolled, there were nearly 60 students in a class, but by the second grade, the number had decreased to just over 40. Students who dropped out midway either became apprentices in factories or worked in businesses that provided food and accommodation. Apprentices earned 40 yuan a day and had to work 10 hours; store clerks who provided food and accommodation worked from morning till night, earning a monthly salary of 5 yuan.

In 1931, the average daily salary of factory workers was 1.86 yuan, and they worked an average of 9-10 hours a day. Even children were doing the same work as adults. Ordinary workers work 26-28 days a month and have one day off per week. In 1930, the "Literary Spring and Autumn Annals" published special reports on "The Truth of the Depression" and "Critique of Social Phenomena" in May and June. The attendees are middle and lower class groups such as pawnshop owners, cafeteria owners, funeral home owners, and taxi drivers.

The owner of a funeral parlor revealed that "a cement worker without a job and unable to afford rent, his wife died in childbirth, and he didn't even have enough money to buy a coffin, so he left the body on the cushion for three days; or, the day after the funeral, some people fled overnight to avoid paying. In addition, when the shop owner who closed down due to the downturn was hospitalized, the hospital was afraid that they wouldn't receive 80 yuan in medical fees, so they came to collect money as soon as they ran out of breath.

Some scholars also observed the bitterness of the bottom of the society. "At that time, scavengers gathered in the twilight, and there were also stores to collect leftovers, which only cost 2 yuan. If someone really came to buy them, they would go home to cook Congee for a family dinner. In the corner of Shenchuan, there were also workers at the bottom. After investigating these campers, it was found that only 8 of the 30 workers worked, and the daily workers were lucky, even some were just engaged in picking up empty coal straw bags.".

4、 Rural areas and military personnel

If the majority of the lower class population in cities are struggling to fall below the poverty line, then the rural areas of Taisho Japan have fallen into an bottomless abyss. Affected by the international market, rice prices have generally fallen by 1/3 to 1/2. From 1926 to 1929, the average income of rural households decreased from 1326 yuan to 650 yuan, and many children in rural areas could no longer afford to eat or were even sold. Out of 174000 children in Akita Prefecture, over 28000 are unable to bring bento boxes to school, resulting in the emergence of so-called "meal free students". In a village in Yamagata Prefecture, 50 out of 457 girls were sold as prostitutes.

In 1934, a major crop failure occurred in history, which further worsened the lives of farmers. 58000 women from six counties in Northeast China have gone to other places to work, with the majority working in the sex industry such as prostitution. Akira Iwase sarcastically said that in the early Showa period, Tokyo was like a kingdom of spring sellers, with its biggest "supply source" coming from rural women. At that time, news commentators could no longer bear to watch and warned that "Japan's rural economy, if it continues like this, may be forced to the point of extinction", criticizing "using the miserable lives of farmers as a stepping stone to obtain cheap agricultural products without worries is something that demons can only do".

After the war, the famous writer Yamamoto Qiping recalled that his father worked in real estate and invited a failed client from Northeast China to dinner. The client said, "After eating this meal, I have to say that if the people of my hometown saw such a life here, they would probably cause a revolution." The client was a three man farmer who attended a non commissioned officer school to waive tuition fees, but was eventually laid off due to military budget cuts and became a retired soldier. In elementary school, Yamamoto still remembers his father bringing up this past story to teach him, but he never expected that even the "Meiji style solid quality" Yamamoto family life would almost trigger a revolution in the rural areas of Northeast China.

This is not an exaggeration. In the 1932 Blood League Incident, during the trial of the assassin of Finance Minister Junnosuke Inoue, Konuma Masamune, he complained that "the situation in the countryside is unbearable, and it is all due to the bad practices of the former Tibetan Prime Minister." "The current political parties, chaebols, and some privileged classes belonging to the ruling class have all become corrupt and degenerate, colluding with each other to seek personal gain and desires, burying themselves in party interests and party strategies, neglecting national defense, disrupting national politics, causing the loss of national prestige, the decline of national spirit, and leading to the exhaustion of the rural economy and the poverty of small and medium-sized business owners." By the way, another leader of the Blood League, Rizhao Inoue, assassinated Mitsui Chairman Tsuyoshi. It is said that he... Annual bonus of 400000 yuan.

In the trial of the May 15th Incident, Hidefumi Goto also stated that "rural weariness is the root cause of people's hearts, just like fishing villages and small and medium-sized businesses... The quality of rural soldiers is also good in the army, and the Northeastern rural soldiers are the model of the imperial army. When soldiers are at the critical moment of life and death, their fathers are hungry and have worries about their future, which is very dangerous. Wealthy tycoons have huge wealth but ignore the poor people in Northeast China, indulging in their own desires. The elementary school children of the Northeastern people go to school without even having breakfast and eat rotten potatoes at home. This situation, if left unattended for a day, puts the army in danger.

In the eyes of many radical military personnel, the Tokyo government has completely lost its qualification as a central government. The theorist of the May 15th Incident, Takasaburo Tachibana, wrote, "Tokyo, in my eyes, is only like a branch of the world's metropolis, London. Anyway, with the abnormal expansion of Tokyo, the countryside has been gradually devastated, which is an undeniable fact. Moreover, there has never been such discrimination against farmers and forgetting their value like today. This is exactly what Masao Maruyama called the agrarian complex of Japanese style fascism. It is they who claim to be representatives of the lower class people and lead the social revolution.

5、 Foreign war as a countermeasure

As Shouichi Inoue pointed out, in this distorted social structure, foreign war was proposed as a solution to domestic contradictions. "The ultimate solution to the widening class gap before the war was to support the war. In other words, at that time, war was a strategy for economic recovery.

In fact, "political parties or citizens did not oppose war, but spontaneously assisted in the war. Non property political parties representing workers and peasants, on the contrary, took the fastest stance to assist in the war before (bourgeois political parties) political allies and civil affairs parties." "Workers, peasants, women, children, no matter who supported the war. As long as they supported the aggressive war, the citizens were the perpetrators. But at the same time, the citizens were also the victims. War struck the weak in society. After the main labor force was forcibly conscripted, families would suffer from war casualties and the economy would fall into poverty. The state also deprived the citizens of their freedom. Fascism would force the living standards of the citizens to the limit. However, the citizens do not have a sense of victim consciousness, because workers have their own attempts to gain autonomy through war against capitalists, farmers against landlords, women against men, and children against adults. They made a significant bet on this. Before becoming victims, citizens have no awareness of being perpetrators, and through their support for war, they want to achieve political, economic, and social advancement.

For example, the prolonged Sino Japanese War led to the Japanese government enacting the National Mobilization Law in 1938. By virtue of this law, the state is able to regulate the redistribution of wealth through capital. Non property political parties support the National Mobilization Law, and behind it are laborers, farmers, and women who support war. At this point, the lower class groups, who were alienated and neglected by social development, gained relative status through the equalization of war.

For example, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare established in January 1938, although intended to strengthen the country's control over labor and military forces, as a fact, also partially expanded the social insurance system. In April of the same year, the Agricultural Land Adjustment Law was promulgated, and in December of the following year, legislative measures such as the Small Crop Control Order were implemented to ensure an increase in grain production during the war period, which relatively improved the social status of farmers towards landlords.

In addition, due to the conscription of men to the front lines during the war, women worked in the rear as supplementary labor and gained relative social status. Uchida Tree pointed out that "war and genocide originate from social disharmony and are induced by multiple factors accumulated. They were not intentionally launched by any individual. Because of this, the most active reform forces in pre war Japanese society were also the most aggressive forces in foreign aggression. Because foreign wars were proposed as a solution to domestic difficulties.

Akira Iwase finally commented on the attitude of salaried workers during the war. After the outbreak of the war, the petite bourgeoisie (who were the majority in Japan at that time) who lived in hardship or students who had difficulty finding employment actively identified with the military's misconduct or nationalism. However, the white-collar class who had already entered the company and received favors were even more silent and conservative. They remained silent until the end, as if tacitly supporting the war. Finally, they were also recruited, and when they were in the camps in Siberia or in the deep mountains of the Philippines, they pondered, 'I shouldn't have become like this.' They wanted to go back to that time from the bottom of their hearts, whether it was getting drunk and punching people in Ginza during their student days, walking to bars in Shinbashi while drinking on payday, or picking ties in Mitsukoshi. But by the time they realized it, it was already too late. The sentence is:.