The Japanese Farmer: The Man Behind The Manchurian Expedition

Extract

A FEATURE of the Japanese Labour Movement as compared with similar movements in other countries is the prominent part played in it by the agriculturist. It is as strong in the country as in the town. Roughly 10 per cent, of the adult male agricultural population is organized into peasants’ or tenants’ unions, a state of affairs which compares very favourably with the position in the industrial world, where the percentage of trade union membership is, according to the latest returns, only 7.5.

The explanation for this is to be found in the peculiar status of the Japanese peasant and the conditions under which he gains his living. It must first be pointed out that the landless labourer as he is known in England does not exist. The Japanese farmer is either an owner, or a tenant, or part owner part tenant, the figures being respectively 31 per cent., 28 per cent., and 41 per cent. This does not, however, mean that he is any better off than the farm labourer. The total arable area is fifteen million acres, which are split up among five and a half million families (33,000,000 people). The average family holding is a bare 2 1/2 acres; 35 per cent, farm under 1 1/4 acres, 70 per cent, under 3, only 10 per cent, over 5, and in all Japan there are less than five thousand proprietors with over 125 acres.

It is obvious that with such small holdings as these figures indicate it is as much as the Japanese peasant can do to extract a living from the soil.