Introduction
By 1925, Japan had already undergone fundamental social and political change brought on by the Meiji Restoration. The main driving factor in Japan's transition would continue to be the fear of Western domination. Japanese leaders adopted many Western institutions to gain recognition and equality from the industrialized Western nations. However, due to increasing freedoms given to the Japanese people, there were struggles between greater power to the people and greater power to the government. Eventually these were settled with the government gaining more power than before. Japan's plans based around the philosophy of "Rich Country, Strong Army", aimed to modernize the economy and military, came to fruition in the 1930s as Duus writes "Between 1912 and 1932, real national income per capita more than doubled". The majority of those that benefited from the improvements were mostly the urban population. Japan's industrial revolution also brought millions of Japanese to the citiew to work as white and blue collar workers, bringing huge growth to the urban centers.
Industrialization and Urbanization
As previously mentioned, many people in rural Japan were drawn to the cities for employment opportunities in the factories. The industry that recieved the most growth was the textile industry, where most of the workers were young unmarried women. Women played a significant role in Japan's industrialization, with women making up most of the workforce in the factories up to the 1930s. Factory life for women was arduous, with strict rules on what they could or couldn't do. However, this didn't stop Japanese women from leaving the countryside for the factories, as life in factories was preferable compared to rural life. According to Pyle, "By 1909, Japan had become the world's chief exporter of raw silk" and "by the 1920s Japan dominated the world market for cotton textiles". The industry further boomed during the WWI years, where the demand for cotton textiles soared due to the war in Europe. During the 1880s, the government privatized many of the textile factories to cub inflation and grow Japan's Heavy industry. Similarly to the textile industry, the Heavy industry also experienced massive growth during the WWI years.
Labour Unrest
During WWI, the demand for factories brought thousands of workers into cities, leading to labour becoming more valuable. Labour organizations such as the Yuaikai (Friendly Society, formed in 1912) became a leading force in the labour movement. The Yuaikai's increasing militancy continued into post-WWI years, when the Japanese economy fell into a recession. After the Kanto Earthquake of 1923, 300 labour unions were formed in response. In 1911 the Diet passed a Factory Act which regulated and improved industrial working conditions such as
- Preventing children under 12 years of age being hired
- enforcing a 12 hour work day for women and workers under 15