A Study on the Rice Granary Policy Management of the Japanese Government-General of Chosun in the 1930s

Abstract

In the 1930’s, Japanese Empire and colonial Chosun was under the Agricultural depression. Due to the unprecedented good harvest of the rice, the price of rice was about to plummet. To prevent deficits of japanese farmhouse, the Japanese Government-General of Chosun constructed the rice granary throughout the peninsular. By that facility, Japanese authority in Korea could support the rice price in Japan.<BR> The rice granaries in Korea were owned by the agricultural association which was controled by the Japanese authority, and undertook the business about rice flow-out on the market. Initially, the number of the rice granaries was low, but on April 1930, Japanese authority launched plan for the new rice granaries.<BR> Since announced the new plan, the Japanese Government-General of Chosun built rice granaries with two distinctly different sectors, area of production and each seaport town. The former was called ‘Kapjong Rice Granary(甲種 倉庫)’, the later was called ‘Uljong Rice Granary(乙種 倉庫)’.<BR> By these granary, they could prevent the rice price-fallen in Japan. But this was not the fundamental solution for the problem. Costs for the granary had increased over time, and the surplus increased as years go by. On this account, Japanese authority forced storing the rice on village’s vacant lot and assigned storing supplies to each farmhouse.