Era Of High Economic Growth Research Articles

White-collar comedy and Toho’s ‘Wholesome Color’ in Japan’s era of high economic growth

ABSTRACT Throughout Japan’s era of high economic growth (1952–1971), hundreds of films were produced featuring the salaryman, or male white-collar worker. While each major studio produced films concerning this figure, Toho Studios was best known for their salaryman comedies. This article examines Toho’s popular Company President series (1956-1970), which consists of thirty-three films released across fourteen years. Redefining the concept of ‘comic timing,’ I argue that the series’ comedic vocabulary is organized around historical temporalities and a time-based perception of white-collar work’s specificity. I then connect textual readings of the series to Toho’s own identity crafted in the studio’s promotional magazine and film periodicals. By highlighting its management style and technological superiority, Toho crafted a self-image as a white-collar workplace that is coextensive with the brightness of their workplace comedies. The studio’s emphasis in films and corporate identity on wholesomeness, brightness, and rationalism are placed in tension with Toho’s earlier history of labour relations. Toho and white-collar comedies act as an important example of an ‘employee culture’ that was elaborated in the era of high economic growth, positing the salaryman as a paradigmatic postwar subject.

高度成長期における会社・自営業・学歴主義 ―一つの問題提起―

高度成長期における会社・自営業・学歴主義 ―一つの問題提起―

Elderly person’s forward-looking and self-fulfilling life while living with chronic Illness

Abstract Background: In contemporary Japan, the nuclear family continues to be the dominant family model which started during the high economic growth era (1955~1973). This situation diminished the opportunities for

殉職者はいかにして企業守護神となりえたか : 「安全」理念の実践をめぐる労使間のポリティクスを中心に

殉職者はいかにして企業守護神となりえたか : 「安全」理念の実践をめぐる労使間のポリティクスを中心に

A Fast Outage Planning Method Focusing on Circuit Breakers Near Outage Facilities

SUMMARYJapanese electric power utilities installed many electric power facilities to respond to increasing power demand in the era of high economic growth. However, these facilities have aged about 40 years and should be replaced in the near future. The utilities will now have to replace larger numbers of facilities at the same time because of the increase in the number of power facilities to be replaced. Therefore, outage planning should be made more efficient. However, creating an outage plan requires time and labor, because the plan must specify (1) the outage schedule, (2) the power system configuration during outage operations, and (3) the system switching of the power system in order to conduct the outage operations. To solve these problems, a fast outage planning method focusing on circuit breakers near the outage facilities is proposed in this paper. Simulations run on IEEJ subtransmission system model I confirm the validity of the proposed method.

Institutionalized Labor Market for New School Graduates in a Weaving Industry Locality in the Era of High Economic Growth: Case of Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture

Institutionalized Labor Market for New School Graduates in a Weaving Industry Locality in the Era of High Economic Growth: Case of Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture

Revitalization of Rural Economies though the Restructuring the Self-sufficient Realm

According to rising social and environmental concerns, the number of small-scale oil mills growing and milling rapeseed has increased over the past decade. This study was undertaken to clarify small-scale rapeseed oil mill production, which is under pressure from mass-produced vegetable oil, and propose the application of this community-based system to developing nations. We analyzed all domestic rapeseed oil mills between 2009 and 2011, and discussed the transition from traditional mills to newly established town office-sponsored mills and its effect on the rural economy. We clarified that small-scale oil mills in rural areas have survived through strong self-sufficient production and have restructured into self-managing local communal businesses. This restructuring of local rapeseed production has had a positive effect on the local community and has revitalized the rural economy. Thus, we concluded that it may be suitable for microcredit in developing nations. Discipline: Agricultural Economics Additional key words: community mill, inducing production effect, local rapeseed production, restoring local production Present address: 2 College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University (Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0880, Japan) *corresponding author: nonaka@affrc.go.jp +81-19-643-3494 Received 16 November 2012; accepted 13 March 2015. Introduction Nowadays, vegetable oil, one of the most essential foodstuffs, is manufactured in large-scale chemical plants from imported oilseed grown in a few exporting nations. Japan used to grow and mill rapeseed in rural areas; however, imported oilseed now dominates the domestic market and Japanese production is close to zero. Recent discussions on the growing use of bio-diesels, however, have raised public concern about domestic rapeseed cultivation, and the number of rural areas growing rapeseed has increased since 2000. Such regional areas have established small-scale oil mills to process rapeseed that farmers in their neighborhood grow, and this growth in rapeseed production and milling activity (rapeseed production hereafter) has revitalized rural economies. Kawate et al.(2006), Goto et al. (2008) (2009), Ono et al. (2011), Ono and Nonaka (2011), Hirano (2008), Watanabe (2010), and Nonaka (2007) (2008) have all analyzed new rapeseed oil milling in rural areas based on field research and reported that increasing small-scale milling is established by local government and supported by local society. However, previous studies on this growth in small-scale rapeseed milling are based on specific case studies, and their structure and benefit to rural economy remain unclear. Major oil mills, such as the Honen Corporation, started mass production in large-scale chemical plants using Chinese soybean in the late 1920s, and they sold soy oil to Japan and other overseas markets. However, domestic rapeseed oil production survived until Japan’s high economic growth era (mid-1950s to 1973). Most farmers grew rapeseed as a second crop in paddy fields, while small-scale oil mills in towns processed the rapeseed, a system that resisted pressure from mass-produced goods. Although the growth in new small-scale rapeseed oil production is attracting research interest as a method of promoting small-scale business in rural areas, there are differences and similarities between old small-scale rapeseed production and new ventures in this regard. Sasama (1981) analyzed the history of Japanese vegetable oil milling, but not small-scale rapeseed oil milling specifically. Nonaka

Hubs and authorities in the world trade network using a weighted HITS algorithm.

We investigate the economic hubs and authorities of the world trade network (WTN) from to , an era of rapid economic globalization. Using a well-defined weighted hyperlink-induced topic search (HITS) algorithm, we can calculate the values of the weighted HITS hub and authority for each country in a conjugate way. In the context of the WTN, authority values are large for countries with significant imports from large hub countries, and hub values are large for countries with significant exports to high-authority countries. The United States was the largest economic authority in the WTN from to . The authority value of the United States has declined since , and China has now become the largest hub in the WTN. At the same time, China's authority value has grown as China is transforming itself from the “factory of the world” to the “market of the world.” European countries show a tendency to trade mostly within the European Union, which has decreased Europe's hub and authority values. Japan's authority value has increased slowly, while its hub value has declined. These changes are consistent with Japan's transition from being an export-driven economy in its high economic growth era in the latter half of the twentieth century to being a more mature, economically balanced nation.

A transmission renewal planning index considering transmission loss and voltage magnitude in N-1 contingency

With the high economic growth era until 1990s, the power demand increased sharply year by year. Therefore, the electric power utilities installed many electric power facilities along with the predicted demand. However, in recent years, fewer apparatuses have been installed because electric power demand growth has started saturated due to low economic growth. Then, for smart electric power facilities planning, it is necessary to form a rational renewal planning from various aspects, which does not consider only facility ages. In this paper, we first propose a new smart transmission renewal planning index using active power loss and reactive power loss sensitivities. And then, we propose to evaluate the decrease of active power flow loss, and the voltage improvement due to the decrease of reactive power flow loss in the N-1 contingency, which are achieved by line renewals. Finally we carry out simulations for the IEEJ EAST 10-machine model system and determine the transmission planning priority to confirm the validity of the proposed method.

A Fast Outage Planning Method Focusing on Circuit Breakers Near Outage Facilities

SUMMARY Japanese electric power utilities installed many electric power facilities to respond to increasing power demand in the era of high economic growth. However, these facilities have aged about 40 years and should be replaced in the near future. The utilities will now have to replace larger numbers of facilities at the same time because of the increase in the number of power facilities to be replaced. Therefore, outage planning should be made more efficient. However, creating an outage plan requires time and labor, because the plan must specify (1) the outage schedule, (2) the power system configuration during outage operations, and (3) the system switching of the power system in order to conduct the outage operations. To solve these problems, a fast outage planning method focusing on circuit breakers near the outage facilities is proposed in this paper. Simulations run on IEEJ subtransmission system model I confirm the validity of the proposed method.

Ordinary Refugees: Social Precarity and Soul in 21st Century Japan

In the aftermath of the bursting of the Bubble economy in 1991, a turn to more flexible labor since the late 1980s, and the recent disaster (of earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor accident) of March 11th, the socioeconomic equilibrium in Japan has been shaken. In contrast to the post-war era of high economic growth when lifelong jobs and a middle-class lifestyle were the norm, today these staples of “good living” have become undermined or unobtainable for more and more Japanese. Not only are more workers irregularly employed (called the “precariat” or precarious proletariat by activist Amamiya Karin), but there are signs of a more pervasive precarity—experienced by more than just the precariat—at the level of an evisceration of social ties, connectedness with others, and a sense of security. Taking the example of “net café refugees”—young working poor who live in net cafés—as paradigmatic of what has been called the “refugeeization” of Japan as a place no longer materially or socially secure for many of its citizens, the essay studies the condition of “social precarity” in post post-war Japan. This is looked at through the lens of affect: not only the state of precarity as it is experienced affectively (as a pain and longing for what still gets assumed to be “ordinary”), but also the affects deployed in practices adopted by the socially disenfranchised and economically precariat to survive. Seeing in these extra-economic networks of survival a glimmer of social change—a recalibration of human life and relationality in a new direction—I consider them to be a biopolitics of life from below, constituting new zones of (post post-Fordist) social possibility for Japan/ese.

The Other Women's Lib: Gender and Body in Japanese Women's Fiction (review)

Reviewed by: The Other Women's Lib: Gender and Body in Japanese Women's Fiction Ann Sherif (bio) The Other Women's Lib: Gender and Body in Japanese Women's Fiction. By Julia C. Bullock. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2010. ix, 199 pages. $49.00, cloth; $25.00, paper. Julia Bullock makes a valuable contribution to the burgeoning literature on the 1960s cultures and experiences of the Showa One-Digit Generation (hito-keta sedai, Showa gannen to Showa 9, 1926-34), a cohort of citizens whose childhood and adolescence were shaped by waves of imperialism, militarism, and total war, and subsequently defeat and occupation. As young adults in the 1940s and 1950s, the One-Digit Generation stepped forward to welcome the promises of occupation-era reforms; in the 1960s, this generation fueled the engine of the era of high economic growth. This rush toward material prosperity and growth in the 1960s forms the context for the literary works the author explores. In The Other Women's Lib, Bullock convincingly articulates the social and psychological costs of the gendered discourses that were part and parcel of the articulation of progress and prosperity in the 1960s, namely, a "gendered division of labor that rhetorically confined women to the private sphere as housewives and mothers, vis-à-vis their husbands' public role of salaryman" (p. 14). The author's focus on "rhetoric" is key: she illuminates the power of dominant discourses of gender, even as social practice inevitably exhibited a range of conformity and resistance. It is through literary realms, she demonstrates, that writers were able to explore the high personal costs of figuring this gendered hierarchy as "the cause of national and individual prosperity" (p. 8). Bullock thus carefully distinguishes between social practice and material reality, on the one hand, and "imaginative recreations of a process of gender role negotiation," on the other. On one level, The Other Women's Lib is a study of short fiction and novellas by three canonical novelists—Kōno Taeko, Takahashi Takako, and Kurahashi Yumiko. The author structures her readings of those works around prominent tropes: the gendered gaze and power, feminist misogyny, and "odd bodies" that challenge dominant discourses of gender. Bullock's close readings are always incisive and a pleasure to read, and the explications of Kurahashi Yumiko's "Hebi" (Snake) and "Warui natsu" (Bad summer) and Takahashi Takako's "Jōsha sakugo" (Getting on the wrong train) are especially compelling. The two introductory chapters provide a thorough introduction to the social history and intellectual contexts of these literary texts. One of the many strengths of the book is Bullock's careful explication [End Page 513] of theories of feminism, gender, and sexuality and her explanation of the relevance of dominant and emerging discourses to particular moments in history. Bullock guides the reader carefully through the social contexts of the production and reception of literary works by this elite group of writers. Central to her study are the workings of the "formal and informal disciplinary mechanisms" (p. 8) in society that give rise to gendered ideologies and demands for social conformity. Affected also by government manipulation of abortion and birth control during the 1950s and 1960s, women were at a distinct disadvantage in the areas of educational opportunity and the labor market. Bullock notes that the discourses that associated women with private realms and discouraged or even prevented women from controlling their own reproductive rights and commanding decently paying jobs were not "traditional in the sense of natural and ahistorical" (p. 28). Rather, in the 1960s and early 1970s, the high-growth state and industry revived pre 1945 rhetoric of "good wife, wise mother" because that configuration was deemed to benefit national goals in the new, and utterly different, global context. These values of domesticity and gendered conformity may have been imposed from above but were also actively embraced by a large portion of the population, according to Bullock. Readers have long struggled with the meanings of violence and sexual perversion in Kōno's, Takahashi's, and Kurahashi's writings. Building on studies by Atsuko Sakaki, Davinder Bhowmik, Yonaha Keiko, and others, Bullock sheds considerable light on the reasons these authors focus...

The Amae Male

The purpose of this paper is to analyze images of men presented in the traditional women's periodical Fujin Koron. This analysis is a first step toward determining common images of men in postwar Japan. The result shows that two streams of male images appeared in the 1950's : the weak male image associated with “salarymen, ” who were increasing in number at the time; and the dependent male (amaeru otoko) image that replaced the strong male image, which was commonplace under the patriarchal Ie system. These two streams of discourse overlapped with each other repeatedly during the era of high economic growth. These male images shared a pattern based on gender roles in private spaces : the metaphor of Mother-Child. The male seeks indulgence and the woman gives care, thus emphasizing the primacy of work for men. This set of male images, “working man” and “childish man, ” is at odds with the discourses of “family man” that emerged in the 1960's.My conclusion is as follows. First, the behavioral pattern of male “Amae” was formed as a role : the “amae role.” Second, the male “amae role” justified the female “caring role.” Third, the “amae role” was justified by the male “working role.” Fourth, the negative connotation of “family man” reinforced the positive meaning of male “amae role” and “working role.”

Characteristics of Local Administration in Terms of Changing Distribution of Local Allocation Tax in Postwar Japan

This paper makes a quantitative analysis of changing distribution of local allocation tax in postwar Japan and tries to interpret the results in three aspects such as the introductory process of the welfare state, changes in regional structure during the economic development and horizontal political competition. The distribution is analyzed in the following three steps: 1) share of local allocation tax in total local governmental revenue; 2) share of municipalities and prefectures; and 3) degree of inclined distribution for local governments with small population. These analytical procedures serve to clarify changing intergovernmental relations. In the early stage of the high economic growth era, the central government gave priority to further economic development and left the fair distribution problem largely untouched. But, as the Japanese economy reached a certain stage of development, the public come to seek an improved quality of life. Following this public opinion, the central government changed its prior policy to provide better welfare services and to reduce various disparities widened in the economic development This change occurred in the mid-1960s. In public welfare provision, municipalities serve as the most important agents because municipalities directly relate to the daily lives of inhabitants. Therefore rapid progress in welfare provision occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s, induced an increase in the municipal share in the distribution of local allocation tax. At the same time, the degree of inclined distribution for municipalities with small population was raised sharply to secure sufficient financial revenue for increasing of services. With changes in the view of the welfare state after the Oil Shock and the following fiscal crisis, most developed countries began to seek “smaller” and “efficient” governments. This movement is well known as the New Right. Japan's national government also followed various policies for reducing public expenditure in the early 1980 s, but it made little reforms in local allocation tax because the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was politically supported by peripheral regions. With the aging of Japanese society, new needs of welfare provision emerged after the late 1980s. As the result of continuous selective outmigration, the percentage of elderly inhabitants in the peripheral regions became much higher than those in other regions. This led to an increase in the municipal share and more inclined distribution for local governments with small population in local allocation tax, again. Nevertheless, with the severe fiscal crisis by the long-term depression in the 1990s, it became more difficult for the national government to guarantee each municipality sufficient local allocation tax to meet its increasing fiscal needs. Additionally, urbanites began to criticize the extremely inclined distribution for municipalities with small population. Finally, the national government changed its stance on local allocation tax and began to drop the degree of inclined distribution for municipalities with small population after 1992. On the other hand, the national government established the Special Municipal Merger Support Law (Shichouson Gappei Tokurei Hou) and gave strong fiscal support to newly merged municipalities. The national government put strong pressure on municipalities with small population through this fiscal squeeze and guiding policy for merger and various merger plans were proposed nationwide. These contrasts between local allocation tax policies in the early 1980s and after the collapse of the Bubble economy strongly reflect the results of horizontal political competition between urban and rural areas. In particular, the Liberal Democratic Party‚s record defeat of the 1998 House of Councilors election in metropolitan areas accelerated the conversion of the national government‚s local allocation tax policy.

Social Conflict and Its Transformation in a Dam Construction Project

In recent years, some of the large-scale development projects and public works, of which most were planned in “the high economic growth era, ” are suspended or cancelled after several decades of social conflicts. Through analyzing a dam construction project, this paper clarifies the community conflict process and presents an interpretive schema for “developmental problems, ” which have often occurred in the long-term planning stage. In the conflict process, social actors including residents' organizations are often seen to be opposing one another, something which this paper interprets to be a “developmental problem.” How can we grasp the dynamics of interest among the social actors?First, we reexamine the “benefit and harm spheres” theory, which is based on functionalism and is formed in Japanese sociology in the 1980s. According to this theory, dam conflicts are considered conflicts between the upper stream of the river (jukuken), which will be submerged by the project, and the lower stream (juekiken), or conflicts between rural areas and urban areas. Second, we focus on how residents perceived the benefit and harm resulting from the project. Third, we consider social networks among the main actors.This study shows that, with a “yosomono (outsider)” as a key-person, social networks not only caused the anti-dam movement to expand, but brought about changes in some of the residents' perception about the project and transformed the beneficiary-victim relationships in the conflict. The “interaction model” between the social movement/networks and the beneficiary-victim relationships rounds up the analysis in this paper.

戦後改革期と農村女性

The Japanese government inaugurated the Home Life Improvement Extension Service (HLIES) in 1949 during the postwar reform era, as recommended by General Head Quarters. The mission of the HLIES was to democratize rural society and to raise the status of rural women by increasing farmers’ awareness of their difficult lifestyles and helping them to independently rationalize their daily lives. The HLIES continued throughout the legislating of the Agricultural Basic Law in 1961 and the era of high economic growth, adapting itself not only to the changed circumstances, but also to the subsidy-dependent Japanese administration system. This paper focuses on Yamaguchi, a prefecture well known for its great efforts in support of the HLIES and farm women. We intend to clarify firstly the development of the HLIES on a prefectural level compared with the national level, and secondly how rural women involved themselves with rural society through home life improvement practice groups and the like in the era of postwar reform. For these purposes, the author analyzed texts and monthly papers for HLIES advisors, training course memorandums and the minutes of meetings published by Yamaguchi prefecture. In addition, she interviewed leaders of home life improvement practice groups and HLIES advisors from the post-war era to record their personal experiences. The paper concludes firstly that Yamaguchi Prefecture designated rural women as ‘HLIES assistants’ and had close personal contact with the Ministry, facilitating the smooth diffusion of the Ministry’s HLIES concept. However, the Ministry’s policies were changed in accordance with Yamaguchi’s small-scale farming structure. Secondly, HLIES advisors found their tasks to be involved with all areas of farmers’ lives and they therefore had to solve other urgent problems such as parasites and malnutrition. Thirdly, in the postwar reform era of livelihood hardship, rural women had little chance to publicly express their own opinions and encountered friction with already-existing groups. Their participation in home life improvement practice groups and new skill acquisition also influenced people outside these groups to be aware of the irrationality of social relationships and farm management.

Peer group play and co-childrearing in Japan: A historical ethnography of a fishing community

This research took a cultural-historical perspective, investigating children's social play and peer group interactions in cross-age groups. Participants lived in a local fishing community which had undergone dramatic changes during Japan's postwar era of high economic growth. An ethnographic description based on fieldwork and the collaborative recall of middle-aged community members clarified the growth process. This community traditionally maintained a co-rearing system to support children during long separations from their parents who were absent for months on fishing expeditions. Through ethnographic descriptions, three characteristics of the children's play and peer groups in this community were revealed: (1) they were constrained by geographical proximity; (2) the play group was hierarchically structured according to the member's age and went through a nine-year cycle; and (3) adults and children, while segregated from each other as social groups, used the same field (the ocean environment) for thier activities. The function of peer group play experiences for child development as a community member was related to the concepts of “community of play” and “prototype models.”

An empirical test of homogeneity and symmetry in a demand system with taste changes

The objectives of this paper are twofold: to examine the law of demand and to examine the possibility of changing demand empirically in the era of high economic growth of the Japanese economy. The homogeneity and symmetry conditions of the Slutsky equation are important in testing the correspondence between demand functions and utility functions. These restrictions are tested in this paper. It is found that homogeneity, symmetry, and the joint restrictions of homogeneity and symmetry, are empirically supported by a consistent data set based on the National Accounts when taste changes are introduced. In Japan, the period of observation includes the era of high economic growth during the 1960s and is thus an especially appropriate period for observing a dynamic shift, specified as a time trend, in consumption patterns.