Abstract
The amount of consumption of the coal produced in Japanese coal fields is about 46.87 million tons in 1958. Large fields are generally found in Kyushu and Hokkaido. Honshu, the main island of Japan, however, has only two large ones, Joban and Yamaguchi. The number of coal mining companies is great, but only 18 of them are of large-scale. 700 collieries laid down by them in all fields produced in the aggregate 27.91 million tons in Kyushu, 16.19 million tons in Hokkaido, and 8 million tons in Honshu in 1957. In this fashion, Japanese coal production can be said to show a maldistribution. 63 per cent of the coal consumption in all Japan was, however, concentrated in Honshu, especially in the manufactoring belts along the Pacific. Hence a large volume of coal is transported by sea from the coal fields in Kyushu and Hokkaido to the comsumption markets in Honshu.
Fig. 1 shows the regional pattern of demand and supply of coal in Japan. The purpose of this study is to analyze the pattern in relation to the regional differences which the writer recognized in the consumption and the supply system of Japanese coal market. After dividing up the coal market into 16 coal market areas (Fig. 2), the writer cleared up the phases of coal supply to the coal market areas (Tab. 3) and also the connection the phases with the 16 sections of consumption such as the thermal power generation, coal-gas industry, iron and steel industry, cement industry, chemical industry, paper industry, transportation, heating, and so on (Tab. 6 and 7).
The results of this study are as follows: 1) The 4 big coal markets areas of the above 16 are found in the central and western parts of Hokkaido, the southern part of Kanto District, including Tokyo, Yokohama, and Kawasaki, the Hanshin Region, including Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto, and also the nothern part of Kyushu. All of these four areas correspond to great manufacturing belts of Japan, and over 60 per cent of the total coal consumption in Japan has been demanded by these areas. The coal produced in Kyushu has been supplied to the western Japan, to the west of the line connecting Nagoya with Tsuruga, while the coal produced in Hokkaido to the eastern Japan. The Kyushu coal and the Hokkaido coal, therefore, divide Japanese markets into two spheres of influence, and they are in a keen competition for spreading their markets in Tokai and Hokuriku Districts near the dividing line.
2) The Hokkaido coal mainly comes from the Ishikari coal field, and the Kyushu coal consists of the Chikuho one to a large extent. While the natural conditions for mining in the Chikuho coal field has become worsened because of the century-long mining, the Ishikari coal field is still developing, resulting in cheaper cost of mining than in the case of the Chikuho field. Therefore, the Chikuho coal is inferior to the Ishikari coal with regard to a competition force in the market in general. Thus, coking coal of an over 2000km haul has been transported from the Ishikari field to the northern Kyushu, though the Chikuho field is located there.
3) Today, the characters of a coal market in Japan are decided by the scale and type of the industries in the relevant coal maket area, especially of the thermal power generation, iron and steel, cement, chemical, and coal-gas.
4) From which coal field will the coal be transported to a coal market is first decided by the distance from a coal field to a market, and then by the scale of production in a coal field, quantity of coal demand in a market, and quality of coal.
