Abstract
The purpose of this article is to clarify the management and lifestyle of the eighth Japanese emigrant group to Daihachiro by comparing this with the earlier experimental emigrant groups (1932～35). The branch villages started to be invited to Manchuria in 1938. The objective of such invitations was to overcome the weak points shown by earlier experimental emigrant groups.
It was demanded that emigrant peasant groups conduct joint management and community life for five years, diversify farm operations and lead a self-sufficient life in order to provide for themselves production and living means after settlement. They, however, were inefficient because of (1) the existence of families, and (2) confrontation between fellow peasants and other members of society. These endeavors ended in failure only 1～2 years earlier than those of the experimental emigrant groups.
In the individualized management, the peasants had originally relied on their wives’ labor much more than the experimental emigrants had. It turned out that those wives were not involved in farming, and the peasants ended up hiring heavily local labor. In addition, they needed to purchase daily necessities. But Labor wages increased, and because of this, their farm management was on the brink of going bankrupt. Furthermore, steep rises in commodity prices along with supporting many dependents aggravated the economy of these emigrant peasants. Consequently, they were obliged to spoil their farmland and become landowners. Their farmland went fallow. In the end, they became unable to raise living expenses.
As a consequence, those Daihachiro emigrant peasants not only failed to resolve the problems with the experimental emigrant farmers but also further aggravated the situation and expedited the decline of emigrant farming. They played no role during the war years.
