1982 Volume 91 Issue 10 Pages 1552-1585,1647-
From about the end of the 19th century the supply of rice, the staple grain in Japan, gradually became insufficient, and then the rise of its price developed an important food problem. The problem became more serious in the 1920's, owing to the expanding consumption particularly manifested after the rice riot, Kome-sodo. The integrative resolution of the food policy problem was to keep the rice price at low level with increased self-supply of food within Japan and its colonies. Therefore the food policy in this period should be interpreted as the extensive measures which consisted of the promotion of the production of rice and the regulation of its price in the market. The aim of this article is to examine the food policy of the 1920's, limiting the discussion to the recognition of the problem by the government and the political plans and the practical measures taken by the government. In the early 1920's the government began to increase the production of rice in an effort to resolve the problem. But this measure was not effective, for the undersupply of rice grew worse. Therefore the government had to adopt the policy of importing rice from abroad in order to keep its price at low level. In mid 1920's, however, the demand of home-grown and Korean rice increased and this could not be substituted by the imported rice, henceforth the price of rice rose. The achievement of self-supply of food became an urgent problem under these conditions and then the food policy was reconstituted to encourage the production of rice within Japan and its colonies (especially in Korea) and to integrate the price policy with it. In short, the policy was to regulate the price of home-grown rice so that the domestic agriculture remain unaffected by the inflow of rice from the colonies and that the seasonal price decline after harvest be avoided. As a result, the problem stated above were objectively resolved at the end of the 1920's. Yet, the government had little understanding of the situation and the food policy was based on increasing production until the 1930's.
