1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Historical research on the political economy examing the state and farmers under the postwar Japanese system

Research Project

Project/Area Number	05630050
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Economic history
Research Institution	DOSHISYA UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	SHOJI Shunsaku DOSHISYA UNIVERSITY,INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES,PROFESS, 人文科学研究所, 教授 (70130309)
Project Period (FY)	1993 – 1995
Keywords	State and farmers / Ishiguro aguricultural policy / Historical research on the poliitical economy / High-speed economic growth / Family farming operations / Wartime and postwar Japan / Land reform / Postwar Japanese agricultural system
Research Abstract	1) With a view to reexamining the so-called Ishiguro agricultural policy trend in wartime and postwar Japan, my research seeks to analyze the thought and practices of the Ministry of Agriculture bureaucrat Tohata Shiro whose career spanned the prewar to postwar periods. The aim of my studies is to identify the historic formation and structural features of the postwar Japanese agricultural system as Tohata saw them, and consider them with respect to the historical significance of the postwar land reforms and the future prospects for Japanese agriculture. 2) It is important to elucidate the historic significance of high-speed growth when considering the relationship between the state and farmers under the postwar Japanese system. Thus, this study focuses on family farming operations and independence of women in agricultural villages, and elucidates logically and factually the historic significance of the aforementioned growth. 3) I accumulated a reasonably large amount of resource materials and interview data during three years of research, and plan to put these resources to use and work to conclude my research. The pressing matters now are to create an essay of sorts on the issues and methodology involved in the historical study of postwar agricultural society and to write a history of agricultural policy based on Japan's financial policy framework with reference to the period from 1950 to 1960.