Economic Development and Regional Community in Postwar Japan: Case of Ikeshima Coal Mine

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26560138
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sociology/History of science and technology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Masaki 大阪大学, 全学教育推進機構, 准教授 (90361667)
• Research Collaborator: KOJIMA Kenichi , 写真家
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 石炭産業 / 池島炭鉱 / 石炭政策 / 地域社会 / 経済発展

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, the relationship between "center" and "periphery" would be discussed. In the postwar period, Japanese society achieved a significant economic growth. In this process, how regional community changed, and what kind of problems did they face? We examined those question on the basis of the example of Ikeshima Coal Mine, which started its business in an isolated island called “Ikeshima” in Nagasaki Prefecture from the late 1950s. The following points were demonstrated: (1) The history of Ikeshima Coal Mine is inextricably linked to the national coal policy; (2) The regional community has significantly changed after the development of the island, and many problems regarding its “isolated island”-ness were solved in a short time. However, its environmental constraints became increasingly apparent again after the close of the coal mine; (3) The problems which became apparent at the declining phase of the coal industry could not be solved solely by a single regional society.

Free Research Field

科学技術史／科学技術社会論