Yoshihisa Godo’s research while affiliated with Meiji Gakuin University and other places

Chiebun District in Hokkaido, one of Japan’s largest vegetable- producing districts, has a long history of accepting agricultural laborers from China. Previously, farms in Chiebun District recruited seasonal laborers from the northeastern part of China, where per-capita income is much lower than China’s national average. At that time, the main reason Chinese laborers came to work in Chiebun District was to earn money. However, because of wage increases in China, it became difficult for Chiebun District farms to recruit these seasonal laborers. Around the same time, consumers’ demands for new types of vegetables were increasing in other regions such as Hebei, Henan, and Shandon Provinces, creating the need to train the farmers in these areas. Farms in Chiebun District provide comfortable living and working conditions for Chinese laborers. In return, the Chinese laborers, as indispensable manpower, contribute to the prosperity of the local agricultural industry in Chiebun District. As such, Chiebun District presents a model of a reciprocal relationship between Japanese farms and Chinese seasonal laborers.

This chapter briefly discusses some developments in the Northeast Asian coal industry that may have a regional impact on Japan, including emerging sources of coal in Northeast Asia and trends in coal use by Northeast Asian economies. It also discusses common issues faced by all Northeast Asia coal consumers. Coal and its importance in Northeast Asia’s energy mix is analysed through a comparative lens of coal trade in the East Asian region. Ultimately, it provides a macro picture of the Northeast Asian coal industry outside the immediate confines of Japan. In addition, other than Japan, China is the world’s largest consumer of coal energy.

This chapter adopts a comparative lens in comparing the historical changes in the coal mining industry with those in agriculture and forestry, which also belong to the primary sector. There are similarities in the historical performance of these three industries. From the proto-industrialization period to the light industrialization period, the three industries experienced relatively good performance. During the post-war heavy industrialization period, the government provided enormous subsidies to the three industries. This income redistribution policy contributed to post-war Japan’s high economic growth and its prerequisite of social stability by preventing social unrests. This chapter shows that, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the economic history of the coal mining industry, comparative studies with other industries in the primary sector are useful.

This book project arose from the collaboration between a sociologist who worked on the coal mining industry in Japan, a developmental economist, and an area studies specialist on Japan. They were joined by a literary expert. The four individual scholars combined their expertise to contribute to a multidisciplinary volume that encompasses a chronological glimpse of Japanese coal mines in three phases. Having three phases provides a neat organization of contents and materials derived from fieldwork as well as from secondary resources’ interpretive work. Chronically, the volume also weaves a coherent narrative of coal industrial development through different ages experiencing different environmental conditions and externalities, so comparisons and contrasts can be highlighted temporally when the materials are segmented chronologically.

The aim of this chapter is to utilize a gendered lens to understand the socio-cultural and historical contexts and working conditions under which Japanese women miners laboured, and, consequently, to analyse points of resistance, if any, that women displayed within this environment. By concentrating on social history and community relations and dynamics, gender relations can be better understood within their relevant contexts. The increasing acceptance of gender analyses is part of a greater change in the presentation and understanding of history, which places emphasis on the advancement of counter-narratives that showcase aspects of history that depart from or add to existing official records maintained by the state or large corporations.

Weaved into all the chapters, there are human stories of the Japanese coal mining industry. In Chap. 2, the human-centred historical narrative is that of the individual peasant and his collective making a transition from peasantry to modern industrial workers. Chapter 3 curates the individual and collective trials and tribulations of coal miners in the story of economic transition of an entire industry. Chapter 4 discusses how environmental changes transform human experiences in appreciating aesthetics with greener and more artistic environment in gentrified spaces. Chapter 5 contextualizes the coal industry in the Northeast Asian setting. Chapter 6 details gender perspectives of contributions made by women in a male-dominated coal mining industry in Japan and the expression of human emotions through poetry, films, and literary devices.

The previous chapters provided the historical framework to discuss Japan’s coal mining industry. They gave a detailed account of the origins of the coal mining industry, both in terms of changing mindsets (e.g. adjusting to the concept of time schedules) and in terms of modern evolution from peasantry and feudal lordships in an agricultural economy to rationalized mass production in factories. This chapter continues with that narrative in the post-war period and discusses coal mine closures as well as policy-based coping mechanisms to transition retrenched workers and their dependents. The chapter chronologically continues with the narrative in the next phase of Japan’s coal mining industry, which is post-closure gentrification of former coal mining areas.

This chapter details how the coal mining industry faced closure in the post-war period. To demonstrate the macro changes taking place in the overall general economy, this chapter utilized micro case studies of Miike and Omuta to indicate the layered complexities of coal mine closures, especially at the individual mine level. This chapter is also a people-centred narrative/story unveiling a tale of individuals, families, and entire towns affected by the closures and the very real emotive realities that they face when the local mining economy dissipated. It continues the historical narrative from a macro developmental economic analysis but adds local empirical case studies based on sociological perspectives.

While coal mining was brutish and nasty, it stimulated colourful coal mining-related culture amongst the miners as they made merry in their lull and rest time to distract themselves from the harsh work environment. The coal mines also produced some of the most prolific non-tangible cultures like folk songs where miners sang in solidarity and in times of hardship. Culture has been conserved and commodified in present-day Hokkaido. With the demise of the coal mining industry, Hokkaido’s former coal mining towns are transitioning to service sectors that offer economic activities like retailing, tourism, hospitality, and cultural experiences.