The Structure and Transfiguration of Rice Demand in Modern Japan: The Positive and Synthetic Research on the Consumption of the Staple Food and the Formation of the Market

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The subject of this research is to grasp the staple food consumption of the city and the farm village in 1880's-1920's, with paying attention to the regional differences, and to explain the various influences of the change in the principal food consumption positively and synthetically. Especially, we pay attention to the rice that consumption increases rapidly in this time, and examine the next 4 points. (a)The actual condition of the consumption trend of the staple food and that change, (b)the factor which the staple food improved qualitatively, (c)diversification, standardization, ranking in the food agricultural produce circulation, (d)the socioeconomic impact by the staple food consumption and its transfiguration (formation of the big city market, adaptation of the rice producing district to the market and merchant's various function). We analyzed collected materials, and cleared the following point. (a)Serious regional differences existed in the staple food consumption such as a rice, wheat, potato kind, (b)the consumption of the principal food was raised qualitatively with the regional differences, (c)there was a limit in the early business of the trade association in 1880's for the purpose of the standardization of the rice in Yamaguchi Pref., (d)rice wholesale stores in Tokyo and Hyogo encouraged the standardization of the rice, and promoted the formation of the domestic market. From the above works, we confirmed the expansion of the dealings of the food agricultural produce, the promotion of the domestic market formation and the importance of the functional of wholesale stores, caused by the structural change of demand for the staple food.