Reconsideration on the Public-service Nature of Japanese Railway Businesses in the Prewar Period

这项研究的目的是弄清楚日本私营铁路企业开始承担公共服务性质的过程，以及这一过程的时机。为了阐明两次世界大战期间有关铁路公共服务性质的争论和事实，我采用了一项涉及主要来源的实证研究。我试图从三个方向来探讨上述研究主题。首先是对城市化和重工业化推进的城市地区的案例分析。二是与同期省(地)铁业务进行比较。三是以台湾为例，分析日本殖民地的私人铁路。铁路的公共服务性质可能应该被重新理解为历史上发展起来的东西，而不是被视为既定的东西。

The objective of this study is to make clear the process by which private railway businesses in Japan came to take on a public-service nature, and the timing of this process. Shining a light on arguments and facts related to the public-service nature of railways during the interwar period, I employed an empirical study that involved primary sources.I attempted to approach the above research topic from three directions. The first was a case-study analysis of urban areas in which urbanization and heavy industrialization advanced. The second was a comparison with provincial (local) railway businesses during the same period. The third was an analysis of private railways in Japan's colonies, using Taiwan as an example. The public-service nature of railways probably should be understood anew as something that has developed over history, rather than being treated as a given.