Food Supplies And The Japanese Occupation In South-east Asia (studies In The Economies Of East And South-east Asia)

The Japanese Occupation of Southeast Asia between 1941 and 1945 brought with it severe food shortages, largely arising from organizational failures and inadequate transportation. the nine essays in this volume examine the situation in food exporting countries such as Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, in food deficit areas such as Malaya, the Philippines and Java, and in Sarawak which was largely self-sufficient. Two essays examine in detail the famine that struck the Tonkin area of northern Vietnam in 1945. This collection contributes to key theoretical debates about women workers in Asia and breaks new ground by focusing on issues that have been little documented in other studies of the area. It provides new information and insights into labour systems associated with labour-intensive export manufactures and state -- labour relations in a comparative context. The contributors present a range of unique and varied perspectives from which they consider aspects of the increasing integration of Asian economies, exploring implications for their labour markets. The study focuses on women's increased participation in the paid workforce in the context of rapid social and economic development that is taking place in Asia. It approaches women's work from an institutional and structural as well as an economic perspective by concentrating on a wide range of countries at different stages of development and size. The book also provides cross-national data and information on labour rights and trade union organisation among women in Asia. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction....Pages 1-8 The Impact of the Second World War on Commercial Rice Production in Mainland South-East Asia....Pages 9-31 Transportation and Rice Distribution in South-East Asia during the Second World War....Pages 32-66 Food Production and Food Distribution Programmes in the Philippines during the Japanese Occupation....Pages 67-100 Malayan Food Shortages and the Kedah Rice Industry during the Japanese Occupation....Pages 101-134 Agriculture and Food Supplies in Sarawak during the Japanese Occupation....Pages 135-166 Oppression and Romanticism: The Food Supply of Java during the Japanese Occupation....Pages 167-186 Regulation and Control: Explaining the Decline of Food Production in Java, 1940–6....Pages 187-207 Japanese Food Policiesand the 1945 Great Famine in Indochina....Pages 208-226 A Survey of Village Conditions during the 1945 Famine in Vietnam....Pages 227-237 Back Matter....Pages 239-244 "The book draws upon unprecedented empirical detail relating to Chinese firms, their growth patterns, joint ventures with foreign capital and responses to technological change and competition, as well as contributing to debates on economic networks, the economics of trust and relations between business and the state in the global economy."--Jacket The articles in this volume examine how, with its invasion of Southeast Asia at the end of 1941, Japan seized control of Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, the major rice exporting countries in the world. However, the region experienced severe food shortages, because the Japanese were unable to transport the rice into the needy areas. Chinese Big Business and the Wealth of Asian Nations examines the crucial contribution of Chinese business groups to the rapid growth of South-East Asia.