Date: June 27 2009, (Sat.), 14：00～
Venue: Room 102, Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
Presentation：
1. Naoto Kagotani （RISH, Kyoto University)
Whereas in Malaysian and Sumatran rubber production, “regular employment” results from the fact that there is no seasonal variation in the demand for labor, in Java’s sugar cane production there are large seasonal differences in labor demand. In areas that produce sugar cane, people can get by in villages even if they become unemployed, but in rubber producing regions people who become unemployed lose their entire livelihood and must leave for the city, where there are no shared systems or traditions. The fact moreover that even when rubber is piling up and rice is running out, it is nonetheless difficult to exchange rubber for rice (Dainanpo keizai ron [Great Southern Regional Economy] 94), is an indication of the degree to which Japan had secured the market for surplus rubber. Inter-regional co-ordination between products of the clearly-defined “sugar cane climate” of dry and rainy seasons, and those of the not so clearly-defined “rubber climate,” was a significant issue in the establishment of the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere.
(Naoto Kagotani)