ABSTRACT

In October 1932, 423 army reservists and their families left Japan to settle in Manchuria. Supposedly, they were to be the first of a great wave of farmers who would emigrate to northeast China, newly brought under Japanese control following the Manchurian Incident of September 1931, in order to secure Japan's rights in the area, solve the problem of overpopulation in the homeland, grow food to send back to their undernourished compatriots suffering during the acute economic depression, and ensure regional peace as well. In fact, Japanese emigration to Manchuria never achieved any of these lofty aims. The farmers who did go encountered numerous obstacles, from attacks by ‘bandits’ to labor shortages to outbreaks of dysentery, and many settlements failed. At every point recruits proved elusive, and emigration targets were not met. In the first five years, fewer than 3,000 households moved from Japan to Manchuria. Though the project received significant government support in 1936, it was swiftly undermined by the outbreak of full-scale war with China the following year, with its attendant labor shortages in rural Japan.