ABSTRACT
THE growth of population during the last fifty years has created the most serious group of problems with which Japan is now confronted, and, since it is likely to exercise a determining influence on economic development and political policy, it is worth very careful consideration. This is particularly so because, in spite of its importance, no other field of study is more seriously marred by rash generalizations and loose thinking than that connected with population questions. An attempt will be made in this chapter, therefore, to deal with the matter in some detail, and to discuss, in particular, the economic and social implications of the recent increase in numbers. While Japan’s population problem has few features in common with that of contemporary England, yet it bears a fairly close resemblance to the problem as it existed here at the time of Malthus. For in spite of the fact that the country is densely populated, Japan has not yet become completely industrialized, nor does she rely to any large extent on foreign supplies of food. But she now stands, as England stood in the early decades of the nineteenth century, at a crisis in her career, and she must face during the next few years the fundamental question of the future relationship of the two great partners in her economic life, industry and agriculture. The vital Importance of this question to Japan at the present moment will, it is hoped, become obvious in the course of this chapter.
