IFRAE Meetings

Roundtable: Coal and mining communities in Japan. Autour du dossier de Cipango-Cahier d'Etudes
With : Bernard Thomann (Ifrae), Alexandre Roy (Ifrae) and Makiko Andro-Ueda (Ifrae).
Discussant: Marion Fontaine (Sciences Po).

Contrary to certain clichés that maintain the idea of an archipelago without natural resources, Japan has been the site of major copper, silver and gold deposits. The extraction of these metals was modernized after the Meiji Restoration, playing a major role in Japan's industrialization. Coal deposits were also mined in Kyūshū, where they fueled the development of the steel industry in the north of the island, and then in Hokkaidō, where the coal was of better quality. Coal basins were also exploited in Yamaguchi (Ube 宇部) or Fukushima (Jōban 常磐) counties. Beyond the quantities of coal extracted, which may seem relatively modest compared to other old industrial nations, it is the weight of the coal industry in economic, social and even cultural history that we can legitimately direct our attention to, so remarkable is this. The aim of this issue of Cipango-Cahier d'études japonaises is thus to show the extent to which coal and mining communities can represent an important cross-cutting research topic for Japanese studies, and one that can be approached from a variety of disciplines.