Les émeutes du riz de 1918 : le grand tournant

Abstract

In the summer of 1918 Japan was hit by a wave of violent protests: the rice riots. After re-examining the social, political and economic context of the time, with WWI over and Japan poised to take part in the Siberian Intervention, the author seeks to describe the concrete form these riots took: the inflation that enraged the Japanese people, starting with women in coastal towns along the Sea of Japan, before spreading across the country. What social forces were at work and why? How were the riots analysed by commentators of the day? What was their deeper meaning? Were they the last riots of the Old Regime or the sign of a new form of social conflict?

Keywords

• Riots
• Inflation
• War
• Democracy
• Poverty
• Social History