History of Civilian Life in World War II What was life like in Japan?

Mondo Military Updated on 2024-03-01

In the flames of World War II, although the shadow of war has always loomed over people, the civilian life behind the war is also worth paying attention to. Whether it was the Allies or the Axis powers, the war caused many inconveniences to people and made people's lives very different from what they used to be.

The cruelty and pain of war are the same for anyone.

In World War II, although Japan surrendered directly because of the two atomic bombs, from a deep perspective, Japan's economic collapse and China's protracted resistance made it impossible for Japan to support a large-scale war, which eventually prompted Japan's surrender.

In the first two years of World War II, the Japanese people could still enjoy a variety of food every day, but in December 1939, due to the stalemate on the battlefield, Japan began to implement a strict food rationing system, from the initial charcoal to various production materials, such as cotton grain, sugar, matches, eggs, soybean oil, etc., all calculated by the state, rationed, eat more and eat less is completely controlled by the state.

During World War II, Japan was rationed, and each adult could only buy 330 grams of rice or flour per day. In order to conserve food resources, the food rations of the population are strictly controlled.

People need to take the food purchase book issued by ** and go to the designated rice store to buy food.

*In order to ensure food**, it is stipulated that people must eat a mixture of brown rice and polished rice every day to save white rice resources. In addition, in order to cope with the labor demands brought about by the Pacific War, Japanese society needed to maintain sufficient physical strength and energy, so people were encouraged to actively participate in sports and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Although these measures may cause some inconvenience, we should all work together for the needs and long-term interests of the country.

With annual rice production declining year by year, the daily ration of only 330 grams is no longer enough. By 1945, Japan's annual rice production was only 6.6 million tons, well below the previous level of more than 10 million tons.

In response to the decline in food production, Japan has implemented a more elaborate food rationing system, based on ration cards.

In the spring of 1945, the Japanese people faced a food shortage, and the daily food ration standard for each person was only 1,600 kcal, which was equivalent to the nutritional needs of a six-year-old child in one day.

However, due to the bombing of the Japanese mainland, the transportation system was damaged, and the distribution system was not perfect, and the actual food distribution was far below this standard, and many people lived without food.

Fighting is fierce on the front line, and the life of the entire population is in dire straits. Rice, which was once a staple food, has been banned, and even brown rice is insufficient. In this situation, many people began to add bran to brown rice, and at the same time, elementary school students were mobilized to collect acorns to encourage everyone to eat acorns to survive.

Although acorns were originally intended for animals and have a bitter taste and are prone to flatulence, in the event of a shortage of food, it is at least better than nothing.

In rationing, the choice of non-staple foods has become very limited. Meat has been reduced by 80 per cent, fish by 70 per cent and condiments by 50 per cent. More worryingly, cooking oil and granulated sugar have been eliminated altogether.

Due to food shortages, people can only buy a small amount of alcohol with handwritten ration vouchers to numb themselves. In the old days, when there was a slight surplus of food, ordinary people could drink two drinks in a tavern, while military men were not restricted.

Therefore, some people who are addicted to alcohol will go to taverns with military personnel to numb themselves with alcohol. However, as food shortages intensified, the use of alcohol naturally stopped.

After the surrender of Japan, the populace produced various items in order to survive. However, in front of the US ** battalion, the hungry Japanese people could only pick up the canned food left over from the US military.

Scraps scavenged from dozens of cans can can take days. And on the other side, the Japanese people, who were so hungry that they couldn't stand it, even thought of suicide, but it was forbidden, and the park hung a striking "No Suicide" sign.

The original text has inappropriate descriptions and values and is not suitable for public use. Here's a rephrased version:"During difficult times, some people choose to find various avenues to earn a living, including finding food in the trash.

Some women may try to connect with the U.S. military, but it's not their will, it's for basic survival needs. A number of projects have also been set up to help these people improve their lives.

These programs provide a number of job opportunities that enable these women to earn a stable income. These job opportunities do not mean that they become civil servants, but rather that they are sent to the U.S. military barracks to serve in the service.

We should respect everyone's choices and rights, while also paying attention to and providing support to help them survive these difficult times. "

Establishing contact with the U.S. team will ensure at least basic food. "

Under the U.S. occupation, Japan experienced severe food shortages, forcing many families to rely on the black market for necessities. This grey industry was tacitly allowed to exist at the time, and the official food ration could no longer meet people's daily needs.

In 1944, the black market was about 10 times higher than the official one, and the rice market was 14 times higher. This food shortage continued into post-World War II Japan,** where food rationing was still in place, making life difficult for the population.

A prosecutor at the Tokyo Ward Court named Yoshitada Yamaguchi resolutely refused to eat rice on the black market and ate strictly according to food rations, and eventually died of severe malnutrition.

After the end of the Pacific War, Japan was in a fuel dilemma due to oil shortages, and automobile oil was modified to be powered by charcoal.

Charcoal sports cars. In the case of shortage of materials and fuel, Japan** launched an oil refining plan to the private sector, using soybeans, peanuts, coconut and castor beans to refine industrial oil, and at the same time requisitioning private storage of potatoes, sugar and rice wine to refine alcohol as an alternative fuel.

Once, the Japanese people heard that pine roots can be refined into a fuel that can replace the first, so the whole country began to dig up the roots. The students also followed the teacher to the countryside to look for it, and it is said that after 12 hours of heating, the pine roots can be used to refine gasoline that can be used in airplanes.

However, this refining technique was so rudimentary that by the end of the war, the trees on the mountain had been dug up, and only about a thousand barrels of gasoline had been extracted.

The bathing culture of the Japanese is deeply ingrained in their lives, and even in times of extreme food and fuel shortages, public baths remain an integral part of Japanese society.

Men's and women's baths are bustling with each other every day, and people enjoy a comfortable bathing experience here. Even in the most difficult moments, public baths have not been canceled, because the Japanese know that bathing is not only soothing to the body and mind, but also soothing the hearts of the people.

In short, bathing has become an important part of Japanese culture and is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

A daily bath is a must, but you can't enjoy a hot bath without enough fuel. As a result, people have to look for all kinds of wood in the wild, but unfortunately, this wood has been exhausted by people who need fuel.

In this case, some "waste" is used as fuel, such as old geta and useless book collections. After all, if the bathroom owner can't provide satisfactory service, ** may take over the bathroom.

On the battlefield, the devils on the front line are constantly dying and need to be replenished with new soldiers. Before Japan, a conscription system was adopted, and people of appropriate age were given physical examinations, which were divided into four criteria: A, B, C, and D.

A is the most suitable person to serve in the army, B is the person to be considered, and C and D are the sick or disabled people who are not subject to conscription. However, in the later stages of the war, some people clearly did not want to be cannon fodder.

In order to avoid conscription, they would starve for a few days before the medical examination, or drink some soy sauce, so that they would be mistaken for hepatitis and classified as C during the medical examination, thus directly avoiding military service.

Despite the graves everywhere, there was a shortage of soldiers, and even those who had been abandoned before Bingding were drafted into the army and became part of the cannon fodder unit. Despite the food crisis in Japan and the fact that the population almost starved to death, the nobles still lived in luxury, especially the emperor, who ate heartily every day.

The Imperial Family Ranch in Sanrizuka, Chiba Prefecture, supplies 45 kan of butter to the Imperial Palace per month (each kan is equal to 3759 kg pigs, 40 chickens and 1,200 eggs, beef, milk and other food are never in shortage.

Although at that time the Japanese ** propaganda emperor was also eating rationed rice to deceive the people, in fact, the emperor ate very well. In 1946, hungry Japanese people rushed directly in front of the Imperial Palace** and then stormed the Imperial Palace, where they found a variety of high-quality fish and beef in the Imperial kitchen, and also found a menu.

At that time, the dinner of the Japanese royal family consisted of side dishes (ekozu, cucumber, seaweed, vinegared vegetables), mixed boiled dishes (noodle broth, tuna meat, fish and potato meatballs, boiled fish meatballs, radish, mountain elm vegetables), sashimi (tuna meat), dried fried flounder, stewed vegetables (bamboo shoots, butterbur cabbage), and yellow-boiled rice sauce (green onions, taro), and so on.

MacArthur and Hirohito should be thankful that these starving people did not revolt, otherwise it could lead to social unrest in the country. During World War II, Japan threw all its national strength into the war, resulting in a shortage of domestic materials and unspeakable misery for the people.

Later, the war was even worse, and the huge compensation after the defeat caused the livelihood of the Japanese people to suffer. In the same way, our country suffered more in World War II and brought more suffering to our country than they did. There are no winners in war, only untold suffering and destruction.

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