Industrial wage labor in Meiji Japan (1868–1912)

1. Imperial restoration launches modernization agenda

   Jan 3, 1868Labels: Meiji government, Wage labor, Tokugawa shogunate

   • Britannica

2. Government builds Tomioka Silk Mill model factory

   Jan 1, 1872Labels: Tomioka Silk, Meiji government, Gunma Prefecture

   • UNESCO
   • JTA

3. Tomioka Silk Mill begins operations

   Nov 4, 1872Labels: Tomioka Silk, Female workers, Imported machinery

   • Tomioka Mill
   • JTA

4. Tomioka establishes graded skill-and-pay system

   Jan 1, 1873Labels: Tomioka Silk, Pay system, Skilled workers

   • Jobu Silk
   • UNESCO

5. Ashio mine pollution crisis drives state intervention

   Jan 1, 1880Labels: Ashio Copper, Pollution crisis, State intervention

   • Ashio
   • UW Press

6. Matsukata deflation squeezes households and workers

   Jan 1, 1881Labels: Matsukata Masayoshi, Deflation, Rural households

   • Beck
   • Britannica

7. Private cotton spinning expands wage-based factory work

   Jul 1, 1883Labels: Osaka Boseki, Cotton spinning, Private firms

   • Toyobo
   • OldPhotosJP

8. Tomioka Silk Mill sold to Mitsui

   Sep 1, 1893Labels: Tomioka Silk, Mitsui &, Privatization

   • Tomioka Mill
   • JTA

9. Public Order and Police Law restricts labor organizing

   Jan 1, 1900Labels: Public Order, State repression, Labor organizing

   • Katayama
   • Laws Wiki

10. Ashio miners riot over wages and conditions

    Feb 4, 1907Labels: Ashio miners, Mine riot, Wage dispute

    • Ashio
    • Nimura

11. Factory Act promulgated to limit abuses

    Mar 1, 1911Labels: Factory Act, Labor law, Women and

    • Hunter PDF
    • Britannica

12. Emperor Meiji dies, marking end of Meiji era

    Jul 30, 1912Labels: Emperor Meiji, Meiji era, Wage labor

    • Britannica
    • Britannica

13. Yūaikai founded as national worker mutual-aid group

    Aug 1, 1912Labels: Y aikai, Suzuki Bunji, Labor organization

    • Yuaikai
    • Cambridge