Deck 9: Economy and Society

Question 1

Which of the following events did NOT occur in Japan between 1910 and 1920?

A) The emergence of a class called narikin
B) A decline in the price of rice
C) A massive increase of Japan's industrial output
D) A surge in Japanese cotton exports

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What caused the panic of 1927?

A) A lack of confidence in the banking industry
B) A sudden slump in exports
C) The bankruptcy of a famous zaibatsu
D) Resistance against Japanese rule in Taiwan

Answer 2

A

Question 3

How did zaibatsu banks spread risk and expand their influence?

A) By having star managers marry into the families of other zaibatsu
B) By functioning extensively abroad
C) By splitting into thousands of semi-independent local branches
D) By working with other zaibatsu

Answer 3

D

Question 4

How did the zaibatsu secure political favour in this period?

A) Their leaders had close personal connections with the oligarchic elite
B) They were ideologically committed to militarism
C) They had already invested huge amounts in bribing bureaucrats
D) They opportunistically supported whoever served their interests

Question 5

What was one of the chief causes of tension in rural Japan in this period?

A) The encroachment of industrial sites into agricultural land
B) Competition between nouveau riche and ex-samurai
C) The huge difference in lifestyles of landowners and tenants
D) Attempts by the government to transform land ownership

Question 6

What was one reason that benevolence became less evident in the way landlords treated their rural tenants?

A) Capitalist ideology of the time discouraged it
B) It was no longer seen as necessary
C) It was replaced by government programs
D) Landlords felt less connected to their lands

Question 7

What percentage of employed people in Tokyo in 1908 worked as tradesmen and merchants?

A) Less than a quarter
B) Nearly half
C) Three-quarters
D) Nearly all

Question 8

What was described in 1908 as 'like trying to teach a cat to pray'?

A) Training factory workers
B) Training soldiers
C) Training women workers
D) Training children

Question 9

Who were the 'new middle class'?

A) Machinists
B) Teenage boys working in factories
C) Clerks and other office workers
D) Ex-samurai

Question 10

What did office-workers and factory labourers both organize in the early 20th century?

A) Social clubs
B) Matchmaking services
C) Shopping co-ops
D) Labour unions

Question 11

What prohibition did the government lift in 1922?

A) Women attending political rallies
B) Women travelling abroad alone
C) Women living together without a male
D) Women driving

Question 12

What changes to working conditions did women in textile mills achieve in the 1920s?

A) The right to have male visitors
B) The right to come and go from their dorms as they pleased
C) The right to be legally recognized as human
D) The right to take items from their production lines for personal use

Question 13

Which of the following was NOT a difference in employment trends between male and female factory workers?

A) Men worked more jobs over a longer period of time than women
B) Men continued to work even after they got married, while women didn't.
C) Female employees tended to be younger than male
D) Women were more likely to work in heavy industry than men

Question 14

In which year did Japan witness the largest number of strikes in its history?

A) 1891
B) 1908
C) 1913
D) 1919

Question 15

Which group was represented by the Levellers Association?

A) Koreans
B) Burakumin
C) Ryukyuans
D) Buddhists

Question 16

Why were burakumin regarded as 'unclean'?

A) Due to their foreign ancestry
B) Shinto notions of impurity
C) Buddhist notions of pollution
D) Government suspicions about their loyalty

Question 17

Which of the following was NOT a part of Japanese consumer life in the early 20th century?

A) Beer halls
B) Department stores
C) Train commutation
D) Karaoke

Question 18

What does 'moga' stand for?

A) Modan garu
B) Moa guddo
C) Maza gaman
D) Mai gambaru

Question 19

What was a 'yofuku saimin'?

A) People with low status and a lot of money
B) Couples of mobo and moga
C) People who had travelled abroad and adopted Western mannerisms
D) People who were poor despite their urban white-collar jobs

Question 20

What was Japan's literacy rate in 1900?

A) About 10%
B) About 56%
C) About 74%
D) About 99%