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Factors of Hunger

Before The Pacific War, internal food production declined by approximately 26% between the years 1943 and 1945. This decrease occurred when the government prioritized resources towards the war effort that had previously been extended to agricultural endeavors, such as animals, fertilizers and tools. In some cases, these goods were destroyed through warfare. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

Following their defeat in The Pacific War, the Japanese faced a power vacuum that was further confused by the U.S.’ occupation of Japan (1945-1952) and acquired control over its government. Originally, the U.S. intended to democratize Japan and remove American troops, but instead, the U.S. changed strategies, and made the Japanese pliable to American headship in foreign trade and other affairs (Modern Japanese Cuisine). The U.S. eventually hoped to convert Japan into a subsidiary, but capitalist nation (Modern Japanese Cuisine). Following their succession, the U.S. authorities maintained sanctions against outdoor food vending as well as the food rationing system that were prominent during the war. The Japanese and U.S. authorities were unable to properly regulate trade, monitor production, and allocate food and other essentials, which left people starving. A general decrease in global food production in 1945 and 1946 contributed to this growing problem. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

These rations proffered 1,042 calories to the average adult, which met around only 65% of the minimum caloric amount that experts deem necessary for the most basic means of survival. These portions were also rarely delivered on a regular basis, which in Tokyo and Yokohama, eventually led to decreases and sometimes cancellations of rations by 1946. To put this in greater a context, the average Tokyo resident gained 70% of the premeditated ration, which was about 775 calories a day in the first half of the year. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

The Japanese’s defeat in The Pacific War reduced the quantity of rice available, a fact that was compounded by the Japanese’ loss of their Korean and Taiwanese colonies, from whom they partially relied on for this resource. Furthermore, mediocre rice harvests resulting from extended warfare and bad weather in 1944 and 1945 put the Japanese in a precarious situation. This problem became more extensive when the war ended, since approximately eight million expatriates returned from different areas in the Asia-Pacific region following the Japanese empire’s decolonization. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

U.S. Wheat Donations

The U.S. sent wheat to the Japanese to reverse the food crisis in Japan for several reasons. Though they originally viewed the famine as a consequence of Japanese actions, they eventually exported wheat in part to gain commercial export profits. However, the U.S. also feared that the Japanese saw communism as a solution to reversing and preventing famine. The Communist Party took advantage of this uneasiness to argue that government maladministration and depravity were responsible for the famine rather than an actual lack of food in the nation. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

In response to their fear, the U.S. sent grain and troops to stop the food and communism protests. Korea, which was also in a state of famine, raised similar complaints against their government. To avoid a communist Asia, the U.S. had to divide their sources between those two countries, sometimes limiting aid in one country to provide greater support in another that was particularly restive. In 1946, U.S. General MacArthur, who dictated matters in Japan, Korea, and all other American occupied areas in the Far East, sent a cable to General Dwight Eisenhower, who at this time, was the chief of staff in the U.S. military. MacArthur wrote wrote:

“I am considering authorizing an immediate diversion from allocation of wheat to Japan of a token shipment of twenty-five thousand tons to Korea to alleviate a serious psychological and political crisis wherein adverse leftist elements are capitalizing on present food shortage. I am convinced that failure to provide this token shipment at once will constitute a serious threat to United States Military Government in Korea.”

(George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

Solt also reveals that the U.S. censored the Japanese press to convey only positive messages of the American’s solicitations to the Japanese people. The press also conveniently neglected to mention the repatriations the U.S. demanded of the Japanese for the former’s assistance. These payments protected American living standards at the expense of the impoverished and starving Japanese. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

School Lunches

In 1947, U.S. authorities in Japan established school lunch programs designed to provide nutrition for children in larger cities, which were especially affected by the food crisis. As a result, American charities and religious organizations developed the Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia (LARA) to dispense food, clothing, and other forms of assistance to Japan and other countries in post-war Asia. The children were fed canned meat and fish provided by LARA and by surpluses from the Japanese Imperial Army. (Modern Japanese Cuisine)

The school lunch programs were extended nationwide in Japan in 1951, with the intention of allotting 600 kilocalories and 25 grams of protein for each student. These rations were also meant to revolve around milk and bread. The former was chosen for its cheapness and immediate results in providing children with greater quantities of calcium. LARA, as well as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the U.S. Government Appropriation for Relief in Occupied Areas (GARIOA). The bread was surprisingly and not so surprisingly donated because of its health benefits, but because Americans wanted to reallocate wheat flour from the U.S. market. (Modern Japanese Cuisine)

The Black Market System

The black market system emerged in response to the said war sanctions and accumulated profit selling fundamental goods. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

Criminal gang members sold ramen in particular since foods that derived from wheat flour were more accessible than rice. This fact was in part to the U.S.’ wheat contributions. Ramen stalls were a popular component of the black market system, and not exclusively because they suppressed violent protests and reduced growing interest in communism in response to the food crisis. Ironically, ramen was inspired by a Chinese noodle soup referred to as Chuka soba. Its’ original name, Shina soba, was denounced by the U.S. and Japan, since it was reminiscent of the war. Consequently, the name Chuka soba was adopted to represent Japan’s fresh start towards modernization. These noodles were a perfect food for the famine, since they were healthy and high in calories. For this reason, dumplings and bread were equally satisfying. Corrupt officials also contributed U.S. military goods and prostitutes that acquired commodities as a form of payment from GI’s. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

The U.S. authorities in Japan tacitly overlooked the black market by permitting the police to crack down on individual vendors and consumers, and essentially ignore larger suppliers. Interestingly, George Solt, author of The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze, raises the possibility that the police and governmental elites may have received a portion of the profits from the illegal food trade. He also cites historian John Dower, who claimed that 1.22 million average men and women were jailed for buying goods from the black market in 1946. This number escalated to 1.36 million in 1947, only to increase again at 1.5 million in 1948. The first Diet committee approximated that three hundred-billion-yen worth of resources was transferred from the state authority to private control by way of the black market. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)

Ramen in the Media

The Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Museum, established in the Shin-Yokohama district of Kōhoku-ku, Yokohama, Japan in 1994, is a food amusement park that is dedicated to ramen (Wikipedia page: Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Museum). However, George Solt conveys that this monument, along with Nisson Foods Corporation and authors including Okumura overstate the Japanese returnees’ part in commercializing Chuka soba at the expense of the Korean and Chinese laborers, who were also noodle vendors during this period. Alternatively, these sources only mention the food’s origins and overlooks decolonization, as well as the foreigners that were involved in the Japanese food industry. (George Solt, Untold History of Ramen)

Ramen was also mentioned widely in films, radio, music, and television shows. In the 1954 film, Bangiku (which later became known as Late Chrysanthemums) tells the story of a woman whose daughter is getting married. In the movie, the daughter wants to take her mother out to dinner at a ramen restaurant to celebrate her engagement. While the daughter happily eats the ramen, the mother is horrified, as she thinks back to the days where ramen was almost all the Japanese could eat during and immediately after the war. This sense of mortification is found frequently in poems, which were recited on the radio, and music before and after the years of U.S. occupation. (George Solt, The Untold History of Ramen)