Category: Food Shortages

Smiling Korean family gives “profound thanks” to Governor Abe Nobuyuki for increasing their rice rations, vowing to repay his “parental concern” with increased production for Imperial Japan’s war effort (August 18, 1944)

2026-03-26

This propaganda news photo, published in August 1944, shows a Korean family beaming with happiness and expressing gratitude to the

Food Shortages

Wartime rations often vanished amid corrupt neighborhood leadership, leading to so much public anger that Imperial officials pleaded, ‘let us avoid becoming emotional with one another’ (Feb. 1945)

2025-11-30

326

In this post, we will look at the institution of the town council (町会) in the cities of wartime Korea

Police

Korean rice farmers barely survived eating grass roots as they worked tirelessly to meet the rice quotas imposed by the Imperial Army in 1944, even sacrificing their own personal rice supplies to face starvation under pressure from the police inspector and the township chief

2024-09-16

838

This disturbing propaganda news story from 1944 is about a rice farming township (Seonso-myeon) in Suncheon County, South Pyeongan Province

Food Shortages

Rationing sugar and sweets in 1943 Seoul: lucky families got coveted ration books issued by snack retailers, while others received nothing, one mother collapsed in line waiting to buy one cookie for her infant, so Patriotic Groups intervened to prioritize rationing to children and the military

2023-04-15

863

This article from 1943 Seoul discusses the rationing of sugar and sweet snacks that was instituted due to the shortage

Food Shortages

Koreans generally used to make their own miso and soy sauce at home with raw soybeans, but with those rations gone, they were blamed for allegedly ‘encroaching upon’ and hoarding the miso and soy sauce that the ethnic Japanese normally consumed, contributing to shortages (Gyeonggi-do, 1943)

2023-03-02

815

This is an interesting article about the dire shortages of miso and soy sauce in Seoul, where authorities apparently struggled

Business

Korean economic crimes suspects interrogated by Seoul economic police; the police chief boasts of having eyes and ears everywhere on the ground, and contrasts the polite, law-abiding ‘good Korean retailers’ with the rude, greedy, dishonest ‘bad Korean retailers’ in 1942 interview

2022-12-10

730

This photo shows the inside of an interrogation room of the economic police in the Dongdaemon precinct of Seoul. It

Food Shortages

‘Yōko versus Hoshiko’, a 1944 morality play pitting ‘good Korean woman’ Yōko, who is kind and considerate, against ‘bad Korean woman’ Hoshiko, the selfish, corrupt patriotic group leader harboring liberal and hedonistic British/American thoughts who ‘needs to be shot’ for betraying Imperial Japan

2022-09-21

679

This is my translation and transcription of six fictional stories from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

Food Shortages

Vegetable rationing in 1943 Seoul was measly (~200 grams a day per person), monotonous (mostly bok choy and daikon radish), and controlled by Patriotic Groups, the local arm of the ruling party of Japan-colonized Korea – severe shortages of carrots, taro roots, yams, all sold on the black market

2022-08-29

726

This article talks about vegetable shortages in Korea in December 1943, two years into an all-out war against the US.

Food Shortages

In November 1943, colonial authorities implemented a clumsy, inefficient fish rationing system in Seoul which led to large spoilage losses, a measly fish quota of less than 750 grams a day per person, angry complaints about irregular store hours, families were sometimes allotted poisonous fugu fish

2022-08-15

1318

This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

Food Shortages

By December 1943, poultry was unavailable anywhere in Seoul, eggs were supposed to be priority-rationed to hospitalized war veterans and people with doctors’ certificates (pregnant women and nursing mothers), but ordinary Koreans had to buy eggs on the black market at 30 sen (about $6 USD today) each

2022-08-06

790

This article talks about the egg and poultry shortage that was rampant in Korea in December 1943, two years into

Exposing Imperial Japan

Category: Food Shortages

Smiling Korean family gives “profound thanks” to Governor Abe Nobuyuki for increasing their rice rations, vowing to repay his “parental concern” with increased production for Imperial Japan’s war effort (August 18, 1944)

Wartime rations often vanished amid corrupt neighborhood leadership, leading to so much public anger that Imperial officials pleaded, ‘let us avoid becoming emotional with one another’ (Feb. 1945)

Korean rice farmers barely survived eating grass roots as they worked tirelessly to meet the rice quotas imposed by the Imperial Army in 1944, even sacrificing their own personal rice supplies to face starvation under pressure from the police inspector and the township chief

Rationing sugar and sweets in 1943 Seoul: lucky families got coveted ration books issued by snack retailers, while others received nothing, one mother collapsed in line waiting to buy one cookie for her infant, so Patriotic Groups intervened to prioritize rationing to children and the military

Koreans generally used to make their own miso and soy sauce at home with raw soybeans, but with those rations gone, they were blamed for allegedly ‘encroaching upon’ and hoarding the miso and soy sauce that the ethnic Japanese normally consumed, contributing to shortages (Gyeonggi-do, 1943)

Korean economic crimes suspects interrogated by Seoul economic police; the police chief boasts of having eyes and ears everywhere on the ground, and contrasts the polite, law-abiding ‘good Korean retailers’ with the rude, greedy, dishonest ‘bad Korean retailers’ in 1942 interview

Vegetable rationing in 1943 Seoul was measly (~200 grams a day per person), monotonous (mostly bok choy and daikon radish), and controlled by Patriotic Groups, the local arm of the ruling party of Japan-colonized Korea – severe shortages of carrots, taro roots, yams, all sold on the black market

In November 1943, colonial authorities implemented a clumsy, inefficient fish rationing system in Seoul which led to large spoilage losses, a measly fish quota of less than 750 grams a day per person, angry complaints about irregular store hours, families were sometimes allotted poisonous fugu fish

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