The most notable of the reasons for the poverty that Okinawa experienced after the modernization was the retention of the old land allocation system. The land system of Okinawa was a regional allocation system which did not, in principle, allow private ownership of land. The farmers paid tax imposed on the land with tax exceptions given to the richer samurai class and the system was full of inconsistencies.
The movements to abolish the per capita tax and against the unfair tax collection practices by local tax officials came about through the power of the peasant farmers themselves. These movements overlapped with the work of people like Noboru Jahana in the suffrage movement by trying to force reform in land allocation and taxation on the Meiji government.
The Meiji government saw the need for a stable tax system and rational government rule as essential to the transition to a modern capitalist nation and so for these reasons as well the reform of the old systems was an indispensable.
Land adjustments, comparable to the ones carried out in mainland Japan between 1873-1879, were started in Okinawa in 1899 and completed by 1903. The main points of the reform were a recognition of the ownership of the land by the individual farmer originally using that land, that landowners were to be the taxpayers, the abolishment of the per capita tax, and that land tax was to be fixed at 2.5% of the land value. To a certain extent the tax burden was eased but due to increases in the national tax and establishment of new taxes the actual tax burden became heavier as time went on.
However, the land adjustments did have a large impact on the lives of the peasant farmers. Prior to reforms the land was allocated arbitrarily, the crops cultivated were strictly controlled, and tax was made by payment in kind. After the reforms the farmers owned their land and were free to plant what they wanted and tax was regulated. The cultivation of the sole cash crop, sugarcane, spread.
Many farmers suffered under the heavy tax payments and some had to leave their lands and work. Different classes of farmers developed, those without land had no choice either to become employed as tenant farmers or emigrate outside the prefecture or even outside of Japan to find work.