Modern Okinawa / Life in Okinawa During the "Cycad Hell" 1/4

The Life of Okinawan Citizens During the "Cycad Hell"

After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan experienced a deep economic recession and it was not until the outbreak of WWI in 1914 that things improved because the European powers withdrew from the region leaving Japan in a monopoly position in the Asian market. Economic activity recovered by the export of munitions, iron products and medicines and there was an industrial resurgence in Japan. Okinawa also received the benefits of the upswing by exporting products such as sugar, the profits of which were so great the newly rich were called "Sugar Rich" at the time.
The economic boom during the First World War did not last forever. After WWI the European powers again advanced on the Asian market and Japan's exports plummeted. A domestic surplus of output caused a post-war depression. In Okinawa the price of sugar fell and a wave of depression washed over the islands.
In 1923 the Great Kanto Earthquake and the worldwide effects of the Great Depression caused a chronic economic downturn known as the "Showa Depression" in Japan and this seriously affected the lives of Okinawans as well.


Old-style Sugar Manufacture


Sotetsu (Cycad Palm)
The economic depression that gripped Okinawa from the final years of the Taisho era was named "Sotetsu-jigoku", or "Cycad hell", after a poisonous plant in the palm family the people were forced to process and eat to avoid starvation. Over 70% of the population during this period were farmers and due to the depression, their staples, rice and potatoes, became scarce and they were forced to eat the indigenous plants to survive. Despite the poisonous nature of the plant and the possibility of it causing death if the poison was not completely removed by repeated processing, the impoverished farmers used it to overcome starvation.
Taxes were still collected despite the poverty of the farmers and this combined with the yearly typhoons and occasional droughts made life hell for the Okinawans. Many were forced to sell relatives and others migrated overseas or to mainland Japan in search of work.

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