Rice Riots of 1918
The rice riots (Japanese米 騒 动kome, Sodo ) were a series of public unrest within Japan from July to September 1918 which forced the government of Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake to resign.
A precipitous rise in rice prices led, especially in the rural areas where rice was the staple food to a severe economic crisis. The gap between the low rice prices, which were the peasants, and the government partially regulated, very high end prices led to a hostile relationship of the peasants against the rice traders and the government, which had done nothing against the sharp rise in prices. The price increase of the rice was just the tip of high inflation as a result of the First World War, which drove both the most consumer goods as well as the general Tab View. These circumstances brought on next to the rural and the urban population against the government. The Japanese intervention in Siberia as a result of the Russian Revolution intensified the unrest even further, as the government bought up large stocks of rice for the troops in Siberia and the price increased again. Little attention from the government, the smaller, rural unrest soon spread to the cities and all over the country.
The rice riots exceeded all unrest of recent Japanese history in size and violence. Starting point of the protests was the small fishing village Uozu in Toyama prefecture on 23 July 1918. Starting from a peaceful rally, the dissatisfaction soon developed into unrest with strikes, looting, attacks on police stations and government offices and armed clashes with the security forces. By mid-September 1918 623 riots in 38 cities, 153 towns and 177 villages with over 2 million participants were reported. About 25,000 people were arrested and sentenced 8,200 of them of various crimes to penalties ranging from fines to the death penalty.
The responsibility for the breakdown of public order taking over, were Prime Minister Terauchi and his cabinet back on 29 September 1918.
The rice riots are brought by various researchers in the context of Japanese imperialism. This lead to that of rice cultivation in the colonies and Formosa Chosen been intensified to meet the production capacity in excess of the rice needs.