Japanese Railway History 9-战后国有铁路发展.doc

Japanese Railway History 9Dawn of Japanese National Railways?Mitsuhide Imashiro Wars End and Railways After fighting with Germany and Italy against the USA, Great Britain and other Allies, Japan accepted the Allied Potsdam Declaration and surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945.During the war, coastal shipping carrying coal and other goods was diverted to military use and these commodities were handled by railways. The Kanmon undersea tunnel was built to connect the coal mines of Kyushu with mainland Honshu, illustrating the heavy dependence on railways for shipment of domestic cargo. Japan imported all its petroleum, and gasoline for private automobiles was severely rationed with most diverted to military use. Motor transportation was almost entirely destroyed toward the wars end and was substituted by railways.Railways monopolized domestic transportation in wartime Japan, while profits were used by the military. Other than minimum measures to cope with increased cargo, the facilities and cars were unmaintained and not renewed. Lines were heavily bombed toward the end, although trains were kept running by the strong commitment of employees. Air raids killed 4,403 employees, and killed or injured 1,494 passengers. These figures do not include deaths or injuries caused by the atomic bombs because the numbers are unknown. Peoples morale was boosted even on 15 August by being able to say, ‘The trains are running’. MacArthurs Letter and Start of Japanese National Railways The Japanese Government Railways were reorganized as a public corporation called Japanese National Railways (JNR) on 1 June 1949. This was a major change in the history of Japans railways, and is as important as the nationalization in 1906-7 and the privatization in 1987.Postwar Japan was run by the Allied Occupation Forces from General Headquarters (GHQ). Democratic reforms included dissolution of financial cliques (zaibatsu) and land reforms aimed at ending the landlord system. The r