Following the China Incident in 1937, Japan began its all-out mobilization for war, although some provisions of the laws passed at that time were not actually enforced until after Pearl Harbor. The authorities realized that they would need a more thorough control over national resources, including manpower. The labor force was still largely engaged in normal peacetime pursuits, the bulk of them in agriculture. It was therefore necessary to set up national sanctions which would serve to channel labor into important war industries and to mobilize portions of the labor force not fully utilized, such as females; also to try to get more effort and more efficiency out of the existing workers in essential industries. The measures adopted constituted a progressive series designed to "scrape the barrel" nearer and nearer to the bottom.
On March 1938 the Diet passed the National Mobilization Law/国家総動員法/Kokka Sōdōin Hō to put the national economy of the Empire of Japan on war-time footing after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The National Mobilization Law had fifty clauses, which provided for government controls over civilian organizations (including labor unions), nationalization of strategic industries, price controls and rationing, and nationalized the news media. The laws gave the government the authority to use unlimited budgets to subsidize war production, and to compensate manufacturers for losses caused by war-time mobilization. Eighteen of the fifty articles outlined penalties for violators.
The National Service Draft Ordinance/国民徴用令/Kokumin Chōyō rei was a supplemental law promulgated by Prime Minister Konoe as part of the National Mobilization Law. It empowered the government to draft civilian workers to ensure an adequate supply of labor in strategic war industries, with exceptions allowed only in the case of the physically handicapped or mentally handicapped. The program was organized under the Ministry of Welfare, and at its peak 1,600,000 men and women were drafted, and 4,500,000 workers were reclassified as draftees (and thus were unable to quit their jobs). The Ordinance was superseded by the National Labor Service Mobilization Law in March 1945, which was in turn abolished on 20 December 1945 by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers after the surrender of Japan.
The methods of mobilizing labor were different for four major groups of the labor force.
1. Skilled labor and technicians. The manager of a munitions plant would send to the Munitions, War or Navy Ministry a request for a certain number of skilled workers of given types. This request would be considered by a committee representing several ministries, although the most influential were the Munitions, Navy, War and Welfare Ministries. The committee would decide whether the request could be filled in view of the national manpower situation. Having been approved by the committee, the request was turned over to the Welfare Ministry, which consulted its records on skilled labor registration to determine what prefectures had the required labor available. Welfare Ministry then would send a quota to several prefectures for filling this requirement. The next step was for the Prefectural Employment Exchange Unit of the Education Section (after November, 1942, under the Police Section) acting for the Prefectural Governor, to select names of workers from their prefectural roster. The list of names would then be sent to local Employment Exchanges for enforcement. The local office would deliver a "white card" to the worker and instruct him to appear at the office on a certain day. When he arrived he would be told what job he would be sent to. This was likely to be in a different prefecture or a distant location. Ordinarily, the worker accepted his assignment without protest. However, in case the patriotic appeal was not enough, the man could be fined up to one thousand yen or imprisoned for a year for violation of these regulations.
2. Casual labor. In this case the manager of the munitions plant would send his request directly to the local employment office. If this office could fill the request locally that was the end of the matter. If there was not enough labor available locally, they would send a request to another area, and with the cooperation of the casual laborers' patriotic organization, would obtain the labor from another area. If they still could not get enough labor, the government would ask the other labor patriotic groups, who would then organize a group of students or other special workers to handle the job.
3. Special groups. This was composed primarily of students and women. From the school records appropriate workers were selected for various purposes, either for common labor in industry or for harvest work in agriculture. A great deal of patriotic drum beating was done, and it was tacitly understood that no one would refuse to serve, although ostensibly everything was on a voluntary basis. Mobilization of students was started in 1939 as vacation work on farms, but was extended in 1941 to work on farms even during the school term, and in 1943 to work in factories. By 1944, many factories had become dependent on students for a substantial portion of their labor force, and education was considered as of minor importance. At its peak, student employment reached about 3,000,000. There were also progressive drives to increase the number of women in employment, both in agriculture and industry. From 1930 to 1940, the major trend was an increase of females in agriculture to offset the movement of males to industry and the armed forces. From I940 to I944, the proportion of females increased not only in agriculture, but in fishing, mining, commerce, transportation, government, and all categories except manufacturing and construction.
4. Korean and foreign labor. Koreans were considered as Japanese nationals subject to the same laws. However, for the most part they were mobilized on "voluntary contract" basis. A Japanese company, usually a mining company, would be authorized to recruit labor from Korea. The company representative would go to Korea and would engage workers who were sent to Japan and organized into gangs. During the war, in any of the industries considered essential, such as coal and metal mining, workers were not permitted to leave their employment during the term of their contract. Most of the enforcement was done by company guards with the sanction of the police. The net result was a condition of virtual slave labor. Chinese coolies were recruited and employed on the same basis as Koreans, with the exception of prisoners of war, who were forced to work under guard. From 1939 to 1945 about 5,400,000 Koreans were conscripted and about 670,000 were taken to mainland Japan (including Karafuto Prefecture, present-day Sakhalin, Russia) for civilian labor.
Penalty for leaving employment to which a person had been assigned in the national interest was the same as for refusing to accept the assignment in the first place; that is, a maximum of one thousand yen or one year's imprisonment.
Requisitioned Worker Merit Badge.On March 1938 the Diet passed the National Mobilization Law/国家総動員法/Kokka Sōdōin Hō to put the national economy of the Empire of Japan on war-time footing after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The National Mobilization Law had fifty clauses, which provided for government controls over civilian organizations (including labor unions), nationalization of strategic industries, price controls and rationing, and nationalized the news media. The laws gave the government the authority to use unlimited budgets to subsidize war production, and to compensate manufacturers for losses caused by war-time mobilization. Eighteen of the fifty articles outlined penalties for violators.
The National Service Draft Ordinance/国民徴用令/Kokumin Chōyō rei was a supplemental law promulgated by Prime Minister Konoe as part of the National Mobilization Law. It empowered the government to draft civilian workers to ensure an adequate supply of labor in strategic war industries, with exceptions allowed only in the case of the physically handicapped or mentally handicapped. The program was organized under the Ministry of Welfare, and at its peak 1,600,000 men and women were drafted, and 4,500,000 workers were reclassified as draftees (and thus were unable to quit their jobs). The Ordinance was superseded by the National Labor Service Mobilization Law in March 1945, which was in turn abolished on 20 December 1945 by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers after the surrender of Japan.
The methods of mobilizing labor were different for four major groups of the labor force.
1. Skilled labor and technicians. The manager of a munitions plant would send to the Munitions, War or Navy Ministry a request for a certain number of skilled workers of given types. This request would be considered by a committee representing several ministries, although the most influential were the Munitions, Navy, War and Welfare Ministries. The committee would decide whether the request could be filled in view of the national manpower situation. Having been approved by the committee, the request was turned over to the Welfare Ministry, which consulted its records on skilled labor registration to determine what prefectures had the required labor available. Welfare Ministry then would send a quota to several prefectures for filling this requirement. The next step was for the Prefectural Employment Exchange Unit of the Education Section (after November, 1942, under the Police Section) acting for the Prefectural Governor, to select names of workers from their prefectural roster. The list of names would then be sent to local Employment Exchanges for enforcement. The local office would deliver a "white card" to the worker and instruct him to appear at the office on a certain day. When he arrived he would be told what job he would be sent to. This was likely to be in a different prefecture or a distant location. Ordinarily, the worker accepted his assignment without protest. However, in case the patriotic appeal was not enough, the man could be fined up to one thousand yen or imprisoned for a year for violation of these regulations.
2. Casual labor. In this case the manager of the munitions plant would send his request directly to the local employment office. If this office could fill the request locally that was the end of the matter. If there was not enough labor available locally, they would send a request to another area, and with the cooperation of the casual laborers' patriotic organization, would obtain the labor from another area. If they still could not get enough labor, the government would ask the other labor patriotic groups, who would then organize a group of students or other special workers to handle the job.
3. Special groups. This was composed primarily of students and women. From the school records appropriate workers were selected for various purposes, either for common labor in industry or for harvest work in agriculture. A great deal of patriotic drum beating was done, and it was tacitly understood that no one would refuse to serve, although ostensibly everything was on a voluntary basis. Mobilization of students was started in 1939 as vacation work on farms, but was extended in 1941 to work on farms even during the school term, and in 1943 to work in factories. By 1944, many factories had become dependent on students for a substantial portion of their labor force, and education was considered as of minor importance. At its peak, student employment reached about 3,000,000. There were also progressive drives to increase the number of women in employment, both in agriculture and industry. From 1930 to 1940, the major trend was an increase of females in agriculture to offset the movement of males to industry and the armed forces. From I940 to I944, the proportion of females increased not only in agriculture, but in fishing, mining, commerce, transportation, government, and all categories except manufacturing and construction.
4. Korean and foreign labor. Koreans were considered as Japanese nationals subject to the same laws. However, for the most part they were mobilized on "voluntary contract" basis. A Japanese company, usually a mining company, would be authorized to recruit labor from Korea. The company representative would go to Korea and would engage workers who were sent to Japan and organized into gangs. During the war, in any of the industries considered essential, such as coal and metal mining, workers were not permitted to leave their employment during the term of their contract. Most of the enforcement was done by company guards with the sanction of the police. The net result was a condition of virtual slave labor. Chinese coolies were recruited and employed on the same basis as Koreans, with the exception of prisoners of war, who were forced to work under guard. From 1939 to 1945 about 5,400,000 Koreans were conscripted and about 670,000 were taken to mainland Japan (including Karafuto Prefecture, present-day Sakhalin, Russia) for civilian labor.
Penalty for leaving employment to which a person had been assigned in the national interest was the same as for refusing to accept the assignment in the first place; that is, a maximum of one thousand yen or one year's imprisonment.
Introduced on February 26, 1944.
Silver, enamel.
Size 30x30 mm.
Reverse
應徴 - Requisitioned [lit. responding to requisition/ō chō]
有功 - Merit
Original description.
Badge was awarded to exemplary workers.