A paper by Prof. Takehiro Usui of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration has been published in the international journal "Childhood in the Past"
A paper titled "Child Labour and Long-Term Absence in Japanese Fishing Villages during the 1950s Post-War Recovery" by Prof. Takehiro Usui of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (*) has been published in the international journal "Childhood in the Past".
This paper focuses on the problems of child labor and long-term absenteeism recorded in Japanese fishing villages in the 1950s, and combines a systematic review of area studies and historical materials at that time with the analysis of the 2020 census to clarify the regional bias of non-completion of compulsory education.
The abstract examines the correspondence between labor-related interruptions in fishing villages in the 1950s and the distribution of non-completion of compulsory education in the 2020 census, and shows that values above the national average were observed in Hiroshima and Okinawa prefectures.
The characteristics of this study are that it connects historical data with modern statistical data and empirically shows that compulsory education was not uniformly realized in postwar Japan. The peer review also praised this study as an important and original contribution, as well as its methodology that connects historical sources with modern censuses.
In publishing this paper, Professor Usui said, "The fact that there were people living in fishing villages in Japan who could not complete compulsory education is by no means the responsibility of the person himself. Even under the post-war system, the reality was that the labor and local practices that supported the family finances deprived children of the opportunity to learn. In this study, we carefully checked the research on local fishing villages and the materials of the time, and examined the facts based on current statistical data. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Edwin Aloiau for his support of my research, and to all the students, faculty, and staff who are working together on research and education at our university Faculty of Economics and Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. We are also deeply grateful to the editors and reviewers of the journal for acknowledging the significance of this study and providing constructive advice."
At the time of publication, the paper belongs to the Faculty of Economics of our university. He has been a member of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration since April 2026.
Professor
Takehiro Usui
- Specialized Field
Environmental Economics
- Research theme
- Econometric analysis of local government efforts to reduce household waste and promote waste sorting
- Demonstrated efforts to create ibasho