Япония: цивилизация, культура, язык 2024

«ISSUES OF JAPANOLOGY, vol. 10» St-Petersburg State Univ 2024 469 Agriculture never managed to become the backbone of Karafuto’s economy. The region’s climate did not allow for rice cultivation, and the Japanese were unable to change their diet, which contributed to the development of industry, since until the end of World War II they often worked part-time in factories to buy overpriced rice 5 . Growing local crops (potatoes and wheat) was apparently unprofitable. These reasons, together with the outbreak of World War I, eventually led to a change in the policy vector towards industrialization. The interruption of supplies from Europe forced the search for alternative pulp production options. The coniferous forests of Sakhalin were the best suited for this, and in the following decades the pulp-paper industry became the main share of the Karafuto economy. From the 1914, local authorities began selling forest land to companies on the condition that they would later build pulp mills 6 . Karafuto Industries Corporation ( 樺太工業株式会社 Karafuto kōgyō kabushikigaisha ) was established, headed by businessman Heizaburo Ōkawa ( 大川 平三郎 , 1860–1936), who was later nicknamed "The Paper King of Japan" ( 日本の 製紙王 Nihon no seishi-ō ). Moreover, Ōji Paper Corporation ( 王子製紙株式会社 Ōji-seishi kabushikigaisha ) and Fuji Paper Corporation ( 富士製紙株式会社 Fuji-seishi kabushikigaisha ) also began to gradually open new mills in Karafuto. As for the forestry industry, in the first two decades the wood was usually used for reconstruction after the Russo- Japanese War and for new buildings. By the 1920s, Karafuto began to occupy a leading position in the supply of lumber to 5 Nakayama, T. (2022). Novoe razvitie v lesnom i selskom hozyaistve Karafuto v 1930-1940 [New developments in forestry and agriculture in Karafuto in 1930-1940]. Vestnik Sakhalinskogo muzeya, 2. P.38-39. 6 Itani, H. (2007). Saharin no naka ni Nihon. Toshi to kenchiku [Japan inside Sakhalin. Cities and architecture]. Tokyo: Tōyō shoten. P.8.