LONG-TERM CHANGES IN FOOD CONSUMPTION PATTERNS IN JAPAN

JAPAN, I878-I964tThere have been many conspicuous changes in Japanese life during the century that has elapsed since the beginning of the modernization process in the late 1860's.Although less marked than many, changes in food consumption patterns have been of considerable importance.It is the purpose of this paper to trace the changes that have taken place in the patterns of food consumption as reflected in the changing relative importance of various food groups, and to investigate the interrelationships between aggregate food consumption and changes attendant to economic development.As much as available data permit, the present study aims at relating changes in food consumption patterns to those of real income, urbanization, relative prices, and consumers' "tastes."The basic approach adopted is similar to that of many studies available on the demand side of food markets, in analyses of household expenditures, and in estimation of consumption functions of various commodities.Some new statistical procedures used in the paper are explained in detail in the notes appended at the end of the text.The period of about 90 years covered in this study is divided into three parts depending on the sources of data used for analysis: (1) 1878-1922, for which I rely mainly on the most recent estimates by Saburo Yamada; (2) 1921-1940, for which I depend on Miyohei Shinohara's estimates as well as official statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; and (3) the postwar years, for which the quality of the official data, as well as the quantity, is unquestionably superior to those of the prewar years.It is inevitable in a study of this kind that disparities and divergencies appear in different sets of data.The problem is particularly acute among the estimates of consumption pertaining to the earlier periods.Attempts will be made to examine the consistency of available sets of data and to reconcile such divergencies whenever adjustments are possible.