We here a lot about Europe getting back to work after the war. It is a frequent topic in the USA as we like to take credit for it by way of the Marshall Aid plan. Japan also got back to work fast and became an industrial powerhouse. One area that fell short though was mining, where loss of empire was clearly felt. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The most remarkable thing about this stamp issues appearance is how it is just a typical Japanese stamp that could be from any era, excepting a new issue. Here we must give some credit to the Allied occupation under General MacArthur. They were still allowing Japan to be Japan, even in defeat. One interesting thing is that it was already the second Japanese post war stamp to feature coal miners. They must have mistakenly thought that coal would be an important part of a hoped for comeback.
Todays stamp is issue A210, a 5 Yen stamp issued by Japan in 1948. The coal miner stamp was part of a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. As a bulk mailing stamp, unused copies are more rare and valueable. A booklet of 20 of this stamp unused is worth $300.
In the early twentieth century mining was very important to the Empire. In addition to local output there was gold mining in Korea, iron and coal mining in China, and coal mining in Formosa. In 1942, the world’s worst mining disaster, a Japanese run coal mine in occupied China suffered a coal dust explosion that killed 1500 Chinese laborers and 30 Japanese overseers. Most died when ventilation was shut off to put out the fire. The 1967 Bee Gees song seems to have got it wrong placing the disaster in New York in 1941. That all was over after the war. Given how they were run, perhaps that was for the best.
Japan still had small coal deposits at the extreme north and the extreme south of the country. It was located in expensive to axcess veins that required inclined gallery style mining instead of regular pit coal mines. This made imported coal much cheaper to use and Japan became a big importer. Over time of course cleaner sources of energy have been tapped.
Many of the Japanese mines closed in the 70s and 80s. By 1988, less than .2 percent of Japanese workers were employed in mining. In 1974, a small southern Japanese island called Battleship was abandoned by the conglomerate Mitsubishi after the mine reserve there was exhausted. The town around the mine was built of concrete and fortified against typhoons resembling a battleship. For 45 years the concrete city has decayed without anybody living there. See Below.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another drink to toast the coal exporting nations who stepped in to supply Japan’s coal shortfall. It would be a short list of people in those years getting rich off exports to Japan. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.