J 304

日本内地の食料問題

Japan’s food problem

日本内地における食料問題

Food Problem in Japan's Interior

五年前ナチドイツか世界征覇をめざし平地に波瀾を巻起し戦を始めんとするや其民に云って曰くには「めしか弾か」と功名心に眩惑された民は「めしよりも弾」と答へた。

Five years ago, when Nazi Germany was about to start a war for world domination it asked its people, "Meals or munitions?”, the people mislead by the desire for fame and glory, replied, "Munitions over meals”.

然し今にいたりドイツ国民は其非を悟っている。

But now the German people have realized the error of their ways.

戦には敗れ、平和は来たものの全民等しく空腹に泣いている。

The war is lost, peace has come, but all the people are suffering from hunger.

日本国民がこのドイツ国民の二の舞を踏まざるを望むや吾人実に切なるものあるのであるが、目下の情況は甚だ心もとない。

It is our sincere hope that the Japanese people will not follow in the footsteps of the German people, but the current situation is very disturbing.

即ち日本の軍需要求が惎だ急なる為、其方に労力をとられ食料産出が減った配給米の減少、魚類の得難き事、又肉類の配給は殆んど無く、それにマリアナ、沖縄等より毎日の樣に行はるゝ爆撃、フイリツピンより行はるゝ支那海の封鎖日本側船舶の爆撃等一つとして日本に於ける料食問題に暗い影を投げぬものはない。

This is because Japan's demand for military supplies is becoming more and more urgent, the amount of rationed rice has decreased due to the labor involved in this process, fish are very difficult to obtain, meat rations are almost nonexistent, in addition, bombing raids are carried out daily from the Marianas and Okinawa, the blockade of the China Sea from the Philippines, the bombing of Japanese vessels, and other such acts have cast a dark shadow over the problem of food in Japan.

栄養分欠乏より来る欠勤勞務者、脚気、結核等にかゝる者著しき増加を示して居る。

The number of people suffering from work absenteeism due to nutrient deficiency, beriberi, tuberculosis, etc., has increased markedly.

しかし一方闇で公定價格の十倍乃至二十倍を拂って美食しているものもある。

On the other hand, there are those who pay ten or twenty times the official price for a gourmet meal on the black market.

其内にはこの戦争を始めた當の責任者及軍部の人々もある。

This includes those who were responsible for starting this war and those in the military.

日本国民も亦遂にドイツ国民の覆轍を踏むに至つたか。

Are the Japanese people following in the footsteps of the German people?