Then came the world slump in 1920-21, which led to a sudden collapse
of Japan’s war boom. Partial recovery had no sooner set in than it
received a sharp jolt from the disastrous earthquake of 1923. To
meet these setbacks, Japan drew heavily on the financial reserves
accumulated during the war. Reconstruction after the earthquake created
another short-lived boom--ended by a bank panic in 1927.
Despite post-war difficulties, however, Japan managed to keep her
industry on the up grade. The great advances made during the war were
maintained and consolidated. In the post-war slump the number of
factory workers had declined, but in 1927-28 they reached the wartime
level of 2,000,000 again. Throughout the ’twenties, except for a sharp
drop in 1921, Japan’s total foreign trade continued to hold the new
average level of 4,000 million yen. Population leaped forward, from
about 50 million persons in 1914 to 56 million in 1920, and to nearly
65 million in 1930 (see chart, page 69).
[Illustration: A GROWING POPULATION]