@article{oai:nichibun.repo.nii.ac.jp:00000229,
 author = {HOSHINO, Takanori},
 journal = {Nichibunken Japan review : Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies},
 month = {Jan},
 note = {The purpose of this article is to clarify how and when the disposal of hu-man waste in Tokyo changed from private to municipal management and to consider the City of Tokyo’s reaction to the collapse of the system of circulation of human waste. Previous studies have focused on the value of human waste and the political conflict between farmers, landowners, and the city government over waste management. These studies have not focused on the transition to municipal management and therefore have ig-nored the economic side of this story during the Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa eras. By describing the characteristics of the waste disposal business and showing the necessity of transition to municipal management, I identify the factors underlying the decrease in the value of human waste and the process of the City of Tokyo’s intervention. In the Edo and Meiji eras, night-soil peddlers bought human waste and removed it from the city because it had value as fertilizer. But by the Taishō era, this system ceased to be effective. Changes produced by urbanization, the development of chemical fertilizer, and inflation had adverse consequences for night-soil peddlers. More importantly, the hygiene of Tokyo was compromised. For sanitary reasons and to resolve problems arising from different rates and qualities of service between Shitamachi and Yamanote, the City of Tokyo municipalized the management of human waste removal and established a new infrastructure. To trace the transition to municipal management, this essay draws on contemporary newspapers and journals such as Miyako shinbun and Kōshū eisei as well as official documents.},
 pages = {189--202},
 title = {Transition to Municipal Management : Cleaning Human Waste in Tokyo in the Modern Era},
 volume = {20},
 year = {2008}
}