Kangoku-beya were prison-like hanba which used violence and debt-bondage to retain labour. Working hours at work sites with kangoku-beya were often between 13 and 16 hours a day, and food at these worksites was invariably of poor quality, often with nothing more than rice gruel, miso and perhaps a few pickles for most meals. Despite the poor quality of food and accommodation, the hanba head subtracted a large hanba fee from labourers’ salaries, which covered food and board.

Moreover, hanba heads ran small stores, overcharging labourers for a number of daily essentials, and goods necessary for use in the workplace, which were again subtracted from labourers’ salaries. As mentioned previously, some contemporary social commentators referred to kangoku-beya as a ‘modern slavery’ system, and described conditions within them as ‘a living hell’.³⁹ They were poorly constructed, filthy places, where riots, fights, intimidation, injury and cruelty were commonplace, and in some cases labourers were murdered for attempting to run away.

Events that happened today (September 8):

1941: Axis forces commenced the Siege of Leningrad.
1943: The Allies proclaimed the Armistice of Cassibile by radio; OB Süd immediately implemented plans to disarm the Italian forces.
1944: For the first time a V-2 rocket hit London.
1949: Richard Georg Strauss, who briefly (and unhappily) served as Reichsmusikkammer, left the world.
1965: Hermann Staudinger, patron member of the SS, expired.
2003: Helene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl, Reich propagandist, had the decency to finally drop dead.