Dollar buying scandal

Foreign exchange speculation in anticipation of Japan's departure from the gold standard and criticism against it. The Manchurian Incident occurred on September 18, 1931 (Showa 6), and immediately afterwards, on the 21st, Britain suspended the gold standard. In the midst of the recession, zaibatsu banks such as Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo had been investing their idle funds in Britain, where interest rates were high, since the beginning of the year, but the freezing of British funds made it necessary to buy dollars to cover the investments they had made. In addition, in anticipation of Japan's difficulty in maintaining the gold standard, speculative people rushed to exchange banks to sell yen and buy dollars. The government declared that buying dollars was a treasonous act, and announced that the gold standard would be maintained, and had the Yokohama Specie Bank buy yen, but this trend could not be stopped. Meanwhile, newspapers launched a campaign of criticism against the zaibatsu banks, claiming that they were plotting huge profits by buying dollars. In November, members of the Social Democratic Party Youth League broke into Mitsui Bank, sparking rumors of direct action by proletarian parties and right-wing groups, and public opinion grew in favor of attacks on the zaibatsu. On December 13, the Inukai Tsuyoshi Cabinet, which replaced the Wakatsuki Reijiro Cabinet, re-instated the gold export ban, so dollar buyers ended up making a profit, but it is said that the total amount of dollars purchased since July of the previous year had reached 760 million yen.

[Tokuko Omori]

"The Showa Depression and Economic Policy" by Takahide Nakamura (Nikkei Shinsho) " "The Showa Depression" by Masanori Nakamura (Showa History 2, 1982, Shogakukan)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

金本位制離脱を見越しての為替(かわせ)投機と、それに対する非難攻撃。1931年（昭和6）9月18日満州事変が起こり、直後の21日、イギリスが金本位を停止した。不況のなかで三井・三菱(みつびし)・住友などの財閥銀行は、同年の初めから、遊資を金利の高いイギリスに投資していたが、イギリスの資金凍結で、投資の売り継ぎ分のドルを買う必要が生じた。また、日本の金本位維持は困難との予想のもとに、思惑による円売りドル買いが為替銀行に殺到。政府はドル買いは売国的行為であるとし、金本位維持を声明、横浜正金銀行に円を買い向かわせたが、この趨勢(すうせい)は抑えられなかった。一方、新聞は、財閥銀行がドル買いで巨利をもくろんでいると、非難攻撃の論陣を張った。11月、社会民衆党青年同盟員が三井銀行に乱入したのを契機に、無産政党、右翼などの直接行動のうわさが流れ、財閥攻撃の世論が高まった。12月13日、若槻(わかつき)礼次郎内閣に交替した犬養毅(いぬかいつよし)内閣が金輸出再禁止を行ったため結局ドル買い筋は利益を得たが、前年7月来、買われたドルは7億6000万円に上ったという。

［大森とく子］

『中村隆英著『昭和恐慌と経済政策』（日経新書）』▽『中村政則著『昭和の恐慌』（『昭和の歴史2』1982・小学館）』

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