The ”Joint Debt” of Misima Island

The ”Joint Debt” marks a capital event in the recent history of economy in Misima Island. It was indeed an instance of a very common happening that our rural communities were heavily in debt when they exposed themselves to the modern capitalism. The individual debt of the farmers was transfered to the ”Joint Debt” of them. The cause of the debt was the sudden decrease of agricultural revenue owing to the drought and the increase of outgo owing to the luury of them. The total sum of the Joint Debt was 126918 Yen, its term being from 1885 to 1911, and the debt had a bad effect upon the agricultural development of the island.