Takobeya labour

Takobeya labour (Japanese: タコ部屋労働, Romanization of Japanese: tako-beya rōdō) was a Japanese form of work. It was a harsh system started in Hokkaido during the Meiji period. It replaced Penal labour in Hokkaido. The workers slept in accommodation huts at construction sites. The concentration huts were called "Takobeya". Takobeya workers engaged in takobeya labour without enough meals. They were oppressed as labor camps. Some also died from overwork.

In 1946, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in occupied Japan banned takobeya labour.

In Japanese, "Tako" often means octopus. But Takobeya (Tako room) doesn’t necessarily mean octopus room. About Takobeya's "Tako", the original meanings is not clear.

Related pages

• Takobeya (Japanese bureaucrats)

Other websites

• Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. “Letters to the Dead: Addressing the Legacies of Violence in Japan’s Borderlands.” Paper presented at Vanderbilt University Seminar on Perspectives on Historical Violence. 2009.