A Struggle against Rubbish and Waste: Japanese Attempts to Clean Hong Kong, 1941-45

Abstract

This paper surveys the sanitary problems in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation (1941-45). It looks into how the Japanese occupation government responded to these challenges and the reactions of Hong Kong citizens. Facing a terrible hygienic environment in Hong Kong, the Japanese authorities carried out several measures to clean the city and prevent the outbreak of epidemic diseases. These measures included organizing regular cleansing campaigns, extermination of flies and rats, collecting night-soil, clearing corpses, gathering rubbish in dump areas, forbidding hawkers’ activities, reminding the public on matters related to personal hygiene, and imposing compulsory vaccination programmes. I will discuss the definition of ‘rubbish’ at the time of war; for example, quite a large number of books and papers were disposed on the streets or in markets. These issues will help evaluate the cleanliness and living conditions of Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, understand the hardship of ordinary citizens in surviving a war and the relationship between war and health.