6-2-1-6 Flourishing Black Market

After the war ended, severe food shortages continued. From fall into winter 1945, the number of malnourished Hiroshima residents increased. With food distributions running out, people bought what they needed from the black market. Around the end of August, black markets sprang up here and there, particularly in front of Hiroshima Station. By late 1947, police crackdowns and improved food availability shut down the markets, but they remain a symbol of postwar turmoil.