The Yūaikai or the "Friendly Society" was a pre-war Japanese trade union. It was the only large trade union that existed in Japan during the early 1910s.
History
The Yūaikai was established in 1912 by Suzuki Bunji. It drew together industrial workers from Osaka and Tokyo during Japan's economic boom during World War I, and flourished from 1912 to 1918. It was the only large trade union to exist in Japan during this time period. The Yūaikai also had a women's organization affiliated with them, the first of its kind. However, the organization only persuaded a few thousand women to join unions, compared to the 500,000 membership of the main group.
The Yūaikai was renamed the in 1921. The Sōdōmei had a more radical political agenda, and was generally seen as more militant than the original group. It was dissolved in 1940, when the Japanese government outlawed labor unions.