A Handbook of Modern Japan

by Ernest W. Clement

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

“Japan and its Trade” and “Advance Japan” (Morris); “The Yankees of the East” (Curtis); “Japan in Transition” (Ransome), chap. x.; “The Awakening of the East” (Leroy-Beaulieu), chaps. iv. and v.; “Dai Nippon” (Dyer), chaps. viii. and xi.; and especially Rein’s “Industries of Japan,” in which the subject is treated in great detail with German thoroughness. But to keep pace with the rapid progress along industrial and commercial lines, one really needs current English newspapers and magazines, such as are mentioned in the chapter on “Language and Literature.” The reports of the British and United States consular officials are also very useful in this respect.

“The Japan Year Book,” issued annually, is a veritable cyclopedia of important facts and figures.

CHAPTER III
TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, COMMERCE

Outline of Topics: Travelling in Old Japan; vehicles of Old and New Japan; jinrikisha; railway travel; telegraph and telephone; street-car, bicycle, and automobile; steamships.—Postal system.—Oil, gas, and electric light.—Foreign commerce; variety of imports.—Mixed corporations.—Stock and other exchanges.—Banking system; coinage; monetary standard.—Baron Shibusawa on business ability of Japanese, prospects of industrial and commercial Japan, and financial situation.—Bibliography.

ONE of the most common and most important indications of a great change in the life and civilization of Japan is to be seen in the improved modes of travel and transportation. The ancient method, though in some sections pack-horses and oxen were used, was essentially pedestrian. The common people travelled on foot, and carried or dragged over the road their own baggage or freight. Couriers, carrying the most important despatches, relied upon fleetness of foot. The higher classes and wealthy people, even though not themselves making any exertions in their own behalf, were carried about in vehicles by coolies, who, with their human burdens, tramped from place to place. On water, too, travel and transportation depended mostly upon human muscular exertion, as all boats, small or large, had to be propelled by oars or poles, except when favored with a breeze to swell the sails and allow the boatmen a respite from their toil. But all this hard labor developed, of course, a strength of limb and a power of endurance that even in recent years have enabled the Japanese soldiers to march and fight in either the piercing cold and deep snow of Manchuria or the blistering heat of Formosa. A life of constant outdoor exposure to wind, rain, cold, or heat has toughened and browned the skin, and made an altogether hardy race out of the common people; while the lack of this regular exercise and calisthenic training has left its mark in the comparatively weak constitutions of those who travelled, not on their own feet, but on the shoulders of others.

The common vehicles of the olden days were ordinary carts for freight and norimono and kago for passengers. The norimono is a good-sized sedan-chair or palanquin, in which the rider can sit in a fairly comfortable position. The kago is a sort of basket in which the traveller takes a half-sitting, half-reclining posture, not altogether comfortable—at least for tall foreigners. At present the norimono is seldom if ever employed except for corpses or invalids, but the kago is still used in mountainous regions, where nothing else is available. It must be understood, of course, that the nobles and their retainers often rode on horseback; but the great mass of the people walked and the few rode in kago or norimono.

Now, however, modes of travel have changed greatly, and are changing year by year. There are still many pedestrians; the kago is yet to be seen; boats are propelled by stern-end oar or laboriously pushed along with poles; and pack-horses and oxen—even in the streets of Tōkyō—are in frequent use. But there are many other means of communication and transportation. There have come into use the horse-car, the stage, the jinrikisha, the railroad, with the telegraph and the telephone; the modern row-boat, the steamboat; the bicycle, the automobile, and the electric railway, with the electric light to show the road by night. An excellent postal system and various other modern contrivances for facilitating the means of communication have been adopted.

The most common mode of conveyance at present, in all possible localities, is the jin-riki-sha (man-power-carriage), or “Pull-man car,” as it has been wittily called. This is a two-wheeled “small gig,” or large baby-carriage, pulled by one or more men. A ride in a jinrikisha, after one has become accustomed to human labor in that capacity, is really comfortable and delightful. The coolies who pull these vehicles develop swiftness and endurance, but are comparatively short-lived. There is also a two-wheeled freight cart manipulated in the same fashion. It has been estimated that in the Empire there are almost 1,350,000 hand-carts, about 185,000 jinrikishas, about 28,000 ox-carts, more than 66,000 other freight carts, and almost 100,000 carriages and wagons. The business of transportation thus furnishes occupation to thousands of people, but gives to each engaged therein only a scanty remuneration, which is often insufficient for the support of life, after the tax has been paid. The fee for a jinrikisha ride averages about 12 or 15 sen per ri (2½ miles), or varies from 20 to 30 sen per hour. If a coolie makes 50 sen in one day, he is fortunate, and is lucky to average 25 or 30 sen per day; for some days he may be wearily waiting and watching from dawn to the dead of night without receiving scarcely a copper. Hard, indeed, is their lot; and their death rate is rather high.[30]

But even the jinrikisha will eventually be supplanted for long journeys wherever a railroad goes. There are now in Japan over 6,000 miles of railway, and in Korea and South Manchuria there are 641 and 706 miles more. There is one continuous line of railroad from Aomori in the extreme north to Shimonoseki in the extreme south of the main island, and then, after crossing the Straits of Shimonoseki, there is another unbroken line from Moji to Nagasaki and Kagoshima or Kumamoto. In the island of Yezo (Hokkaidō) is a short line built by American engineers after American models; but all other railroads in Japan were built and are operated according to the British methods. The rate of fare is 1 sen per mile for third class, 2 sen for second class, and 3 sen for first class, and the rate of speed rarely exceeds 20 or 25 miles per hour; but fortunately the people are not in such a hurry as Americans. Recently, however, express trains, running at the rate of 30 or more miles per hour, have been started on several of the roads, especially between large and important places. Dining-cars and sleeping-cars, too, may be found on some of the lines; and the American check system is used for baggage. The government owns most of the railways; in 1906, the Twenty-second Diet adopted a bill for buying up the seventeen largest private lines. This may have been desirable from a strategic point of view; but from the business standpoint it was not advisable, for the government lines are not so well managed. The best line in the country was a private one, the Sanyō Railway Company, operating west from Kōbe.[31]

Railroads have been naturally accompanied, and often preceded, by telegraph lines, which now keep the various parts of the empire in close communication with Tōkyō and with each other. During 1910 the telegrams numbered over 28,000,000, and are increasing rapidly in number every year. The Japanese syllabary has lent itself easily to a code like the Morse Code.[32] Telephones, too, have been introduced and are growing in favor so rapidly that the government cannot keep up with the petitions for installation. According to the latest reports, there were over 100,000 telephones in all Japan. There are many public slot telephones, which can be used for a few minutes for 5 sen.

Horse-cars are largely used in cities, but are being gradually supplanted by electric cars. The bus in the city and the stage in the country are in common use, but cannot be recommended for comfort. Bicycles are very popular, and are cheaply manufactured in Japan; even Japanese women have begun to ride, while young men are very skilful as trick riders and rapid as “scorchers.” Automobiles also are coming into a limited use.

In a country where formerly no ships large enough to make long voyages were allowed to be made, steamship companies are now flourishing. The Ōsaka Shōsen Kwaisha (Osaka Merchant Marine Company) is a very large and prosperous corporation, whose business is chiefly coasting trade, but which also runs to Formosa, the Ryūkyū Islands, the Bonin Islands, Korea, China, and America. The largest steamship company in Japan, and one of the largest in the world, is the Nippon Yūsen Kwaisha (Japan Mail Steamship Company). It has a fleet of 88 vessels with 300,000 tons; and maintains not only a frequent coasting service, but also several foreign lines, to Siberia, Korea, China, India, Australia, Europe, and America. This is the line which runs fortnightly from Seattle to Hongkong with excellent passenger accommodations. The Tōyō Kisen Kwaisha (Oriental Steamship Company) is a Japanese organization with three fine vessels running about once a month from San Francisco to Hawaii, Japan, China, and Manila. The word Maru[33] in such combinations as “America Maru” or “Kaga Maru” is a special suffix always attached to the name of a ship.

In Old Japan there was no official postal system, and letters were despatched by private messengers and relays of couriers. When Japan was opened to the world, some of the foreign nations represented there maintained special post-offices of their own, but these were gradually abandoned. It was in 1872 that the modern postal system of Japan was organized on American models; and it was only five years later when Japan was admitted to the International Postal Union. The twenty-fifth anniversary of this event was celebrated with great éclat in Tōkyō in 1902. The Japanese postal system has been gradually improved during its quarter-century of existence, so that in some respects it excels its model, the United States postal system, and is really one of the most efficient in the world. It includes registration, money orders, parcel post, reply postal cards, postal savings,[34] and universal free delivery. Letter postage is 3 sen within the empire and 10 sen to all countries of the International Postal Union; postal cards are 1½ and 4 sen respectively. We also beg leave to remind Americans that letter postage to Japan is not 2 cents, but 5 cents, per ounce.

Oil is most extensively used for lighting purposes; but gas and electricity are also employed, and bring good dividends to companies furnishing such illumination. A very large amount of oil has been annually imported from the United States and Russia; but as rich fields have been found in Northern Japan,[35] the Standard Oil Company is also interested in a Japanese corporation, the International Oil Company, organized to work Japanese fields. Foreign capital has also been invested in the Ōsaka Gas Company, and is sought by the Tōkyō Gas Company, as well as by several electric and steam railway companies. The first buildings erected for the Imperial Diet were supplied with electric lights, but caught fire in some way, and were totally destroyed. This calamity was laid at the door of a flaw in the electric lighting apparatus, and so frightened the Emperor that he decided not to use the electric lights in the palace; but if my memory serves me rightly, after one or two nights of imperfect and unsatisfactory lighting, he resorted once more to electricity.

The foreign trade of Japan had increased from $13,123,272 in 1868 to $265,017,161 in 1902,—twenty-fold in a third of a century.[36] Of recent years the imports have been larger than the exports; in 1898 they were more than $55,000,000 in excess; in 1900, almost $41,500,000 in excess; but in 1901 the difference was only about $1,750,000. The chief articles of export are silk (either raw, or partly or wholly manufactured), cotton yarn and goods, matches, coal, high-grade rice, copper, camphor, tea, matting, straw braid, and porcelain. The principal imports are raw cotton, shirting and printed cotton, mousseline, wool, cotton velvet, satin, cheap rice, flour, sugar, petroleum, oil cake, peas and beans, machinery, iron and steel (including nails and rails), steamers, locomotives, and railway carriages. The exports are sent chiefly to the United States, Great Britain and colonies (especially Hongkong), China, and France; while the imports come mostly from Great Britain and colonies (especially England, India, and Hongkong), the United States, Germany, France and colonies, and China.

The variety in the geographical distribution of the imports of Japan may be faintly illustrated by the following partial list of supplies taken by an American family from Tōkyō to the summer resort of Hakone: soap from England and America, cocoa from England, butter from California, cornstarch from Buffalo, N. Y., Swiss milk, Holland candles, pickles from England, Scotch oatmeal, American rolled oats and cracked wheat, flour from Spokane Falls, Washington, canned goods from San Francisco, Kansas City, Chicago, and Omaha, and evaporated cream from Illinois.

The first mixed corporation, composed of Japanese and foreigners, to be licensed under the new Commercial Codes after the new treaties went into effect in 1899, was the Nippon Electric Company, in which a large electric company of Chicago is specially interested.

Japan has several stock exchanges and chambers of commerce in various localities, and these are all under the strictest supervision and close restrictions.

It was in 1872 that National Bank Regulations were first issued, and a few banks were established; but in 1876 it was found necessary to make radical amendments in those regulations in the way of affording greater facilities for the organization of banks. The result was that by 1879 there were 153 national banks in the country; and in 1886 the further organization of national banks was stopped. In the mean time the Yokohama Specie Bank had been organized (in 1880) for the support of the foreign trade; and (in 1882) the Bank of Japan (Nippon Ginkō) had been organized to “secure proper regulations of the currency.” In 1897 the Industrial Bank, and later provincial agricultural-industrial banks were organized to give special banking facilities to local agricultural and industrial circles. The Bank of Formosa, the Colonial Bank of Hokkaidō, and a Credit Mobilier complete the list of official institutions. By 1899 all the national banks had either been changed into private banks or had gone out of existence. Private banks number almost 1,700, of which the Mitsui, the Mitsubishi, the Hundredth, the Sumitomo, the Fifteenth (Nobles’), the First, and the Yasuda are the strongest. Savings-banks are also quite numerous (652), and are helping to develop habits of thrift and economy among the common people.[37]

FIRST BANK, TŌKYŌ

The first Japanese mint was established at Ōsaka in 1871, and has been actively at work ever since; and there is an institution in Tōkyō for the manufacture of paper money. The coins now chiefly used the copper, nickel, silver, and gold; but in the country districts it is still possible to find brass coins of less than mill values. The copper pieces are ½ sen (5 rin), 1 sen, and 2 sen; the 5 sen piece is the only nickel coin; the silver pieces are 5 sen, 10 sen, 20 sen, and 50 sen; and the gold coins are 5 yen, 10 yen, and 20 yen. There are also paper notes of 1 yen and upward: these are issued only by the Bank of Japan, and amounted in 1910 to over 400,000,000 yen.

In 1897 Japan adopted the gold standard, so that exchange fluctuations with the Occident are slight, and the Japanese currency has a fixed value, at the rate of about 50 cents for the yen.[38]

Concerning the prospects of industrial and commercial Japan, it may be well to note the views[39] of Baron Shibusawa, one of the foremost of Japanese merchants and financiers. In referring to the capacity of the Japanese for business, the Baron says:—

“There are, however, four peculiarities in the Japanese character which make it hard for the people to achieve business success. These are: Firstly, impulsiveness, which causes them to be enthusiastic during successful business and progressive even to rashness when filled with enthusiasm; secondly, lack of patience, which causes easy discouragement when business is not so successful; thirdly, disinclination for union; and fourthly, they do not honor credit as they should, which is so important a factor in financial success. These four peculiarities are to be met with in Japanese business men in a more or less marked degree.

“Although Japan, as a country, is old, yet her commercial and industrial career being new, there are necessarily many points of incompleteness. For example, although we have many railways, yet there is no close connection made between the railway station and the harbor. Again, although we have railways, yet we have no appropriate cars, etc. To complete such work and to open up the resources of the country, and to allow Japan to benefit from them, we need more capital. The capital we have in the country is not enough. So what is now wanted in Japan is foreign capital. A great proportion of the Japanese people, however, are opposed to the idea of sharing any profits equally with any other nation. Their exclusiveness in this respect is a distinct relic of the old era. They ignore altogether the fact that, with the assistance of foreign capital, the profits would be quadrupled. The very idea of sharing with an outside power is distasteful to them. For instance, I have been endeavoring for many years by word and deed to obtain a revision of the laws relative to the ownership of land in Japan by foreigners. I may say that Marquis Itō and other public men are of my opinion in the matter. Because, however, of this exclusive element in Japan, it has still been found impossible to allow foreigners to own Japanese land. Until this change is made, foreign investors will naturally feel that there is little safety for their investments.

“I am also anxious to introduce the idea of a system of trusteeship in order to encourage foreign nations to invest their money in Japanese enterprises. There are very many uncompleted works in Japan, which need outside money to finish them and which would return good profits. I feel assured that it would be possible for prominent Japanese bankers and capitalists to make themselves personally responsible for the money of the foreign investor. By such a system the security of the investment would be much increased, and the foreign investor would have the assurance that his money was safe, even if the business in which it had been invested may have ceased to exist. The entire loss caused by the failure of Japanese business enterprises would thus be borne by the Japanese.

“The day will come when Japan will compete with the powers already in the field on all lines of manufactured goods, but this time must necessarily be far distant. The trouble at present is that, while the Japanese can imitate everything, they cannot, at the same time, invent superior things. But the trade of the Oriental countries will come to be regarded as Japan’s natural share, and she is already well capable of supplying it.

“The resources of Japan are very varied and very fair in quantity at present. Raw silk and tea are abundant, while coal is plentiful, as also copper and silver; gold is not so much so. I hope to see our plentiful water supply turned into good account and harnessed to produce electric energy. This would be a great saving of expense and would cheapen the cost of production very much. Oil has been found in several districts and will take the place of coal to a large extent, and it is possible that if fully developed its export trade may be made to the neighboring countries. In Hokkaidō we have rich coal and silver mines and oil wells, while in Formosa we have rich gold mines. The iron we use in our iron works in Kiūshiu comes partly from several mines of Japan and partly from China.

“My hope for the future is that foreign capital may be brought into the country and that the economic position of the country may be made so secure as to leave no doubt possible in the mind of the world as to the stability of the Japanese Empire.”

We also take pleasure in quoting the same high authority upon the subject of the present financial situation in Japan, as follows:[40]—

“The present financial difficulty in Japan is only the natural sequence of the over-expansion of business of some years ago. In every country there are waves of prosperity followed by periods of depression. I have known, in the economic history of Japan since the Restoration, five or six such waves. They do not necessarily injure the real financial standing of the country. The peculiarities of the Japanese business character have much to answer for in the way of increasing the appearance of financial insecurity during the times of depression. After the prosperous times of 1893 came the war with China and the subsequent indemnity. Much of the money paid by China was spent in Japan, and the Japanese people came to the conclusion that this increased circulation of money would be permanent. They acted impulsively in many enterprises, and rushed into all kinds of business because the government had over-expanded its enterprises after the war. The depression reached its height in 1900 and 1901, and businesses were abandoned or reduced because it was not such easy work as formerly. By proper management our national income can be made still greater than our expenditure.”

BARON SHIBUSAWA

The national debt of Japan January, 1913, was more than 2,500,000,000 yen ($1,250,000,000), of which almost 1,500,000,000 yen ($750,000,000) was in foreign loans.