A Handbook of Modern Japan

by Ernest W. Clement

JAPANESE PRONUNCIATION

a like a in father
e „ e „ men
i „ i „ pin
o „ o „ pony
u „ oo „ book
ai as in aisle
ei „ weigh
au as o in bone
ō „ „ „ „
ū as oo in moon

i in the middle of a word and u in the middle or at the end of a word are sometimes almost inaudible.

The consonants are all sounded, as in English: g, however, has only the hard sound, as in give, although the nasal ng is often heard; ch and s are always soft, as in check and sin; and z before u has the sound of dz. In the case of double consonants, each one must be given its full sound.

There are as many syllables as vowels. There is practically no accent; but care must be taken to distinguish between o and ō, u and ū, of which the second is more prolonged than the first.

Be sure to avoid the flat sound of a, which is always pronounced ah.

A HANDBOOK
OF
MODERN JAPAN

CHAPTER I
PHYSIOGRAPHY

Outline of Topics: Situation of country; relation to the United States; lines of communication; “Key of Asia.”—Area of empire.—Divisions: highways, provinces, prefectures, principal cities and ports.—Dense population; natives and foreigners; Japanese abroad.—Mountains, volcanoes, hot springs, earthquakes.—Lakes, rivers, bays, harbors, floods, tidal waves.—Epidemics, pests.—Climate: temperature, winds (typhoons), moisture, ocean currents.—Flora and fauna.—Peculiar position: Japan and the United States.—Bibliography.

THE Japanese may appropriately be called “our antipodal neighbors.” They do not live, it is true, at a point exactly opposite to us on this globe; but they belong to the obverse, or Eastern, hemisphere, and are an Oriental people of another race. They are separated from us by from 4,000 to 5,000 miles of the so-called, but misnamed, Pacific Ocean; but they are connected with us by many lines of freight and passenger vessels. In fact, in their case, as in many other instances, the “disuniting ocean” (Oceanus dissociabilis) of the Romans has really disappeared, and even a broad expanse of waters has become a connecting link between the countries on the opposite shores. It may be, in a certain measure, correct to say, as pupils in geography are taught to express it, that the Pacific Ocean separates the United States from Japan; but it is, in a broader and higher sense, just as accurate to state that this ocean binds us with our Asiatic neighbors and friends in the closest ties. Japan was “opened” by the United States; has been assisted materially, politically, socially, educationally, and morally by American influences in her wonderful career of progress; and she appreciates the kindliness and friendship of our people. We, in turn, ought to know more about our rapidly developing protégé, and no doubt desire to learn all we can concerning Japan and the Japanese.

The development of trade and commerce has been assisted by the power of steam to bring Japan and the United States into close and intimate relations. There are steamship lines from San Francisco, Vancouver, Tacoma, Seattle, Portland, and San Diego to Yokohama or Koōbe; and there are also a great many sailing vessels plying between Japan and America. The routes from San Francisco and San Diego direct to Japan are several hundred miles farther than the routes from the more northerly ports mentioned above. The time occupied by the voyage across the Pacific Ocean varies according to the vessel, the winds and currents, etc.; but it may be put down in a general way at about 14 days. The fast royal mail steamers of the Canadian Pacific line often make the trip in much less time, and thus bring Chicago, for instance, within only a little more than two weeks’ communication with Yokohama. It must, therefore, be evident that Japan is no longer a remote country, but is as near to the Pacific coast of America, in time of passage, as the Atlantic coast of America was twenty years ago to Europe.

It is true that the steamers of the San Francisco and San Diego lines, especially those carrying mails and passengers, go and come via Honolulu, so that the voyage to Japan thus requires a few more days than the direct trip would take. But, as Hawaii is now part of the United States, our country has thus become only about 10 days distant from Japan. Moreover, as the Philippine Islands are also a portion of our country, and Formosa has been for several years a part, of Japan, the territories of the two nations are brought almost within a stone’s throw, and the people almost within speaking distance, of each other. This proximity of the two nations to each other should be an incentive to draw even more closely together the ties, not only historical, commercial, and material, but also political, social, educational, intellectual, moral, and religious, that bind them to each other, and, so far as possible, to make “Japan and America all the same heart.”

But Japan is also an Asiatic country, and thus holds a peculiar relation to the countries on the eastern coast of the mainland of Asia. The islands of Japan stretch along that shore in close proximity to Siberia, Korea, and China, and are not far distant from Siam. With all of those countries she enters, therefore, into most intimate relationship of many kinds. With Russia the relation is one of rivalry, of more or less hostility, at present passive, but likely to be aroused into activity by some unusually exasperating event. In any case, Japan is the only Far-Eastern power that can be relied upon to check the aggressions of Russia; and this fact the wise statesmen of Great Britain have clearly recognized by entering into the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Toward Korea, China, and Siam, Japan sustains a natural position of leadership, because she is far in advance of all those nations in civilization. Ties geographical, racial, social, political, intellectual, and religious, bind them more or less closely together, so that Japan can more sympathetically and thus more easily lead them out into the path of progress. The natural and common routes of trade and travel from the United States to those countries run via Japan, which thus becomes, in more senses than one, “the key of Asia”; and for that very reason she is also the logical mediator between the East and the West.

The Japanese call their country Dai Nihon, or Dai Nippon (Great Japan), and have always had a patriotic faith in the reality of its greatness. But this delightful delusion is rudely dispelled when the fact is expressed statistically, in cold figures, that the area of the Empire of Japan is about 175,000 square miles,[5] or only a little more than that of California. It has, however, a comparatively long coast line of more than 18,000 miles. The name Nihon, or Nippon (a corruption of the Chinese Jih-pên, from which was derived “Japan”), means “sun-source,” and was given because the country lay to the east from China. It is for this reason that Japan is often called “The Sunrise Kingdom,” and that the Imperial flag contains the simple design of a bright sun on a plain white background.[6]

Japan proper comprises only the four large islands, called Hondo, Shikoku, Kyūshiu, and Yezo (Hokkaidō); but the Empire includes also Korea, Formosa, the Pescadores, and about 4,000 small islands, of which the Ryūkyū (Loo Choo) and the Kurile groups are the most important. Japan proper lies mainly between the same parallels of latitude[7] as the States of the Mississippi valley, and presents even more various and extreme climates than may be found from Minnesota to Louisiana.

The extreme northern point of the Empire of Japan is 50° 56´ N., and the extreme southern point is 21° 45´ N. The extreme eastern point is 156° 32´ E., and the extreme western point 119° 18´ E. These extremes furnish even greater varieties of climate than those just mentioned. The Kurile Islands at the extreme north are frigid, and have practically no animal or vegetable life; while the beautiful island of Formosa at the extreme south is half in the tropics, with a corresponding climate, and abounds in most valuable products. Marcus Island, farther out in the Pacific, has guano deposits worth working.

Japan proper is divided geographically into nine “circuits,” called Gokinai, Tōkaidō, Tōsandō, Hokurikudō, Sanindō, Sanyōdō, Nankaidō, Saikaidō, Hokkaidō. The word dō, which appears in all the names except the first, means “road” or “highway.” Some of these appellations are not much used at present; but others are retained in various connections, especially in the names of railways, banks, companies, or schools. A common official division of the largest island (Hondo) is into Central, Northern, and Western. Japan proper was also subdivided into 85 Kuni (Province), the names of which are still retained in general use to some extent. But, for purposes of administration, the empire is divided into 3 Fu (Municipality) and 43 Ken (Prefecture), besides Yezo (or Hokkaidō) and Formosa, each of which is administered as a “territory” or “colony.” The distinction between Fu and Ken is practically one in name only. These large divisions are again divided: the former into Ku (Urban District) and Gun (Rural District); and the latter into Gun. There are also more than 50 incorporated Cities (Shi) within the Fu and Ken.[8] Moreover, the Gun is subdivided into Chō (Town) and Son (Village).

But, while the prefix “great” does not apply to Japan with reference to its extent, it is certainly appropriate to the contents of that country. Within the Empire of Japan are great mountains with grand scenery, great and magnificent temples, great cities, and a great many people. For, while the area of Japan is only one-twentieth of that of the United States, the population is about one-half as numerous. Even in the country districts the villages are almost continuous, so that it is an infrequent experience to ride a mile without seeing a habitation; and in the large cities the people are huddled very closely together. The latest official statistics, those of 1909, give the total population of Japan as 53,500,000, of whom the males exceed the females by about 600,000; and as of late years the annual increase has amounted to about 700,000, the present population (1912) may fairly be estimated at more than 55,000,000.[9]

The number of foreigners resident in Japan in 1909 exceeded 17,000, of whom more than half were Chinese, and less than a quarter were British and American. The number of Japanese in 1909 living abroad was 301,000, of whom 100,000 were in the United States (chiefly in Hawaii), 97,000 in China, and only a few in British territory.

Japan is a mountainous country. The level ground, including artificial terraces, is barely 12 per cent of the area of the whole empire. A long range of high mountains runs like a backbone through the main island. The highest peak is the famous Fuji, which rises 12,365 feet above the sea-level, and is a “dormant volcano,” whose last eruption occurred in 1708. Its summit is covered with snow about ten months in the year.[10] There are several other peaks of more than 8,000 feet elevation, such as Mitake, Akashi, Shirane, Komagatake, Aso, Asama, Bandai, some of which are active volcanoes. Eruptions happen not infrequently; and earthquakes, more or less severe, registered by the seismometer, are of daily occurrence, although most of the shocks are not ordinarily perceptible. There are also several excellent hot springs, of sulphuric or other mineral quality, as at Ikao, Kusatsu, Atami, Hakone, Arima, Onsen. The mountainous character of Japan has also its pleasant features, because it furnishes means of escape from the depressing heat of summer. Karuizawa, Nikkō, Miyanoshita, Hakone, Arima, Chūzenji are the most popular summer resorts.

There are not many, or large, lakes in Japan. Lake Biwa, 50 miles long and 20 miles wide at its widest point, is the largest and most famous. Hakone Lake, the “Asiatic Loch Lomond,” is beautiful, and especially noted for the reflection of Mount Fuji in its water by moonlight. Lake Chūzenji, in the Nikkō mountains, is regarded by many as “unrivalled for beauty” and “hardly surpassed in any land.”

There are many beautiful waterfalls, such as Kegon, Urami, and others in the Nikkō district, Nunobiki at Kōbe, Nachi in Kii, etc.

There are numerous rivers, short and swift; and it is these streams, which, after a rainy season, swelling and rushing impetuously down from the mountains, overflow their sandy banks and cause annually a terrible destruction of life and property. The most important rivers are the Tone, the Shinano, the Kiso, the Kitakami, the Tenryū, in the main island, and the Ishikari in Yezo. The last is the longest (about 400 miles); the next is the Shinano (almost 250 miles); but no other river comes up even to 200 miles in length. The Tenryū-gawa[11] is famous for its rapids. Some of these rivers are navigable by small steamers.

Japan, with its long and irregular coast line, is particularly rich in bays and harbors, both natural and artificial, which furnish shelter for the shipping of all kinds. The “open ports,” which formerly numbered only 6 (Nagasaki, Yokohama, Hakodate, Ōsaka, Kōbe, Niigata), have reached the figure 36; and the growing foreign commerce annually demands further enlargement. Of the old ports, Niigata is of no special importance in foreign commerce; but, of the new ports, Kuchinotsu in Kyūshiu, Muroran in Yezo (Hokkaidō), and especially Bakan and Moji, on opposite sides of the Straits of Shimonoseki, are rapidly growing. In this connection it is, perhaps, not inappropriate to make mention of the far-famed “Inland Sea,” known to the Japanese as Seto-no-uchi (Between the Straits), or Seto-uchi, which lies between the main island, Shikoku and Kyūshiu.

The long coast line of Japan is a source of danger; for tidal waves occasionally spread devastation along the shore. These, with floods, earthquakes, eruptions, typhoons, and conflagrations, make a combination of calamities which annually prove very disastrous in Japan.

The country is subject to epidemics, like dysentery, smallpox, cholera, plague, and “La Grippe,” which generally prove quite fatal. In 1890, for instance, some 50,000 Japanese were attacked by cholera, and about 30,000 died; and during two seasons of the “Russian epidemic” large numbers of Japanese were carried away. In both cases the foreigners living in Japan enjoyed comparative immunity. And now, on account of the advance in medical science, more stringent quarantine, and better sanitary measures, the mortality among Japanese has been considerably diminished: This fortunate result is largely due to the efforts of such men as Dr. Kitasato, whose fame as a bacteriologist is world-wide. The zoölogical pests of Japan are fleas, mosquitoes, and rats, all of which are very troublesome; but modern improvements minimize the extent of their power.

NAGASAKI HARBOR, AND LIGHTHOUSE INLAND SEA

But, in spite of the drawbacks just enumerated, Japan is a beautiful spot for residence. “The aspect of nature in Japan ... comprises a variety of savage hideousness, appalling destructiveness, and almost heavenly beauty.” The climate, though somewhat debilitating, is fairly salubrious, and on the whole is very delightful. The extremes of heat and cold are not so great as in Chicago, for instance, but are rendered more intolerable and depressing by the humidity of the atmosphere. No month is exempt from rain, which is most plentiful from June on through September; and those two months are the schedule dates for the two “rainy seasons.” September is also liable to bring a terrible typhoon. Except in the northern, or in the mountainous, districts, snow is infrequent and light, and fogs are rare. The spring is the most trying, and the autumn the most charming season of the year.[12]

On account of the extent of Japan from north to south, the wide differences of elevation and depression, and the influence of monsoons and ocean currents, there is no uniformity in the climate. For instance, the eastern coast, along which runs the Kuro Shio (Black Stream), with a moderating influence like that of the Gulf Stream, is much warmer than the western coast, which is swept by Siberian breezes and Arctic currents. The excessive humidity is due to the insular position and heavy rainfall. Almost all portions of the country are subject more or less to sudden changes of weather. It is also said that there is in the air a great lack of ozone (only about one-third as much as in most Western lands); and for this reason Occidentals at least are unable to carry on as vigorous physical and mental labor as in the home lands. Foreign children, however, seem to thrive well in Japan.

“Roughly speaking, the Japanese summer is hot and occasionally wet; September and the first half of October much wetter; the late autumn and early winter cool, comparatively dry, and delightful; February and March disagreeable, with occasional snow and dirty weather, which is all the more keenly felt in Japanese inns devoid of fireplaces; the late spring rainy and windy, with beautiful days interspersed. But different years vary greatly from each other.”[13]

In Japan “a rich soil, a genial climate, and a sufficient rainfall produce luxuriant vegetation” of the many varieties of the three zones over which the country stretches. In Formosa, Kyūshiu, Shikoku, and the Ryūkyū Islands, “the general aspect is tropical”; on the main island the general appearance is temperate; while Yezo and the Kurile Islands begin to be quite frigid. The commonest trees are the pine, cedar, maple, oak, lacquer, camphor, camellia, plum, peach, and cherry; but the last three are grown for their flowers rather than for their fruit or wood. The bamboo, which grows abundantly, is one of the most useful plants, and is extensively employed also in ornamentation.

In the fauna of Japan we do not find such great variety. Fish and other marine life are very abundant; fresh-water fish are also numerous; and all these furnish both livelihood and living to millions of people. Birds are also quite numerous; and some of them, like the so-called “nightingale” (uguisu), are sweet singers. The badger, bear, boar, deer, fox, hare, and monkey are found; cats, chickens, dogs, horses, oxen, rats, and weasels are numerous; but sheep and goats are rare. Snakes and lizards are many; but really dangerous animals are comparatively few, except the foxes and badgers, which are said to have the power to bewitch people!

In conclusion, attention should be called once more to the physiographical advantages of Japan, and it may be of interest to set them forth from the point of view of a Japanese who has indulged in some prognostications of the future of his nation. From the insular position of Japan, he assumes an adaptability to commerce and navigation; from the situation of Japan, “on the periphery of the land hemisphere,” and thus at a safe distance from “the centre of national animosities,” he deems her comparatively secure from “the depredations of the world’s most conquering nations”; from the direction of her chief mountain system (her backbone), and “the variegated configurations of her surface,” he thinks that “national unity with local independence” may easily be developed. Likewise, because more indentations are found on the eastern than on the western sides of the Japanese islands, except in the southwestern island of Kyushiu, where the opposite is true; because the ports of California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia are open toward Japan; because the Hoang-Ho, the Yangtze Kiang, and the Canton rivers all flow and empty toward Japan; because the latter thus “turns her back on Siberia, but extends one arm toward America and the other toward China and India”; because “winds and currents seem to imply the same thing [by] making a call at Yokohama almost a necessity to a vessel that plies between the two continents,”—he conceives of his native country as a nakōdo (middleman, or arbiter) “between the democratic West and the Imperial East, between the Christian America and the Buddhist Asia.”

But since these comparisons were made, the geography of Eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean has been altered. Japan has acquired Formosa and Korea; the United States has assumed the responsibility of the Philippines; and China is threatened with partition through “spheres of influence.” Japan, therefore, seems now to be lying off the eastern coast of Asia, with her back turned on Russia with Siberian breezes and Arctic currents, her face turned toward America, with one hand stretched out toward the Aleutian Islands and Alaska and the other toward the Philippines, for the hearty grasp of friendship.