Ominato.
Ominato, on the north coast of the principal island, is a torpedo-boat base. The town lies in a huge bay (Rikuoko Bay) that runs out of the Tsuguru Straits, on the opposite shores of which Hakodate stands.
The country is very mountainous, the highest peak being 3264 feet high, and the lower ones seldom less than a thousand feet.
In the war the Russians once passed through the Tsuguru Straits, but it was a risky proceeding.
Kobé.
Kobé, on the Gulf of Osaka, on the Inland Sea, is a fine roadstead, with western and southern entrances twenty miles apart, the island between them being nearly two thousand feet high in places.
There is a yard here, where all the Japanese-built torpedo craft are constructed.
Kuré.
At Kuré, no great distance away, the Japanese armour-plate plant is being laid down; but at the time of writing things are still in an elementary stage, and it will be some years yet before Japan is able to armour plate her own battleships. Probably, as Russia did, Japan will begin by building her own battleships and importing the armour plates.