Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Jacobites" to "Japan" (part) / Volume 15, Slice 2

by Various

	Built in Japan.		Purchased abroad.
Year.	Steamers.	Sailing Vessels.	Steamers.	Sailing Vessels.
1898	479	1301	194	9
1899	554	2771	199	12
1900	653	3302	206	7
1901	754	3559	215	6
1902	813	3585	220	6
1903	855	5304	233	8
1904	947	3324	277	8
1905	1028	3508	357	11
1906	1100	3859	387	11
1907	1150	4033	419	12

In the building of iron and steel ships the Japanese are obliged to import much of the material used, but a large steel-foundry has been established under government auspices at Wakamatsu in Kiūshiū, that position having been chosen on account of comparative proximity to the Taiya iron mine in China, where the greater part of the iron ore used for the foundry is procured.

Simultaneously with the growth of the mercantile marine there has been a marked development in the number of licensed mariners; that is to say, seamen registered by the government as having passed the examination prescribed by law. Seamen. In 1876 there were only 4 Japanese subjects who satisfied that definition as against 74 duly qualified foreigners holding responsible positions. In 1895 the numbers were 4135 Japanese and 835 foreigners, and ten years later the corresponding figures were 16,886 and 349 respectively. In 1904 the ordinary seamen of the mercantile marine totalled 202,710.

There are in Japan various institutions where the theory and practice of navigation are taught. The principal of these is the Tōkyō shōsen gakkō (Tōkyō mercantile marine college, established in 1875), where some 600 of the men now Education of Mariners. serving as officers arid engineers have graduated. Well equipped colleges exist also in seven other places, all having been established with official co-operation. Mention must be made of a mariners’ assistance association (kaiin ekizai-kai, established in 1800) which acts as a kind of agency for supplying mariners to shipowners, and of a distressed mariners’ relief association (suinan kyūsai-kai) which has succoured about a hundred thousand seamen since its establishment in 1899.

The duty of overseeing all matters relating to the maritime carrying trade devolves on the department of state for communications, and is delegated by the latter to one of its bureaus (the Kwansen-kyoku, or ships superintendence Maritime Administration. bureau), which, again, is divided into three sections: one for inspecting vessels, one for examining mariners, and one for the general control of all shipping in Japanese waters. For the better discharge of its duties this bureau parcels out the empire into 4 districts, having their headquarters at Tōkyō, Osaka, Nagasaki and Hakodate; and these four districts are in turn subdivided into 18 sections, each having an office of marine affairs (kwaiji-kyoku).

Competition between Japanese and foreign ships in the carriage of the country’s over-sea trade soon began to assume appreciable dimensions. Thus, whereas in 1891 the portion carried in Japanese bottoms was only 1½ millions sterling Competition between Japanese and Foreign Ships. against 12½ millions carried by foreign vessels, the corresponding figures in 1902 were 20½ millions against 32¼ millions. In other words, Japanese steamers carried only 11% of the total trade in 1891, but their share rose to 39% in 1902. The prospect suggested by this record caused some uneasiness, which was not allayed by observing that while the tonnage of Japanese vessels in Chinese ports was only 2% in 1896 as compared with foreign vessels, the former figure grew to 16% in 1902; while in Korean ports Japanese steamers almost monopolized the carrying trade, leaving only 18% to their foreign rivals, and even in Hong-Kong the tonnage of Japanese ships increased from 3% in 1896 to 13% in 1900. In 1898 Japan stood eleventh on the list of the thirteen principal maritime countries of the world, but in 1907 she rose to the fifth place. Her principal company, the Nippon yusen kaisha, though established as lately as 1885, now ranks ninth in point of tonnage among the 21 leading maritime companies of the world. This company was able to supply 55 out of a total fleet of 207 transports furnished by all the steamship companies of Japan for military and naval purposes during the war with Russia in 1904-5. It may be noted in conclusion that the development of Japan’s steam-shipping during the five decades ended 1907 was as follows:—

	Tons.
At the end of 1868	17,952
At the end of 1878	63,468
At the end of 1888	197,365
At the end of 1898	648,324
At the end of 1907	1,115,880

There Open Ports. are 33 ports in Japan open as places of call for foreign steamers. Their names with the dates of their opening are as follow:—

Name.	Date of Opening.	Situation.
Yokohama	1859	Main Island.
Kobe	1868	”
Niigata	1867	”
Osaka	1899	”
Yokkaichi	”	”
Shimonoseki	”	”
Itozaki	”	”
Taketoyo	”	”
Shimizu	”	”
Tsuruga	”	”
Nanao	”	”
Fushiki	”	”
Sakai	”	”
Hamada	”	”
Miyazu	”	”
Aomori	1906	”
Nagasaki	1859	Kiūshiū.
Moji	1899	”
Hakata	”	”
Karatsu	”	”
Kuchinotsu	”	”
Misumi	”	”
Suminoye	1906	”
Izuhara	1899	Tsushima.
Sasuna	”	”
Shikami	”	”
Nafa	”	Riūkiū.
Otaru	”	Yezo.
Kushiro	”	”
Mororan	”	”
Hakodate	1865	”
Kelung	1899	Formosa.
Tamsui	”	”
Takow	”	”
Anping	”	”

Emigration.—Characteristic of the Japanese is a spirit of adventure: they readily emigrate to foreign countries if any inducement offers. A strong disposition to exclude them has displayed itself in the United States of America, in Australasia and in British Columbia, and it is evident that, since one nation cannot force its society on another at the point of the sword, this anti-Asiatic prejudice will have to be respected, though it has its origin in nothing more respectable than the jealousy of the labouring classes. One result is an increase in the number of Japanese emigrating to Korea, Manchuria and S. America. The following table shows the numbers residing at various places outside Japan in 1904 and 1906 respectively:—