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it would be a perfect delight to some ladies whom I know in Cleveland, and whose sharpness at a “bargain” would be more than a match for any one of the two million Japanese in Yeddo. I will say, to their credit, however, that two or three shops here have established a reputation for having but one price—a reform which all foreigners, not “shoppers” from taste and inclination, should encourage.
But before starting out on a shopping excursion, we must be provided with the right kind of money. No foreign gold, much less greenbacks or scrip, is current here. The standard of currency in Japan, China and India is the Mexican silver dollar, which is worth ten per cent. more than European or American gold. Your gold eagle can be exchanged at the banks here, or in China, for nine “Mexicans.” The Japanese coins are, a gold cobang, formerly worth five dollars, but now depreciated; silver ilzaboos—or ’boos, for short—four for a dollar; half and quarter ’boos; an oval copper coin, the tempo, one hundred to the dollar; and copper or bronze cash, about ten to the tempo, or one thousand to a dollar, which circulates only among the very poor classes. But the government has learned some lessons in finance from the Western nations, and within two or three years have issued a large quantity of paper money, representing every denomination from a cobang to a quarter boo. It is printed on thick paper like pasteboard, covered on both sides by Japanese characters, the smallest denomination being about three inches long by one inch wide, the size increasing with the value represented. This paper money has driven the gold and silver coin out of circulation, and is received by everybody, foreign and native, more readily than “Mexican dollars,” which are inconvenient to carry and dangerous from the number counterfeited. It is hinted that the government has no record of the quantity of paper money issued, and in adopting the convenience of making paper represent coin, they must take the chance of an over-issue and a financial crash, of which we Americans have had several experiences in our history.
The “Japs” have no faculty for mental arithmetic. If you ask how much for a dozen or a hundred pieces of an article, instead of raising[errata 1] a pencil to figure it out, they have recourse to a calculating machine,
- ↑ Correction: raising should be amended to using
