altogether a novel idea that the public at large, especially the lower
sections of it, should entrust their savings to the government for
safe keeping, especially as the minimum and maximum deposited
at one time were fixed at such petty sums as 10 sen (214d.) and 50 sen
(1s.), respectively. Indeed, in the circumstances, the fact that
£1500 was deposited in the first year must be regarded as notable.
Subsequently deposits were taken in postage stamps, and arrangements
were effected for enabling depositors to pay money to distant
creditors through the bank by merely stating the destination and
the amount of the nearest post office. In 1908 the number of
depositors in the post office savings bank was 8217, and their
deposits exceeded 10 millions sterling. Thirty per cent. of the
depositors belonged to the agricultural classes, 13 to the commercial
and only 6 to the industrial.
Rapid communication by means of beacons was not unknown in ancient Japan, but code-signalling by the aid of flags was not introduced until the 17th century and was probably suggested by observing the practice of foreign merchantmen. Its use, however, was peculiar. The central office stood Telegraphs. at Osaka, between which city and many of the principal provincial towns rudely constructed towers were placed at long distances, and from one to another of these intelligence as to the market price of rice was flashed by flag-shaking, the signals being read with telescopes. The Japanese saw a telegraph for the first time in 1854, when Commodore Perry presented a set of apparatus to the shōgun, and four years later the feudal chief of Satsuma (Shimazu Nariakira) caused wires to be erected within the enclosure of his castle. The true value of electric telegraphy was first demonstrated to the Japanese in connexion with an insurrection in 1877, under the leadership of Saigo, the favourite of this same Shimazu Nariakira. Before that time, however, a line of telegraph had been put up between Tōkyō and Yokohama (18 m.) and a code of regulations had been enacted. Sudden introduction to such a mysterious product of foreign science created superstitious dread in the minds of a few of the lower orders, and occasional attempts were made at the outset to wreck the wires. In 1886 the postal and telegraph offices were amalgamated and both systems underwent large development. Whereas the length of wires at the end of the fourth year after the introduction of the system was only 53 m., and the number of messages 20,000, these figures had grown in 1907 to 95,623 and 25 millions, respectively. Several cables are included in these latter figures, the longest being that to Formosa (1229 m.). Wireless telegraphy began to come into general use in 1908, when several vessels belonging to the principal steamship companies were equipped with the apparatus. It had already been employed for some years by the army and navy, especially during the war with Russia, when the latter service installed a new system, the joint invention of Captain Tonami of the navy, Professor S. Kimura of the naval college and Mr M. Matsushiro of the department of communications. The telegraph service in Japan barely pays the cost of operating and maintenance.
The introduction of the telephone into Japan took place in 1877, but it served official purposes solely during 13 years, and even when (1890) it was placed at the disposal of the general public its utilities found at first few appreciators. But this apathy soon yielded to a mood of eager employment, and Telephones. the resources of the government (which monopolized the enterprise) proved inadequate to satisfy public demand. Automatic telephones were ultimately set up at many places in the principal towns and along the most frequented highways. The longest distance covered was from Tōkyō to Osaka (348 m.). In 1907 Japan had 140,440 m. of telephone wires, 262 exchanges, 159 automatic telephones, and the approximate number of messages sent was 160 millions. The telephone service pays a net revenue of about £100,000 annually.
Agriculture.—The gross area of land in Japan—excluding Formosa and Sakhalin—is 89,167,880 acres, of which 53,487,022 acres represent the property of the crown, the state and the communes, the rest (35,680,868 acres) being owned by private persons. Of the grand total the arable lands represent 15,301,297 acres. With regard to the immense expanse remaining unproductive, experts calculate that if all lands inclined at less than 15° be considered cultivable, an area of 10,684,517 acres remains to be reclaimed, though whether the result would repay the cost is a question hitherto unanswered. The cultivated lands are thus classified, namely, wet fields (called also paddy fields or rice lands), 6,871,437 acres; dry fields (or upland farms), 5,741,745 acres, and others, 2,688,115 acres.
Paddy fields are to be seen in every valley or dell where farming is practicable; they are divided into square, oblong or triangular plots by grass-grown ridges a few inches in height and on an average a foot in breadth—the rice being planted in the soft mud thus enclosed. Narrow pathways intersect Rice. these rice-valleys at intervals, and rivulets (generally flowing between low banks covered with clumps of bamboo) feed ditches cut for purposes of irrigation. The fields are generally kept under water to a depth of a few inches while the crops are young, but are drained immediately before harvesting. They are then dug up, and again flooded before the second crop is planted out. The rising grounds which skirt the rice-land are tilled by the hoe, and produce Indian corn, millet and edible roots. The well-wooded slopes supply the peasants with timber and firewood. Thirty-six per cent. of the rice-fields yield two crops yearly. The seed is sown in small beds, and the seedlings are planted out in the fields after attaining the height of about 4 in. The finest rice is produced in the fertile plains watered by the Tone-gawa in the province of Shimōsa, but the grain of Kaga and of the two central provinces of Settsu and Harima is also very good.
Not only does rice form the chief food of the Japanese but also the national beverage, called sake, is brewed from it. In colour the best sake resembles very pale sherry; the taste is rather acid. None but the finest grain is used in its manufacture. Of sake there are many varieties, from the best Sake. quality down to shiro-zake or “white sake,” and the turbid sort, drunk only in the poorer districts, known as nigori-zake; there is also a sweet sort, called mirin.
The various cereal and other crops cultivated in Japan, the areas devoted to them and the annual production are shown in the following table:—
| 1898. Acres. |
1902. Acres. |
1906. Acres. | ||||
| Rice | 7,044,060 | 7,117,990 | 7,246,982 | |||
| Barley | 1,649,240 | 1,613,270 | 1,674,595 | |||
| Rye | 1,703,410 | 1,688,635 | 1,752,095 | |||
| Wheat | 1,164,020 | 1,210,435 | 1,107,967 | |||
| Millet | 693,812 | 652,492 | 594,280 | |||
| Beans | 1,503,395 | 1,488,600 | 1,478,345 | |||
| Buckwheat | 450,100 | 414,375 | 402,575 | |||
| Rape-seed | 377,070 | 392,612 | 352,807 | |||
| Potatoes | 92,297 | 105,350 | 140,197 | |||
| Sweet Potatoes | 668,130 | 693,427 | 717,620 | |||
| Cotton | 100,720 | 51,750 | 24,165 | |||
| Hemp | 62,970 | 42,227 | 34,845 | |||
| Indigo (leaf) | 122,180 | 92,982 | 40,910 | |||
| 1903. | 1905. | 1906. | ||||
| Sugar Cane | 41,750 | 43,308 | 45,087 | |||
It is observable that no marked increase is taking place in the area under cultivation, and that the business of growing cotton, hemp and indigo is gradually diminishing, these staples being supplied from abroad. In Germany and Italy the annual additions made to the arable area average 8% whereas in Japan the figure is only 5%. Moreover, of the latter amount the rate for paddy fields is only 3.3% against 7.9% in the case of upland farms. This means that the population is rapidly outgrowing its supply of home-produced rice, the great food-stuff of the nation, and the price of that cereal consequently shows a steady tendency to appreciate. Thus whereas the market value was 5s. 5d. per bushel in 1901, it rose to 6s. 9d. in 1906.
Scarcely less important to Japan than the cereals she raises are her silk and tea, both of which find markets abroad. Her production of the latter staple does not show any sign of marked development, for though tea is almost as essential an article of diet in Japan as rice, its foreign consumers are Silk and Tea. practically limited to the United States and their demand does not increase. The figures for the 10-year period ended 1906 are as follow:—
| Area under cultivation (acres). |
Tea produced (℔ av.). | |||
| 1897 | 147,230 | 70,063,076 | ||
| 1901 | 122,120 | 57,975,486 | ||
| 1906 | 126,125 | 58,279,286 | ||
Sericulture, on the contrary, shows steady development year by year. The demand of European and American markets has very elastic limits, and if Japanese growers are content with moderate, but still substantial, gains they can find an almost unrestricted sale in the West. The development from 1886 to 1906 was as follows:—
| Raw silk produced yearly (℔). | ||
| Average from 1886 to 1889 | 8,739,273 | |
| 1895 | 19,087,310 | |
| 1900 | 20,705,644 | |
| 1905 | 21,630,829 | |
| 1906 | 24,215,324 | |
The chief silk-producing prefectures in Japan, according to the order of production, are Nagano, Gumma, Yamanashi, Fukushima, Aichi and Saitama. At the close of 1906 there were 3843 filatures throughout the country, and the number of families engaged in sericulture was 397,885.
Lacquer, vegetable wax and tobacco are also important staples of production. The figures for the ten-year period, 1897 to 1906, are as follow:—
