METEOROLOGY IN JAPAN 139 



RECENT ADVANCES IN METEOROLOGY AND METEOR- 

 OLOGICAL SERVICE IN JAPAN 



Dr. s. tetsu tamura 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



rriEN years ago, after Japan's sweeping victory over China, the world 

 -*- was awakened to realize that the Japanese were more than yellow 

 barbarians. And only a score of months ago, when Japan made a 

 declaration of war, Russia scoffed at Japan's overtures, and the world 

 pitied her. To the American and the European eye, it seemed like 

 simple suicide for Japan to go to war with the seemingly most powerful 

 nation on the earth. The opinion that Japan would be wiped out of 

 existence once prevailed even in well-informed military and naval 

 circles. Japan has, however, crushed the faith and the fear. She has 

 triumphed so completely that the world now recognizes that this nation 

 possesses a great fighting power and mighty fighting machines. But 

 how few, indeed, realize that, behind this warlike scene, our men of 

 science are industriously and ingeniously attacking great problems of 

 nature, making discoveries and inventions, valuable not only for war- 

 fare, but also for the welfare of humanity, and for the progress of 

 science itself. Saying nothing of the knightly spirit of old Samurai, 

 which has been the soul of Japan, the most important factor in the 

 making of new Japan has been her readiness in scientific research and 

 the applications of science to the arts of peace and war. Japan is pre- 

 eminently a land of science. It is said that there are more people in 

 Japan who read the books of Darwin and Huxley, Spencer and Mill, 

 Faraday and Tyndall, than in England, the land where these great 

 thinkers lived. " What will Japan do after peace is attained ? " This 

 question is often asked, and all intelligent Japanese will unanimously 

 answer that "Japan will once more fight a great battle, not naval or 

 military, but intellectual, for the recognition of her scientific achieve- 

 ments in the world." 



Elsewhere I expect to give a full account of the recent progress of 

 science in Japan, but my present task is an attempt to give, within a 

 short space, some idea of the Japanese meteorological service* and 

 recent advances in meteorology. One of the Washington newspapers 

 stated some time ago that even Japan has a weather-bureau system. 



* A full account of the Japanese Weather Service is given in the mono- 

 graph, ' The Organization of Meteorological Service of Japan,' published by the 

 Central Meteorological Observatory, 1904. 



