JAPAN. 



461 



Court of Cassation receives 5,500 yen and is of 

 the rank appointed by the Mikado. Besides the 

 law college of the Imperial University there are 

 eight private law schools, from all of which 

 about, 1,000 lawyers are graduated annually. 

 Candidates for judgeships pass two competitive 

 examinations. A periodical for reporting law 

 cases throughout the empire is now published in 

 Tokio. 



Population. The annual examination by the 

 Home Department of the population in Japan 

 on Dec. 31, 1889, shows a total of 40,072,020 na- 

 tives, of whom 20,245,336 were males, and 19,- 

 825,084 were females. Classified according to 

 rank, there were 3,825 nobles, 593 being heads 

 and 3,232 members of families ; 1,993,637 gentry, 

 of whom 430,411 were heads, and 1,563,226 were 

 members of families; and 38,074,558 common 

 people, of whom 7,736,764 were heads, and 30,- 

 537,794 were members of families. These figures 

 show an increase of 38,046 houses, and 464,786 

 persons, as compared with the previous year. Of 

 persons over ninety years of age, there were 5,318, 

 females being largely in the majority. There 

 were 7,745,119 couples; and 25,181,782 single 

 persons, of whom 12,801,217 were males, and 12,- 

 385,065 were females. Of the 1,209,910 births, 

 617,863 were males, and 592,047 were females. 

 Of the 808,680 deaths, 413,926 were of males, and 

 394,754 were of females. Still-born children 

 numbered 85,251. There were 340,445 marriages 

 and 107,478 divorces. During the year 15,711 

 Japanese went abroad. The population of Tokio 

 is 1,376,285. 



Finances. The estimates of Count Matsu- 

 kata Masayoshi, Minister of Finance for the 

 twenty-third year of Meyi (1890-'91) were sanc- 

 tioned by the Emperor March 3, 1890. The stand- 

 ard of value used is the silver yen, worth about 

 80 cents in American money. The total revenue 

 is fixed at 81,980,081-42 yen, and the total ex- 

 penditure at 81,978,578-69 yen. The maximum 

 amount of exchequer bills to be issued during the 

 twenty-third fiscal year will be 14,960,000 yen. 

 The items of ordinary revenue are: Land tax, 

 39,530,378 yen ; taxes on sake brewing, 15,158,953 

 yen ; on' tobacco, 1,825,183 yen ; on soy, 1,272,- 

 043 yen ; customs duties, 4,175,542 yen ; the re- 

 mainder of the total of 66,327,507 yen being ob- 

 tained by taxes on incomes, yeast, confectionery, 

 rice exchanges, stock exchanges, national banks, 

 patent medicines, shipping, vehicles, weights and 

 measures, marine products of Hokkaido (Yezo), 

 and by stamp duties, shooting licenses, and li- 

 censes for the purchase and sale of cattle. Other 

 items of ordinary revenue are : Fees and licenses. 

 1,583.491 ; receipts from Government industries 

 and properties, 8,178,181 ; miscellaneous receipts, 

 644,239. The items of extraordinary revenue 

 -amount to 5,246,662 yen, completing the grand 

 total of very nearly 82,000,000 yen revenue. 



Among the expenditures are : For the imperial 

 household, 3,000,000; foreign affairs, 844,636; 

 Department of the Interior, 6,634.678 : Depart- 

 ment of Finance, 30.614,041 ; War Department, 

 11,833,265: navy, 6,053,045; justice, 3,787,062; 

 education, 987,077 ; agriculture and commerce, 

 1,013,382; communications, 4,411,892, making a 

 total of 69,179,082 yen for ordinary expenses, the 

 extraordinary expenditures amounting to 12,- 

 799,496 yen ; the two making a grand total of 



very nearly 82.000,000 yen to be expended. The 

 report of the director of the mint at Osaka, March 

 31, 1889, shows that the amounts of bullion im- 

 ported into the mint were: Gold, 135,304-16 

 ounces, of which 71.931-20 ounces were for con- 

 version into fine goki ingots for the imperial 

 treasury ; silver, 7,717,439^88 ounces, (both met- 

 als being 900 standard) ; and copper, 25,796,956-78 

 ounces. Since the mint was established to March 

 31, 1889, the coinage has amounted to 161,319,- 

 828-74 yen, of which 161,236,992-34 yen have been 

 for circulation. The Japanese currency consists 

 of gold, silver, nickel, copper, and paper ; but the 

 gold is rarely seen. The system is decimal, and 

 there are one coin and three denominations lower 

 than the sen or cent. The Government accounts 

 take note only of the rin or mill which is repre- 

 sented by a wafer-like copper coin. The nickel 

 piece is a half-dime. Shop-keepers often keep ac- 

 counts to the hundreds and thousandths of a cent. 

 The imperial mint at Osaka, and the paper-money 

 factory in Tokio, are operated wholly by native 

 Japanese. Paper money now circulates at par. 

 The total of the domestic and foreign debts con- 

 tracted since the restoration of 1868 is 399,000,- 

 000 yen, of which sum 145,000,000 yen has been 

 repaid. Of the 254,000,000 yen still to be paid, 

 only 5,000,000 yen is foreign debt. It is calcu- 

 lated that in thirty years the national debt will 

 be expunged. 



Public Works and Improvements. The 

 light-house service now comprehends 65 light- 

 houses and light-ships, and 19 buoys and 10 bea- 

 cons, of which three in the first number were 

 added in 1889. On April 9, 1890, the opening 

 of the canal that unites the waters of Lake Biwa 

 with those of the Bay of Osaka was celebrated 

 with imposing ceremonies. This is the comple- 

 tion of a work talked of since the twelfth cent- 

 ury. The length of the main canal is 5 miles, 

 for which 3 tunnels, 2,680, 137, and 934 yards 

 long respectively, have been cut through mount- 

 ains. The main canal is then divided into two 

 branches, one branch for navigation descending 

 120 feet in 1,800 feet v to the plane of the city. 

 Boats are set in a wheeled cradle and pulled up 

 and down by a wire hawser worked by the water 

 power from the canal above. A stretch of canal 

 60 feet wide and 5 feet deep finally joins the Biwa 

 water to Kamo-gawa river, and* thus to Osaka 

 bay and the Pacific Ocean. The total length of 

 this, the main canal, is 6| miles. The second 

 branch at the head of the incline is carried 

 through 3 tunnels over valleys on 14 series of 

 arches, and over 2 rivers, terminating at Kogawa 

 at the north extremity of Kioto, with a total 

 length of 5 miles. The canal carries 300 cubic 

 feet of water per second, of which 250 cubic feet 

 are to be used as mill power with a fall of about 

 120 feet. With one large water wheel used as prime 

 motor, electricity aids to carry the power to the 

 manufacturing parts of Kioto. The cost of the 

 works is borne partly by national and partly by 

 local taxes. 



There are now in Japan 44 post and telegraph 

 offices of the first class, 17 of the second class, 

 and 103 of the third class, with 25 telegraphic 

 agencies at railway stations. 



The Third National Exhibition of Japanese 

 products of industry and art was opened by the 

 Emperor, March 26, at Uyeno Park in Tokio, 



