424 



JAPAN. 



stitutional monarchies of Europe. The Mika- 

 do carries on the administration through the 

 dai jo kuan, or supreme executive, consisting 

 of the premier and the " left " and ' right " 

 junior prime-ministers ; the sa in, or left cham- 

 ber of the Council of State, consisting of seven 

 high councilors ; and the u in, or right cham- 

 ber of the Council of State, consisting of all the 

 ministers and vice-ministers who are heads of 

 departments, nine in number. At the head of 

 the local administration of the fus and kens is 

 a prefect, whose powers and attributes are far 

 more extensive than those of any similar func- 

 tionaries in Europe. Sentences involving ban- 

 ishment or death can, however, not be carried 

 into execution by them until they have been 

 confirmed by the Minister of Justice. 



The budget for the financial year 1875 to 

 1876, ratified by the Imperial Council Decem- 

 ber 22, 1875, was as follows (value expressed 

 in yens, 1 yen = $1) : 



REVENUE . 



1. Land-tax 51,505,967 



2. Alcoholic liquors 1,618,088 



3. Post-Office and stamps 1,676,335 



4. Customs duties 1,744,837 



5. Income-tax 2,876,095 



6. Tax on ships, railroad-cars, carriages, hunting, 



tobacco, etc 1,080,689 



7. Tribute of the Liu-Kiu Islands 50,744 



8. Kevenue from public works: railroads, tele- 



graphs, mines, silk-manufactures, etc. . . . 1,841,753 



9. Mint 675,240 



10. From public lands 126,455 



11. Tax on public buildings 1,696,454 



12. Sale of public property 811,281 



13. From sums due to the Government 8,087,728 



14. Miscellaneous receipts 401,655 



Total 



EXPENDITURE. 



1. Public debt 4,345,655 



2 Pensions and indemnification of the deposed 



princes 17,805.866 



8. State government 24,922,816 



4. Provincial government 4,800,000 



5. Police department 1,600,000 



6. For the Shinto temples 220,000 



7. Embassadors and consuls 515.000 



8. Support of public buildings, canals, etc 1.870,000 



9. For the case of mobilization 5,000,000 



10. Miscellaneous receipts 8,420,169 



Total 68,498,506 



The principal items among the expenditures 

 for the several departments of the state gov- 

 ernment were as follows: 



"War 6.960,000 



Navy 2JOO,000 



Public Works 4,750.000 



Public Instruction 1,700.000 



Justice 1,250,000 



Civil list 950,000 



Colonization 1,799,716 



Interior 2,300,000 



The public debt at the close of 1875 was re- 

 ported to be as follows : 



Home debt 38,004,849 



Foreign debt 14,480,912 



Paper-money 94,808,819 



Total 142,289,580 



The following countries were in 1876 repre- 

 sented in Japan by diplomatic agents: the 



"United States of America, Belgium, Denmark, 

 Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Nether- 

 lands, Austro-Hungary, Peru, Portugal, Rus- 

 sia, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland. Spain. 



An imperial edict of December 28, 1872, 

 made liability to military service universal, but, 

 in deference to national traditions and preju- 

 dices, numerous reasons for release from mili- 

 tary service and ransom were admitted. For 

 an entire ransom the sum of $270 has to be 

 paid. In 1875 a new law was passed for the 

 reorganization of the army, which will here- 

 after consist of three parts: 1. The Yobigoon, 

 or standing army, in which every citizen, after 

 attaining the twentieth year, must serve for 

 three years; 2. The Kobigoon, or reserve, in 

 which the soldiers discharged from the stand- 

 ing army serve for four years ; 3. Konumin- 

 goon, a Landwehr, united with a kind of na- 

 tional guard. All subjects, from the fourteenth 

 to the fortieth year of age, belong to this class, 

 which, however, is called upon only when an 

 enemy is in the country, and the Kobigoon has 

 been enrolled in the active army. For the 

 present the army contains about 35,380 men, 

 of whom 30,000 belong to the infantry. The 

 empire is divided into six military districts: 

 Tokio, Ozaka, Kiushiu (with the seat in Kuma- 

 moto), Nagoya, Hiroshima, and that of the 

 Northeast, with the seat in Shenda'i. The 

 navy numbered twenty-one vessels, among 

 which were two iron-clad corvettes, with an ag- 

 gregate of sixty guns. It was manned by 3,672 

 men, among whom there were 272 officers. 

 The aggregate length of the railroads in opera- 

 tion is 105 kilometres. There are three lines, 

 Tokio & Yokohama, Hiogo & Ozaka, and Ozaka 

 & Kioto. The six lines of electric telegraph 

 have an aggregate length of 2,832 kilometres. 

 The number of post-offices in 1874 was 3,244, 

 and the number of letters forwarded 17,095,842. 



The scheme of the present system of educa- 

 tion was promulgated in 1872. According to 

 this the empire is divided into eight educational 

 divisions, in each of which there is a univer- 

 sity, or dai gakko, with thirty-two middle 

 schools, colleges, or gymnasia, and 210 gram- 

 mar-schools or academies. In all these schools 

 foreign languages and the sciences are to be 

 taught. The vernacular schools will number 

 about 54,000, or about one for every six hun- 

 dred of the population. According to the 

 latest statistics, there are 30,000 public schools 

 in operation, with nearly 2,000,000 pupils, and 

 45,000 teachers. There are also seven normal 

 schools, the principal one being in Tokio. The 

 universities and technical schools re under the 

 direct control of the central Government, v> hile 

 the public vernacular schools are under the care 

 of the local or ken authorities. Each of the 

 seventy-two kens has a bureau of inspection, 

 while examiners and supervisors are regularly 

 sent out from Tokio for the express purpose of 

 keeping up and improving the standard of edu- 

 cation. In addition to the schools under the 

 department of education (Mom Bu Sho), nearly 



