4.VI 



JAPAN. 



anese law by Japanese professors. The depart- 

 ment of science is di\ i<led into six courses : (1) 

 cheini-try ; (_') mathematics; (3) phyMcs and 

 ii-tronomy ; (4) biology ; (5) engineering, geol- 

 ogy? (8) mining and metallurgy. The in>t ruc- 

 tion is strongly colored by the new develop- 

 ni. nt tlu-oriea and keeps abreast of the latest 

 speculations. In mathematics and chemistry 

 the course* of instruct ion are very complete. 

 The department of literature is divided into 

 two courses: (1) philosophy, political philoso- 

 phy, and political economy; (2) Japanese and 

 Chinese literature. In the course of philos- 

 uphy the views of the English thinkers of 

 materialistic tendencies are laid before the stu- 

 dents as soon as they are published. It is the 

 design of the Government to dispense with in- 

 struction in the English language as soon as 

 possible, and have all the lectures and exami- 

 nations in Japanese. The president and vice- 

 president are men who have been long identi- 

 fied with the development of the higher educa- 

 tion in Japan. Hiroyuki Kato has been presi- 

 dent from the start. The professors and in- 

 structors number about a dozen Europeans, 

 nearly all English, and three times as many 

 Japanese, with two or three Chinese. The 

 number of students pursuing, in 1881, the ex- 

 ceedingly various and thorough courses was 

 205. Each of the well-instructed graduates is 

 a furtherer of science and culture in Japan. 



The Japanese Government has just published 

 at Yeddo a large dictionary of military, naval, 

 and other technical terms in five languages 

 Japanese, French, English, German, and Dutch. 

 It is the first Japanese dictionary printed on 

 the European plan, and is illustrated with pict- 

 ures engraved with the greatest care. 



The first telegraph was erected in Japan in 

 1871. At the beginning of 1880 there were 

 8,929 miles of line, and 9,345 miles of wire. 

 The number of telegrams sent during the pre- 

 vious year was 1,272,756, of which about 96 

 per cent were in the Japanese language; while 

 the number of cable messages was 22,695. Al- 

 though the Japanese language has no regular 

 alphabet, the sounds of the Katakana syllabary 

 are represented by extending the Morse char- 

 acters to combinations of five dots and dashes. 

 By thus supplementing the signs of the inter- 

 national code, forty-seven characters were ob- 

 tained, and the alphabet has worked with 

 satisfactory results for ten years. Japanese 

 yonths are trained as operators in a telegraph- 

 school. The average charge for a message re- 

 quiring twenty characters is only about two 

 cents for a distance of sixty miles. In 1880 

 there were 112 offices open for general use, and 

 seventy others used by the Government. In 

 1880 the receipts amounted to $528,100, and 

 the expenditures to $495,660, this being the 

 first year in which the receipts were greater 

 than the working expenses. The telegraph 

 was largely used in the field in the Satsuma 

 rebellion of 1877, and contributed materially 

 to the suppression of the revolt. The Sat- 



suma rebels were particularly active in forced 

 marches, but their movements were frustrated 

 every time through the warnings communicated 

 by the wires. For this purpose 511 miles of 

 line were constructed in the rear of the army, 

 light, portable posts being used, the trees util- 

 ized for supports, and vulcanite insulators em- 

 ployed. 



The total number of postal stations on June 

 80, 1880, was 4,377. The number of letters sent 

 was 84,627,343; of postal-cards, 17,345,212; 

 of newspapers, 14,256,795 ; of samples and 

 books, 829,063; letters sent free of charge, 

 1,885,653. The aggregate value of the money 

 orders was 4,604,027 yens. 



The Japanese Government has established 

 a Department of Agriculture. The subjects 

 which the local officials charged with the en- 

 couragement of agriculture in the provinces 

 have submitted to it for consideration are the 

 revision of the methods of preparing statistics of 

 agriculture; exchanges of seeds between differ- 

 ent districts ; the supply of manure ; the investi- 

 gation of the fisheries, and the preservation of 

 fish, sea-weeds, and other marine productions; 

 and the offering of rewards for services tending 

 to the improvement of agriculture. 



Flower-culture has always been pursued with 

 careful attention in Japan. Flowers are seen 

 in every house, rich or poor. New varieties of 

 flowering plants are eagerly bought. Garden- 

 ing and the art of arranging nosegays are taught 

 in the schools. 



When the feudal clan system was finally 

 broken up in 1871, the present administrative 

 division of the country was made. Japan is 

 divided into three fu, thirty-five ken, and one 

 Tian. Each fu is administered by a chiji, or 

 governor ; each Teen by a rei, or prefect ; and 

 the han by a vassal prince. The fu are the 

 districts of the great cities Tokio, Kioto, and 

 Osaka. 



The Supreme Council or Cabinet of the Mi- 

 kado is called the Dai-jo Kuwan, or great gov- 

 erning council, the name being taken from a 

 body which was constituted in the eighth cen- 

 tury. The Council is composed of the Prime 

 Minister, two Vice Prime Ministers, and the 

 Ministers of Foreign and of Home Affairs, cf 

 "War, Finance, the Marine, Public Works, Jus- 

 tice, and Colonies and Agriculture. The en- 

 tire government of the country is conducted by 

 this body. The retention of Sanjo in the office 

 of Dai- jo-Dai -jen, or Prime Minister, has had a 

 considerable effect in reconciling the antago- 

 nisms between adherents of the old and of the 

 new systems. He was one of the leading nobles 

 at the old Kioto court, and was in the beginning 

 an opponent of the changes which he himself 

 afterward aided materially in bringing to pass. 

 He is now accounted a thoroughly devoted sup- 

 porter of the Mikado and the new order of 

 things. The Vice-Minister Iwakura, the in- 

 tellectual leader in the great transition, was 

 also a court noble. He did not become an ad- 

 vocate of unrestricted foreign intercourse, even 



