JAPAN. 



441 



twenty years on the average. Thermal springs 

 are scattered all over the empire, and occur in 

 places remote from the active volcanoes. They 

 are counted by hundreds. Sulphur and neutral 

 waters predominate, while decided chalybe- 

 ate and alkaline springs are exceptional. The 

 favorite temperature of 40-50 0. is common; 

 but some, notably the sulphur-baths, reach the 

 boiling temperature. The Hakone Mountains, 

 in the Peninsulas of Idju and Atami, are par- 

 ticularly rich in hot springs. 



Geological explorations have, until a recent 

 examination, which has been confided to Ger- 

 man geologists, been confined to researches for 

 useful minerals. Gold, silver, quicksilver, tin, 

 zinc, and lead are present in no great quanti- 

 ties; but copper and antimony are abundant, 

 and coal and iron have been found in large 

 quantities. Coal-beds have been discovered in 

 numerous parts of the country, but principally 

 on the Island of Yesso. They are not very 

 thick nor of the best quality, but contain all 

 varieties from the oldest anthracite to the most 

 recent bituminous deposits. Petroleum is ob- 

 tained in several provinces, but not in sufficient 

 quantities to supply the home demand. 



The climate of Japan, allowing for the wide 

 difference in latitude between the northern 

 and southern portions of the island empire, 

 is essentially regulated by the monsoons. It 

 takes its character from the warm, moist south 

 winds of the summer and the cold and raw 

 north and northwest winds of the winter. The 

 east and west coasts vary considerably in 

 climatic character. The coast-lands on the 

 Yellow and Japan Seas resemble the opposite 

 coast of the Asiatic Continent in their hot and 

 moist summer and long and relatively cold 

 winter, while the other side of the islands, 

 under the influence of the Kuro Siwo, is char- 

 acterized by cooler summers and milder winters 

 and by constant moisture throughout the year. 

 The winter is so severe as to limit the period 

 of vegetation for most plants to five months in 

 Yesso, to six months in middle, and to seven 

 months of the year in southern Japan; the 

 growth of even the evergreen trees is inter- 

 rupted. Even in the south vegetation is still 

 very backward in April; but in the beginning 

 of May commences the luxuriant and rapid 

 development of a flora which is tropical in its 

 profusion and variety. The rich and strange 

 insular flora of Japan deserves the attention 

 which botanists have given to it. The Japanese 

 themselves, by their careful descriptions and 

 drawings of plants, which they were prompted 

 to make by their national love of flowers and 

 by their cultivation of the ancient Chinese 

 medical art, have assisted the systematic bota- 

 nists considerably to understand these peculiar 

 forms which throw a new light on the questions 

 of the development of the vegetable kingdom 

 and the geographical distribution of plants. 

 The climatic paradoxes are exaggerated in the 

 familiar illustration of the bamboo and the 

 palm growing side by side with the fir and the 



evergreen oak. The bamboo reed is the 

 product of artificial culture, and is not raised, 

 except in spots, north of the Bay of Yeddo. 

 The indigenous Cycas revoluta must be pro- 

 tected at Tokio by straw bands from the wintry 

 frosts. 



According to the seventh annual report of 

 the Minister of Education, there are 28,025 

 common schools, of which 16,710 are public 

 and the remainder private, an increase of 1,316 

 and 125 respectively within the year. There 

 are, besides these, a great number of primary 

 and kindergarten schools. The law of 1872 

 provided for the gradual establishment of 

 53,000 elementary schools. Of the 5,251,807 

 children of school age, 40 per cent are now re- 

 ceiving instruction. In the 31 public and 358 

 private middle schools 20,000 pupils are in- 

 structed. The zeal for knowledge attracts 

 hundreds of students to the house of a private 

 master, famed for thought and erudition, espe- 

 cially in European culture, and is comparable 

 only to that displayed in Europe at the time 

 of the revival of letters. The most famous of 

 these leaders of youth is Fukusawa, of Tokio, 

 author of many treatises on political and social 

 subjects and translations from European lan- 

 guages. His students fill many important 

 offices in the state. Some of them have estab- 

 lished a newspaper, in which they criticise the 

 acts of the Government with vigor and acu- 

 men. There are 112 daily newspapers and 132 

 periodical journals, with an annual circulation 

 of 33,500,000 copies. The direction of the ex- 

 traordinary intellectual activity existing in Ja- 

 pan is revealed in the character of the books 

 licensed to be printed by the Interior Depart- 

 ment. In 1881, 545 works on political subjects 

 were issued, against 281 in 1880; 255 on law, 

 against 207. In the natural sciences and math- 

 ematics there was a decrease, in the latter, from 

 116 to 107 only. Books on ethical subjects in- 

 creased from 32 to 93 ; on historical subjects, 

 from 196 to 276 ; on poetry and poetical works, 

 from 491 to 556 ; on drawing and writing, from 

 127 to 339 ; on engineering, from 8 to 28 ; on 

 commerce, from 70 to 113. School-books are 

 more numerous than any other class, 704 hav- 

 ing been published, 4 less than the preceding 

 year. There were 266 journals founded in 

 1880, of which 47 succumbed. Of the 149 

 new newspapers started in 1881 only 35 sur- 

 vived. Only one paper of the 415 started in 

 the two years was suppressed by the Govern- 

 ment. The total number of works published 

 in 1881 was 4,910, against 3,792 in 1880. Very 

 many are translations or adaptations from Eu- 

 ropean or American books. 



FOREIGN RELATIONS. Japan, like China, is 

 bound in its commercial treaties with Western 

 nations, under the lead of England, by harsh 

 restrictions as to the amount of duties it is 

 allowed to impose upon imports. The Tokio 

 statesmen have endeavored for one or two 

 years to secure a relaxation of these conditions 

 in order to raise the larger revenues which are 



