402 



JAPAN. 



amounting to $16,780.55. The number of de- 

 positors for the year was 289,990; or, alto- 

 gether, 463,118; of whom 46,519 withdrew 

 their deposits. The average amount of each 

 deposit was $28.04. The number of postal 

 savings-banks is 4,496. To foreign countries, 

 330.798 covers were forwarded, and 449,506 

 were received, the difference being chiefly in 

 newspapers; the excess of letters dispatched 

 from Japan is 9,484. Of 497 unclaimed letters 

 sent abroad, 420 were returned to the senders. 

 All letters from foreign countries unclaimed in 

 Japan were sent to the offices of their origin. 



Judicial Statistics. The methods ofjtidicial pro- 

 cedure now in vogue, and based on the reformed 

 codes of law imported from Christendom, are 

 closely approximating the methods of western 

 countries. In 1886, the number of criminal 

 cases tried was 150,252, involving 178,881 per- 

 sons. Of these cases, 4,088 were grave offences, 

 85,173 minor offenses, and 60,991 were viola- 

 tions of rules and ordinances. The sentences 

 were: death, 178; transportation, 2,125; penal 

 servitude, 2,551; confinement, 99,299; fined, 

 48,256 ; attachment, 852 ; fined by the police, 

 14,234; confiscation, 61; the acquittals num- 

 bered 10,995. As compared with 1885, there 

 was an increase of 2,338 cases, and a decrease 

 of 5,291 convictions. This latter item shows 

 the increasing power and influence of the na- 

 tive lawyer, who is now usually educated in 

 one of the schools of law abroad or at home. 

 There are 1,041 licensed practitioners at law; 

 and, in the Law School, Tokio, 1,150 students 

 are in attendance, nearly half of whom study 

 in English. 



Productions. The legendary introduction, 

 A. D. 800, of cotton-seed into Japan by a native 

 of India, is doubted by native scholars, and the 

 historic importation of the seed from China in 

 1558 was the beginning of a national crop and 

 industry, 38 out of the 44 prefectures now pro- 

 ducing it. The seed is sown in the spring in 

 inch-deep drills between the standing wheat 

 or barley, the flowers appearing in August. 

 The yield is about 120 pounds to the acre, the 

 unginned product selling at 4 or 5 cents a 

 pound. The total crop of unginned cotton 

 from 1878 to 1884 was as follows: 1878, 118,- 

 958,000 pounds; 1879, 174,555,000 pounds; 

 1880, 118,681,000 pounds; 1881, 120,679,000 

 pounds; 1882, 115,094,000 pounds; 1883, 139,- 

 511,000 pounds; 1884, 129,490,000 pounds. 

 Sixty pounds of uncleansed cotton produce 21 

 of ginned cotton, or 20 of pure wool. Out of 

 the average crop of 131,000,000 pounds of 

 crude cotton, 44,000,000 pounds of wool are 

 obtained. During the years 1873-' 84, 21,500,- 

 000 pounds of raw cotton was imported, or an 

 average of 3,000,000 pounds annually, making 

 the present yearly supply about 47,000,000 

 pounds. About T 7 -g- of native cotton is used for 

 spinning into yarn, of which ^ is made into 

 thread, and f into cloth ; the remaining \ is 

 stuffed into quilts, winter clothing, etc. The 

 annual average import of cotton-yarn from 



1878 to 1884 was 34,000,000 pounds; during 

 the same time, an average of '28,000,000 pounds 

 of native-made yarn was annually woven into 

 cotton-cloth, making a total annual supply of 

 cotton-yarn in Japan of 62,000,000 pounds. 

 Gin, spindle, and loom, all of the most primi- 

 tive manufacture, are usually found in one 

 house. A good ginner can clean 10 pounds of 

 raw cotton in ten hours for 4 cents, which is 

 his day's wage. One eighth of the seed yields 

 oil, the remainder being pressed for use as 

 manure. One man in a long day can card 

 from 10 to 20 pounds of cotton, at 2 cents per 

 pound. Most of the weaving is done by women, 

 who can spin 1 pound of yarn a day. Every 

 one of the 38,000,000 of the people wear the 

 products of the plant, and from 1867 to 1885 

 the Japanese paid $88,800,000 for imported 

 cotton. There are now 23 spinning-mills using 

 foreign machinery (9 of which have steam as 

 a motor), and employing 74,120 spindles, rep- 

 resenting a capital of $2,000,000, and produc- 

 ing annually 4,914,847 pounds of yarn. One 

 mill in Ozaka, with machinery of the latest 

 pattern, has a capital of $600,000, and declared 

 last year a dividend to shareholders of 18 per 

 cent. All the machinery is imported from 

 England. One mill has 18,000 spindles, but 

 most of them average 2,000 spindles. There 

 is only 1 cotton- weaving mill worked by for- 

 eign machinery, the native machine being the 

 rude hand-loom, which turns out a narrow 

 web of cloth about 34 feet long. A careful 

 study of the conditions of the market is the 

 first requisite for what promises to be a good 

 field for American enterprise in this direction. 



Mercantile Marine. Prior to the arrival of 

 Com. M. C. Perry in 1853, the Japanese pos- 

 sessed no steam or sailing vessel for war or 

 peace built on western principles. All her 

 marine consisted of junks of less than 500 koku 

 (3,300 bushels) burden, all over that capacity 

 having been burned by the edict of lyeyasu in 

 1609. At the present time. Japan has her own 

 navy and dock yards, and her sons design, 

 construct, launch, equip, and navigate all her 

 own war-ships, and many of her sailing and 

 steam merchantmen. At the Yokoska arsenal 

 (appropriately, though unwittingly, located 

 near the tomb of Will Adams, the English pilot 

 who taught the Japanese the art of foreign 

 ship-building early in the seventeenth century), 

 there have been built twenty-six first-class war 

 or trading ships in wood, steel, iron, or as com- 

 posite ; and four are on the stocks. A number 

 of other ship-yards turn out wooden vessels. 



Foreign Trade. The amount of export and 

 import is now over $80,000,000 annually, and 

 is likely soon to retich $100,000,000.' The 

 staple exports are raw silk, tea, marine prod- 

 ucts, coal, rice, pottery, lacquer-ware, camphor, 

 tobacco, etc., 27 articles covering a value of 

 nearly $49,000,000. The imports consist mainly 

 of yarns, piece goods, kerosene- oil, sugar, and 

 manufactures, 28 articles aggregating in value 

 $30,000,000. China takes $7,600,000 in ma- 



