392 



JAPAN. 



Osaka. At present only six foreigners are em- 

 ployed in the Japanese military service. The 

 chief arsenal, at Koishikawa, in Tokio, equipped 

 with English machinery, turns out 100 rifles and 

 30,000 cartridges (or 70,000 if necessary) daily. 

 The Murata rifle, invented by a Japanese colonel, 

 is in use, and the powder, which produces little 

 smoke and makes little noise, is an invention of 

 the Japanese Artillery Committee. By con- 

 scription and organization the total effective 

 strength of the Japanese army is 209,326. The 

 actual number of men under arms in the seven 

 military districts, including the ordinary garri- 

 son of 9,210, together with the Imperial Guard 

 of 5,591, always in Tokio, is 58,803. Military 

 schools and gendarmes furnish 4,286 ; reserves 

 and territorial army, 146,212 ; central staff, 2,014 : 

 making in all : staff officers, 450 ; commissioned 

 officers, 3,360 ; non-commissioned officers, 10,391 ; 

 rank and file, 193,804. The proportion of con- 

 scripts per 1,000 inhabitants is 16-94. Of the con- 

 scripts themselves, only 4-23 have been taken for 

 actual service, while 40'59 of the total number 

 were entirely exempted. The Japanese navy 

 is organized like that of Great Britain, and is 

 officered and manned entirely by natives. In 

 1889 there were 32 ships of war of 49,616 tons 

 displacement and of 52,481 horse-power, mount- 

 ing 182 guns, and manned by 5,889 men of all 

 grades. A majority of the war ships and trans- 

 ports have been built in Japan, but the steel ves- 

 sels of the first class in England. Fifteen 

 torpedo boats and several large steel men-of-war 

 are building in Europe for the Japanese navy, 

 which has now a sea-going squadron of 6 steel 

 and iron ships armed with ordnance of high pow- 

 er. Until 1884 service in the navy was wholly 

 by volunteers ; at present the proportion of 

 conscripts to volunteers is 7 to 20. The total 

 personnel of the naval establishment is 15,585. 

 The total annual cost of the army and navy is 

 26'52 per cent, of the national expenditure. 



The Imperial Diet. The Upper and Lower 

 Houses of the Imperial Diet were opened in due 

 form in November, 1890, and held sessions dur- 

 ing ninety-nine days, adjourning March 8, 1891. 

 On the 20th of January the edifices, especially 

 built for the purpose and magnificently fur- 

 nished in modern style, were consumed by fire. 

 The cause alleged was the electric-lighting ap- 

 paratus, which the Tokio Electric-lighting Com- 

 pany deny. The bills that passed both houses 

 were : Postponement of the execution of the new 

 commercial code, supplementary rules of special 

 export ports, law relating to the appropriations 

 for new war ships, law of weights and measures, 

 revision of term for collection of land tax, 

 and reduction of the budget for the fiscal year 

 1891. The chief debates and most exciting in- 

 terest centered upon the proposal of the budget 

 committee of the Diet for a reduction, amount- 

 ing to 9,000,000 yen of the Government's figures. 

 After a deadlock between Cabinet and Diet, and 

 under an implied threat of dissolution, the Diet 

 yielded, but not until a reduction from 72,000,000 

 to about 65,000,000 had been acceded to by the 

 Cabinet. 



Since the closing of the Diet there has been 

 a steady growth 01 party organization on lines 

 of opposition to the present Cabinet, with the 

 determination to overthrow it if possible. The 



key to the situation is this : Representative gov- 

 ernment is established in form, but not in fact, 

 nor will it be so long as the Cabinet ministers are 

 responsible only to the Emperor and not to the 

 people. " The Irresponsible Cabinet " is the 

 nickname freely applied to the Government. On 

 the assembling of the Diet for its second session, 

 Nov. 26, 1891, the opposition to the Cabinet at 

 once took pronounced form. The budget commit- 

 tee of the Diet recommended a reduction of the 

 estimates to the amount of 7,942,748 yen. With 

 a large standing army, and expenses of army 

 and navy put in the "fixed expenditures " im- 

 pregnable to popular criticism, " government by 

 party," for which the majority of the represent- 

 atives agitate, is not possible. The crisis was 

 precipitated March 25, when, after a prolonged 

 series of votes and resolutions carried against the 

 Government, the Cabinet ministers met at the 

 official residence of the Minister President and 

 unanimously voted to dissolve the Lower and 

 prorogue the Upper House. The Imperial Re- 

 script was issued the same evening. No date is 

 yet (Jan. 30) fixed for the new elections. 

 Earthquake. Besides inundations causing 



treat loss, the most destructive earthquake 

 nown to Japan since 1854 took place in cen- 

 tral Japan at 6:30 A. M., Oct. 28. In a few 

 minutes 8,000 people were killed or buried under 

 the ruins of their houses, which quickly caught 

 fire. Over 10,000 persons were reported wounded, 

 many of them fatally, 90,000 houses were de- 

 stroyed, whole villages and towns ruined, river 

 banks broken, bridges twisted like writhing ser- 

 pents, railways spoiled for miles, and public 

 works destroyed. Rice fields rose and fell like 

 waves of the ocean, houses were in some instances 

 turned upside down, and groves of trees moved 

 several rods. About 40,000 square miles were 

 visited with instant and appalling severity, the 

 greatest disasters being limited to the rich val- 

 leys of Aichi and Gifu, noted centers of porce- 

 lain manufacture. The earthquake storm lasted 

 many days, so that at times it was impossible to 

 walk or stand. In one day 700 minor shocks 

 were counted, and in one month 1,700. Private 

 aid, though liberal, being unequal to the emer- 



gmcy, the Government, without waiting for the 

 iet, appropriated 2,500,000 yen to the relief of 

 the sufferers, and since the dissolution of the 

 Diet has devoted nearly 4,000,000 yen to repair 

 the public works and restore the industries of 

 the desolated region. 



Minor Events. Among the deaths of the 

 year are those of Prince Sanjo Saneyoshi, a leader 

 of the revolution of 1868 and a noble of the 

 highest rank, Feb. 22 ; the Hon. John F. Swift, 

 the American minister plenipotentiary, March 

 10 ; Yoshida Kiyonari, Vice- Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs and formerly the Japanese minister at 

 Washington ; and Nakamura Masanawo, Senator, 

 educator, author, and translator of the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States. At Otsu, near Kioto, 

 the Russian Crown Prince was suddenly attacked 

 by an assassin, Tsuda Sanzo, a bigoted member 

 of the police force, who feared Russian designs 

 against Japan. The quick movement of two/i'n- 

 riki-sha men defeated the attempt, and barely 

 -saved the Prince's life, the assassin's sword gash- 

 ing his head in an ugly manner. An almost in- 

 credible political excitement followed. Theatres 



