American Fisheries Society. 115 
two countries being in the relative extent to which particular 
animals are utilized. Herring is king of fishes in Japan, just 
as it is in some European countries and in the world considered 
asa whole. This fish is worth $4,000,000 yearly to the Japanese, 
and is particularly abundant in the northern provinces. Next 
in importance come the sardines, valued at $3,700,000; they 
are extensively canned, and are also eaten fresh and sun-dried. 
Their bonito, very similar to ours, ranks third in value, the an- 
nual sales being $2,000,000. It is prepared in a peculiar way, 
and is always kept on hand as an emergency ration in Japanese 
houses. A fish similar to our scup or red snapper and known as 
the tai is the favorite fish for fresh consumption, and is worth 
about $2,000,000 yearly. Other prominent products are mack- 
erel ($1,000,000), tunny or horse-mackerel ($900,000), amber- 
fish or yellow-tail ($1,000,000), squid and cuttle-fish ($1,500,- 
000), anchovies ($800,000), prawn ($700,000), and salmon 
($600,000). 
The Japanese have no fisheries comparable with our shad, 
alewife, menhaden, striped bass, white-fish, pike perch, lake 
trout, soft crab, lobster and sponge fisheries. Their oyster and 
clam fisheries are insignificant by comparison with ours; so, too, 
are their salmon, mullet, cod, halibut, whale and other fisheries. 
On the other hand our herring, sardine, anchovy, yellow-tail, 
tunny, squid, prawn, abalone, shark, bonito, and sea-weed fish- 
eries are trivial compared with theirs; and we have no cuttle- 
fish, sea-cucumber, and coral fisheries. The recent growth of 
the Japanese coral fishery has been marked, and the Mediterra- 
nean corals which for centuries have monopolized the world’s 
markets have already taken second place; much of the Italian 
output of coral ornaments is now made from imported Japanese 
raw products. 
For weeks at a time I was away from towns having Euro- 
pean hotels, and lived at Japanese inns in strictly native style, 
sleeping on the floor, receiving callers while kneeling on the 
floor, and eating while sitting cross-legged on the floor before 
miniature tables, my wants supplied by more polite waitresses 
than one ever meets in any other land. <A typical Japanese meal 
abounds in products of the water, and is replete with surprises 
to the unsophisticated foreigner. This is particularly true of 
the smaller fishing villages where I passed many days. 
