6 N. Yamasaxi 



Hokkaido, where botli currents run along side by side, fog is often 

 generated to tlie great danger of coasting vessels. 



iv. Peoples, Japanese are the predominating people in this 

 country. They live in Japan proper and number nearly sixty million. 

 The p?ninsula of Chosen is the home of nearly eighteen million 

 Koreans. Tlie aborigines of Taiwan are Malayans, who live tor the 

 most part in the uiountains and are less civilized. There are many 

 tribes, some of whom understand agriculture, while others, living in 

 the northern mountains, are engaged in chasing game and have not 

 yet given up their barbai-ous custom of head hunting. The population 

 of these tribes is estimated at about eighty thousand. The low 

 western plain of Taiwan is well cultivated by immigrants frcm the 

 southern provinces of China, who aggregate nearly four million. 

 In Hokkaido, the Ainu number only about seventeen hundred. In 

 Karafuto, we find at present a few Sakhalin-Ainu, Giliaks and 

 Orochons. The leading people in the Mariana Islands is the Chamor- 

 ro, while that in the Caroline Islands is the Kanaka. The culture 

 of these tribes is in general not high. Some of the South Sea 

 Islanders are successful in raising plantations of tropical fruit trees. 

 The total population of ihe Japanese Empire is about eighty-three 

 nj ill ion, distributed as follows :- 



Japan proper 59.73 million Karafuto 0.2 million 



Chosen 18.00 million Kwantung 0.76 million 



Taiwan 3.99 million Pacific mandate .05 million 



The average density of population in the Empire is 120 per 

 square kilometre, while that of Japan j)roper is 156, which makes 

 Japan one of the most densely populated lands in the world, coming 

 next to such industrial countries of Europe as Belgium, Holland and 

 Great Britain. Tlie density is greatest in the plain of Kwanto, which 

 is followed by the Osaka plain and Kyoto basin, the Pacific coast of 

 central Honshu, and northwestern Kyushu. Then come the districts of 

 north Honshu, southern Korea and northern Taiwan. Less populated 

 are northeastern Hokkaido and Karafuto. 



Since ancient times, the x'>i'incipal industry of the Japanese people 

 has been agriculture ; and as most of the poimlation enjoyed a rural 

 life, there were naturally not many large cities. Most of the well- 

 known towns occupy the sites of the castles of ancient feudal lords. 

 Modern development of manufacture and commerce has forced an 

 immense increase in the population of the towns as well as an 



