1901.] COMMERCIAL JAPAK 2301 



A BRITISH VIEW OF TRADE PROSPECTS IN JAPAN. 



The London and China Telegraph of July 3, 1899, iiubli.shes the following from K. G. E. For.ster, acting consul-general at Yokohama: 



Very naturally, merchants and other residents, the bulk of whom are British, have been and are still anxious to ascertain the 

 conditions under which they will reside and trade hereafter. These conditions depend in a great rnea.sure upon recent legislation of the 

 Japanese Diet, which has been to a large extent directed to meet conditions consequent upon the abolition of extraterritorialty, but it 

 has now been more or less satisfactorily ascertained that a variety of laws, more particularly those governing the taxation of trades 

 and industries and merchant shipping (tonnage dues), which threatened to effect the foreign merchants unfavorably, have either been 

 amended or defined in a manner which should assure them that their 'mportant interests will not be materially affecte<l or their 

 enterprise be unduly handicapped. In respect of taxation, British merchants, if not others, recognize the justice of Ijeing now taxed, 

 though, after forty years of exemption from any tax whatsoever, the change can not be welcome. 



While the future for the foreign merchant generally may not be full of promise, it should be a great comfort to the British trader 

 to think that he has been mainly instrumental in building up for Yokohama a foreign trade amounting la.st year to close on £20,000,000 

 or, roughly, 200,000,000 gold yen, whereas the foreign trade for the whole of Japan (treaty ports, not including KoW-Hyogo) for six 

 months is, in a report dated February 21, 1860, described as follows: "In the midst of all these impediments, from $300,000 to ?40«J,000 

 have been turned over by foreign merchants in the six months, there is reason to believe at an enormous profit and not without 

 considerable advantage to the Japanese engaged— a result which shows that the country po.ssesses the elements of a flourishing trade." 



For purposes of comparison the following figures are interesting: In 1888 the share of Japanese merchants in the imp<jrt trade 

 was 8,499,788 yen, to the foreign merchants 53,820,246 yen, 1897 the figures being 79,560,939 yen and 138,879,084 yen, respectively. In 

 exports the Japanese merchants' share in 1888 w^as 7,081,324 yen, that of the foreign merchants 56,599,289 yen, and in 1897 44,374,130 

 and 115,013,429 yen represented the respective shares after ten years' development, mostly favorable to the Japanese merchants. 



Though British trade does not go on increasing by leaps and bounds, and even occasionally shows a setback, its position is 

 eminently satisfactory. In 1898 Great Britain and the colonies' share in the import trade of Yokohama was £9,680,628, or 76 per cent, 

 and in the export trade £1,891,488, or 23 per cent. However other countries may improve, there is no reason to suppose that British 

 merchants in Japan are not using their best efforts to keep what they have got. 



In another respect also the British mercantile community may congratulate itself on being in possession of the lion's share of such 

 lands held from the Japanese Government under perpetual leases, the interests in which are specially safeguarded in the new treaties. 

 Of the whole area constituting the foreign settlement in Yokohama — namely, 338,024 tsubo (1 tsubo equal 36 square feet; 1,200 tsubo 

 equal 1 acre) — 173,987 tsubo, 51 per cent, are owned by British subjects. Small as this area of 145 acres may seem, it is a most valuable 

 holding, for the land which passed into the possession of the foreign settler at an average price of £192 and £66 per acre is now, at a 

 moderate valuation, worth £9,000 per acre in the settlement, and £2,000 on the Hill Settlement. But the value of land in the 

 neighboring big thoroughfares of the native town of Yokohama is still higher, front lots being worth £36,000 an acre and rear lots 

 £20,000 an acre, and the rentals for such being at the rate of £1,470 per acre per annum. It should be stated, however, that Japanese 

 business premises do not as a rule occupy large spaces, though there is a tendency on the part of Japanese banks and similar institutions 

 to build in Western style — on a larger scale. 



Yokohama, with its present population (Japanese) of 183,760 (foreign) 5,213, has become an extremely valuable spot in the 

 Japanese Empire, and owes its prosperity entirely to foreign trade. 



In addition to the four foreign banks already existing, the Eusso-Chinese Bank has established itself at this port, and it is not 

 unreasonable to suppose that sooner or later the requirements of German merchants and the prospects of business may induce a German 

 bank to start here. Seventeen Japanese banks, with capital aggregating 19,810,000 yen, or, roughly, £2,000,000, are estabhshed at 

 Yokohama. Four of them have capitals of 1,250,000 yen and upward. 



Japan apparently does not rest satisfied with the extraordinary efforts already made by her for the development of her mercantile 

 marine and shipping trade. During 1898 the Nippon Yusen Kaisha added 6 ves.sels (five of which were built in England), aggregating 

 34,724 tons, to their fleet, and it has now running on the European line 12 steamers of a gross tonnage of 73,623 tons and 6 steamers, 

 averaging 3,000 tons, on the Australian and American lines. In addition, another Japanese company, the "Toyo Risen Kaisha" 

 (Eastern Steamship Company), represented at this port by the agents for the Pacific Mail and 0. and O. companies, has started running 

 three new steamers of 3,000 tons each between San Francisco and Hongkong via Japan ports and Honolulu, and which are likely to have 

 a large share of the ever-increasing trans-Pacific passenger traffic. 



^The gold standard has been most beneficial to both the import and export trades of Japan. The export trade was helped by a 

 feeling of security on the part of shippers that their neighbors would not, later on, be able to come into the market with lower ]>rioes 

 owing to a drop in exchange, and this must also have been the feeling on the part of buyers at home. The import trade was Lmch in 

 excess of exports, and had it not been for the ability of bankers to ship gold to make up the balance to a large extent, there is no 

 knowing to what depth exchange might have fallen. Thus Japan has had to pay much less for her imports than she otherwise would 

 have had. The paper currency has not been displaced by gold for ordinary use, and thus still remains the ordinary ciiculating medium 

 representing gold instead of silver. 



No. 6 22 



