332 THE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF JAPAN 



highways made, steamships built and communication with for- 

 eign countries increased, manufacturing industries encouraged 

 and multiplied, and business men from other countries welcomed 

 to participate in the commercial and business development of 

 the country. As a consequence, the foreign commerce of Japan, 

 which in 1878 amounted to less than $30,000,000, in 1898 was 

 oyer $218,000,000, while the development of railroads, manufact- 

 ures, and internal industries had been equally great. 



The United States, which has been constantly and actively 

 associated with the development of Japan, has participated 

 largely in the growth of her commerce. Thousands of young 

 men from Japan have visited the United States as students, and 

 thousands of merchants and business men from the United 

 States have gone to Japan as instructors both in educational and 

 commercial lines. As teachers and professors in schools and 

 colleges, as editors and publishers, as merchants who engage in 

 both importing and exporting, as manufacturers, as constructors 

 of railways and telegraphs and in establishing modern electrical 

 aids to commerce, citizens of the United States have been active 

 in Japan. As a consequence, the trade relations between the 

 two countries have grown with greater rapidity than between 

 Japan and any other nation. In 1881 the imports from the 

 United States formed less than 6 per cent of the total importa- 

 tions into Japan, while in 1898 they formed 15 per cent of the 

 total importations. Meantime Great Britain's share in the im- 

 ports of Japan fell from 52 per cent in 1881 to 23 per cent in 

 1898. The United States is also Japan's largest customer by 

 reason of the fact that the chief export products of Japan are 

 articles required by the manufacturers of the United States and 

 cannot be produced in this country. 



Of the $23,560,000 total exportations to the United States in 

 1898, the value of $12,620,000 consisted of raw silk, $3,286,000 of 

 tea, $1,847,000 of mats for floors, $347,000 of rice, $336,000 of 

 chemicals, drugs, etc., and $3,109,000 of manufactures of silk r 

 while Japanese foot-mats, manufactures of bamboo, lacquered 

 ware, and other products peculiar to the Japanese are prominent 

 in the list. Exports from Japan to the United States have steadily 

 grown, especially since the development of the silk manufactur- 

 ing industry in this country. The United States is the largest 

 jjurchaser of raw silk from Japan, whose total exportations of 

 raw silk exceed $28,000,000. France is the next largest customer 

 in this line, her purchases of raw silk from Japan in 1897" 



