THE COUNTRY: ITS PHYSICAL FEATURESPRODUCTSFAUNAFLORA, ETC.
The Empire of Japan (a corruption
of Nippon, the native name) is composed of four large
islands Honshiu, Shikoku, Kiushiu, and Yesso,
besides some thousands of smaller isles. The Kurile
Isles, north of Yesso, and in the neighbourhood of
Kamschatka, have been incorporated in the Empire since
1875, and the Loo-Choo Islands, some 500 miles south-west
of Japan’s southern extremity, since 1876.
The great island of Formosa, situated off the coast
of China, was ceded to Japan as the outcome of the
Chino-Japanese War in 1895, while as the result of
the recent conflict with Russia, Japan has obtained
back the southern half of the large island of Sakhalin,
which formerly entirely belonged to her, as well as
Port Arthur and Dalny on the mainland, not to speak
of the preponderating influence she has obtained in
Korea, which is now practically under the suzerainty
of Japan. The population of the Empire according
to the last census was about forty-seven millions,
and, like that of Great Britain, it is annually increasing.
The proximity of Japan to the Asiatic Continent, despite
the lessons in geography which the late war afforded,
is not, I think, generally understood. The nearest
point of the Japanese coast is only 100 miles distant
from Korea, while between the two lies the important
island of Tsu-shima, which Japan found so useful as
a strategic position during the war with Russia.
The island of Sakhalin, the southern portion of which,
as I have said, has lately passed into the possession
of Japan, is about 20 miles distant from the northern
part of Yesso, while at some places the island is
only separated from the Russian mainland by 5 or 6
miles of water. The distance between Hakodate,
in Yesso, and the great Russian port of Vladivostock
is somewhere about 200 miles. This contiguity
of Japan to the Asiatic Continent has already had a
marked effect on the politics of the world, and in
the future, if I mistake not, is likely to be a preponderating
factor therein. The area of Japan is about half
as large again as that of the United Kingdom.
The southern extremity of the country is in latitude
31 deg. N., the northern in latitude
45-1/2 deg. N.
The Japanese islands are undoubtedly
of volcanic origin, and many of the volcanoes in the
country are still more or less active. The general
conformation of the land leads one to suppose that
the islands are the summits of mountain ranges which
some thousands of years back had their bases submerged
by the rising of the sea or else had by degrees settled
down beneath the surface of the ocean. The general
characteristic of the country is mountainous, and only
about one-sixth of the total area is in cultivation.
Fuji-yama, the loftiest mountain, for which the Japanese
have a peculiar veneration and which has been immortalised
in the art of the country, has an altitude of 12,730
feet. The next in height, Mount Mitake, ascends
some 9,000 feet, and there are many others of 5,000
feet or more. Japan has from time to time been
ravaged by, and indeed still is subject to, terrible
earthquakes. These dire calamities seem to recur
at regular intervals. The Japanese islands appear
to be in the centre of great volcanic disturbances a
fact which probably accounts for those seismic outbreaks
which periodically devastate considerable tracts of
the country and cause tremendous havoc to life and
property. The written records, extending back
some 1,400 or 1,500 years, clearly prove that earthquakes
even more terrible in their effects than any that have
taken place in recent times were of frequent occurrence.
It is, of course, possible that these records may
be inaccurate or have been largely exaggerated, but
they at any rate tend to show that those great cosmic
forces which are popularly termed earthquakes have
been constantly at work in Japan ever since any written
records have been preserved and no doubt long anterior
to that time.
As the islands are narrow and mountainous
there are no great rivers and none available for important
navigation. None of the rivers exceed 200 miles
in length. Although Japan is situated much further
south than Great Britain, its northern extremity being
in about the same latitude as Cornwall, its climate
is, on the whole, not unlike that of this country.
Of course the climate of such a mountainous country
and one extending over 14 degrees of latitude varies
considerably. That of the island of Yesso, for
example, is in winter rigorous to a degree, a fact
in some measure caused by a cold current which flows
down its eastern shores from the Sea of Okohotsk.
Professor Rein, who has given great attention to the
matter of the Japanese climate, has remarked in reference
thereto: “The climate of Japan reflects
the characteristics of that of the neighbouring continent,
and exhibits like that two great annual contrasts a
hot, damp summer and a cold relatively dry winter;
these two seasons lie under the sway of the monsoons,
but the neighbouring seas weaken the effects of these
winds and mitigate their extremes in such a manner
that neither the summer heat nor the cold of winter
attain the same height in Japan as in China at the
same latitudes. Spring and autumn are extremely
agreeable seasons; the oppressive summer heat does
not last long, and in winter the contrast between
the nightly frosts and the midday heat, produced by
considerable insulation but still more by the raw northerly
winds, causes frequent chills, though the prevailing
bright sky makes the season of the year much more
endurable than in many other regions where the winter
cold is equal. As a fact the climate of Japan
agrees very well with most Europeans, so that people
have already begun to look upon certain localities
as climatic watering-places where the inhabitant of
Hong Kong and Shanghai can find refuge from the oppressive
heat of summer and invigorate his health.”
The mean annual temperature of Tokio
is about 56 deg. The lowest temperature
is in January or February, when the thermometer seldom
falls below 25 deg., the highest in August, when
it sometimes rises to 95 deg. or 100 deg.
in the shade, the average being 82 deg. The
Japanese suffer a good deal from the effects of the
wintry weather, bronchial, chest, and rheumatic affections
being prevalent. The dwellings of the people,
somewhat flimsy in construction as they are, are not
well adapted to withstand the effects of a low temperature.
On the whole the people must be pronounced to be extremely
healthy a fact probably due to their scrupulous
cleanliness, to the excellent ventilation of their
houses, and, as regards those living in the towns,
to the wide and well-kept streets where nothing offensive
is allowed to remain. The country has, however,
from time to time been subject to epidemics introduced
from without, cholera and the plague having more than
once carried death throughout the length and breadth
of the land.
Those circular storms known as cyclones
in the Indian Ocean and typhoons in further Eastern
seas have from time to time wrought great devastation
in Japan. Fortunately these revolving storms are
of brief duration, and in the neighbourhood of Japan
they do not so frequently occur as in the China Sea.
Japan is well provided with good harbours,
that of Nagasaki in especial being one of the finest
in the world. Sheltered completely by lofty and
beautiful hills, with deep water throughout, it is
an ideal anchorage. Until recently foreign trade
was confined to the treaty ports; but as the country
has now been completely thrown open, there is no doubt
that the many fine harbours which Japan possesses,
and which so far have hardly been utilised at all,
will in due course become the centres of great commercial
activity. The Inland Sea the beautiful
Mediterranean of Japan abounds with excellent
anchorages, most of which have hitherto been only
entered by an occasional junk.
Regarding the mineral wealth of the
country, it is impossible to speak with any precision.
It was not until after the Revolution of 1868 that
the mining industry assumed importance in Japan.
At first the Government itself owned several mines,
but these were not financially successful, and they
were after a time disposed of to private owners.
The old mining regulations have recently been superseded
by a new mining law. In accordance with this
the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce is the official
who permits, approves, cancels, or suspends the right
of mining, whether permanently or on trial. I
may, however, at once remark that the Japanese Government
has not up to the present held out much encouragement
to the speculative prospector. Gold is believed
to exist in considerable quantities in Yesso, and as
a matter of fact, although the amount mined is still
small, it is annually increasing. Coal is abundant
in various parts of the country and the mines are
extensively worked. In 1903 there were over ten
million tons of coal produced, and the quantity is
at the present time assuredly very much greater.
The coal is not of such a good quality as either Welsh
or North Country, but there is a large and growing
demand for it in the East, and coal is undoubtedly
a highly important part of Japan’s latent wealth.
Copper, a metal which is in increasing demand, exists
in Japan in enormous quantities, and she promises at
no very far-distant date to be the chief copper-producing
country of the world. Iron and sulphur are also
found, and there are many other minerals, some of
which are more or less worked. The Japanese Mining
Law, it may be interesting to relate, recognises the
following minerals and mineral ores, which may accordingly
be taken as existing in the country: Gold, silver,
copper, lead, tin, hematite, antimony, quicksilver,
zinc, iron, manganese and arsenic, plumbago, coal,
kerosene, sulphur, bismuth, phosphorus, peat.
Whatever the mineral wealth of Japan and
the extent and variety thereof are probably yet not
fully realised there can be no question
as to the value of its arboreal products. The
lacquer-tree (rhus vernicifera), which furnishes
the well-known Japanese lacquer, the paper mulberry,
the elm, oak, maple, bamboo, camphor, and many other
descriptions of trees, grow in abundance. The
forests of Japan cover nearly 60 per cent. of the
land. For some years after the Revolution there
was a reduction in the wooded area, nearly four million
acres having been cleared for occupation. Of
late years, however, forestry has been scientifically
taken in hand, and about one and a half million acres
have been replanted in districts which have not been
found suitable for farming. The climate of Japan
varies so greatly that there is a corresponding variety
in its trees. About eight hundred kinds of forest
trees are suitable for cultivation in Japan, varying
from the palm and the bamboo to the fir and many other
trees with which we are familiar in this country.
The Japanese are above all things
an agricultural people. The tobacco plant, the
tea shrub, potatoes, rice, wheat, barley, millet, cotton,
rape, and many cereals other than those I have mentioned
are extensively cultivated. The great mass of
the people of Japan live on the land, and though I
think the tendency, as in Great Britain, is for the
large towns to magnetically draw the dwellers in the
country, nevertheless agriculture is still held in
high esteem, and the peasant is content to dwell on
the land and live by it. Rice is the staple food
of the people, and it is grown everywhere; indeed the
yearly harvest of it affects the Japanese economy
quite as much as, if not even more than, the wheat
crop does that of Europe. The Japanese peasant
is almost as dependent on rice as the Irish peasant
used to be on potatoes. The water, so necessary
for irrigating the land, is supplied by the streams
and rivulets which are plentiful in the country.
The Japanese agriculturist has long been famous for
the admirable manner in which he keeps and tills his
farm. The fields are clean as regards weeds,
and order and neatness are perceptible everywhere.
The labour is almost entirely manual, and men, women,
and children all take part in the work.
Fruit is abundant in Japan, but it
is for the most part of an inferior quality.
Grapes, apples, pears, plums, peaches, chestnuts,
persimmons, oranges, figs, lemons, citrons, melons,
and wild strawberries are all grown, but except as
regards the grapes I cannot speak in laudatory terms
of Japanese fruit. The flowers of many fruit
trees seem more appreciated than the fruit itself.
The floral kingdom is rich, beautiful
and varied. Probably in no other part of the
world are flowers so greatly appreciated as in Japan.
They enter largely into various popular festivals.
The Japanese, as most people know, excel in the art
of gardening and the dwarfing of trees and shrubs.
The flower vendor is a familiar sight, and there is
never any lack of buyers. The poorest householder
will do without anything almost rather than deprive
himself of flowers. These enter largely into
the religious services of the people, and are also
extensively placed on the graves of the departed.
Flowers, indeed, play an important part in the lives
of the Japanese. Japan has long been famous for
the great number of its evergreens. A large number
of the plants growing wild are of this class, so that
even in winter the land has not the bare appearance
characteristic of European countries at that time
of the year. Coniferous plants are abundant, many
of them being peculiar to Japan.
The coasts abound with fish of an
excellent quality, and this, with rice, forms the
staple diet of the people. Tea is, as I have said,
largely cultivated, and indeed may be regarded as the
national beverage. It has been cultivated in
the country for over two thousand years. It is
an article of faith in Japan that tea strengthens the
body. It is drunk everywhere and at all times,
without either milk or sugar the true way,
I think, in which to appreciate its flavour. The
tea-house in Japan occupies the same position as the
public-house in this country, but it has many advantages
over the latter. In the towns and some other
parts of Japan, sake a spirit distilled
from rice is drunk, and when the Japanese
has to any extent been Europeanised or brought into
contact with Europeans, he affects a taste for European
varieties of alcohol. On the whole, however, the
people are distinctly a sober race.
The principal towns are Tokio, the
capital, with a population of about one and half millions,
Osaka, having a population nearly as great, Kyoto,
the ancient capital, Nagoya, Kobe, Yokohama, and Nagasaki.
Yokohama may be regarded as the European headquarters;
indeed it is largely a European town, while Nagasaki
has more than any other been under European influences,
the Dutch having, as I have already stated, had a
factory there, in the suburb of Decima, continuously
ever since the expulsion of foreigners from the country
in the sixteenth century.
Railway communication in Japan is
a subject upon which much might be written. For
many years there was only one line in the country that
between Yokohama and Tokio, about 22 miles in length.
At the present time there are some 4,500 miles of
railway open, and extensions are either in progress
or in contemplation. Of the lines now being worked,
about one-third are the property of the Government,
the rest having been constructed by private enterprise.
This dual system of ownership has its disadvantages,
and it will doubtless not be permitted to last.
Railway construction has already had a considerable
effect on the opening up of the country, and as the
construction is extended the development of Japan
will doubtless proceed in an increasing ratio.
The scenery of Japan has provided
a theme for so many pens that I do not feel inclined
to do more than refer to it in passing. Much of
the scenery is sublime but, truth to tell, its beauty,
or perhaps it would be more correct to say the effect
thereof on the sightseer, has been somewhat marred
of recent years by the influx of those persons colloquially
known as “globe trotters,” the railway
extensions to which I have referred, and the erection
of large hotels run on European lines. Nikko,
the incomparable, with its glorious scenery and its
still more glorious temples, the meandering Daynogawa,
the beauteous Lake Chiuzenji, on which a quarter of
a century or so ago a European provided with a passport
and having his headquarters at a neighbouring tea-house
might gaze at his leisure, and meditate in a glorious
silence broken only by the sound of the ripples of
the water or the cry of the birds from the neighbouring
woods, all are now vulgarised. The personally
conducted tourist is there and very much in evidence.
He wanders carelessly, often contemptuously, through
the ancient temples, regarding temples, scenery, river,
lakes, merely as “something to be done.”
The change was, I suppose, inevitable, but the change
is one that I think is in some respects to be regretted.
The tourist brings money and spends it freely, and
the country no doubt reaps the advantage thereof,
but the effect on the Japanese brought into contact
with the European under such conditions is not, in
my opinion, always, or often, beneficial.
I have not much to remark in regard
to the fauna of Japan. The domestic animals are
comparatively few. The fact of the inhabitants
not eating animal food has led to their paying little
or no attention to the breeding of those animals which
are largely in request in foreign countries.
Horses, however, are fairly plentiful, though small.
Japan, as I have elsewhere remarked, has been handicapped
in the organisation of her cavalry by the lack of
a proper supply of suitable horses, and she has recently
despatched a commission to Europe to effect purchases
with a view of putting this matter right, and improving
the breed of horses in the county. Oxen and cows
were till recently entirely, and are still largely,
used for purposes of draught only. Sheep and
pigs have been introduced from abroad, but they have
not been generally distributed, and in many parts of
Japan have never been seen.
The wild animals of Japan are neither
numerous nor important. The black bear and the
wolf still exist, chiefly in the Northern Island,
but it is certain that at no far-distant date they
will, unless artificially preserved, go the way of
all wild animals in civilised countries. The
red-faced monkey is there, the only kind found in
Japan, and snakes exist, but they are for the most
part harmless. The art of the country will have
familiarised Europeans with the presence of the crane
and the stork, which play such a prominent part therein.
Indeed the wild birds of the country are more numerous
than the animals. I am not aware whether geological
research in Japan has been sufficiently extensive
or systematic to ascertain whether, and if so what,
any species of animals have ever existed there other
than those at present found in the country. It
certainly is in some respects extraordinary that a
country so close to the Asiatic Continent and possessing
such a variety of climates should, as regards the animal
kingdom from the standpoint of the zoologist, be put
down as distinctly poor. The fact, or supposed
fact, to which I have previously referred, that the
Japanese islands are the summits of mountain ranges
which many thousand years ago had their bases submerged
by the rising of the sea or had gradually settled down
beneath the surface of the ocean, may, of course, account
for the poverty of Japan in regard to the animals
therein. I must leave other pens than mine to
descant on that interesting if highly speculative
matter. Be that as it may, if the fauna of Japan
is poor, the country certainly makes up for it by
the variety and magnificence of its flora a
flora which deserves to be studied, and which has done
so much to brighten not only the appearance of the
country but the lives of its inhabitants.