The Foundations of Japan Part 43

----------------------------------------------------------------------- Percentage Percentage 1882 1913 of 1918 of Increase Increase[*]

----------------------------------------------------------------------- Population 36,700,000 53,362,000 45 66,851,000 55 Rice crop 30,692,000 50,222,000 63 53,893,000 75 (_koku_) -----------------------------------------------------------------------

* 1882-1918. The degree to which the increase in production will be maintained is of course a matter for discussion. As far as rice is concerned, it must be borne in mind that there is an increasing consumption per head.

FARMERS' DIET [XXVI]. It is officially stated in 1921 that "the common farm diet consists of a mixture of cooked rice and barley as the princ.i.p.al food with vegetables and occasionally fish." The barley is what is known as naked barley. Ordinary barley is eaten in northern j.a.pan, but two-thirds of the barley eaten elsewhere is the wheat-like naked barley, which cannot be grown in f.u.kus.h.i.+ma and the north. The husking of ordinary barley is hard work. The young men do it during the night when it is cool. They keep on until c.o.c.k-crow. Their songs and the sound of their mallets make a memorable impression as one pa.s.ses through a village on a moonlight night. Another subst.i.tute for rice beyond millet is _hiye_ (panic gra.s.s). In the south it is regarded as a weed of the paddies, but in the north many _tan_ are planted with this heavy-yielding small grain.

TAXATION [XXVII]. Before 1906 national taxation was 2.5 per cent. of the legal price of land. In 1900 it was 3.3 per cent., in 1904 5.5 per cent., in 1911 4.7 per cent, and in 1915 4.5 per cent. But local taxation increased in greater proportion.

FLAVOUR OF RICE AND PRICE FLUCTUATIONS [XXVIII]. j.a.panese rice has a fatty flavour which the people of j.a.pan like. Therefore the native rice commands a higher price in j.a.pan than Chinese or Indian rice.

With the exception of a small quant.i.ty exported to j.a.panese abroad, j.a.panese rice is consumed in j.a.pan. The supply of it and the demand for it are exclusively a j.a.panese affair. Naturally, when the crop fails the price soars, and when there is a superabundant harvest the price comes down to the level of foreign rice. Here is the secret of the enormous fluctuations in the price of j.a.panese rice with which the authorities have so often endeavoured to cope.

The Government granary plan is the third big effort of authority to manage rice prices. The Ok.u.ma Government, under the administration of which rice went down to 14 yen per _koku_, had a Commission to raise prices. The Terauchi Ministry, at a time when prices rose, touching 55 yen, had a Commission to bring prices down.

AREA AND CLIMATE [XXIX]. j.a.pan Proper comprises a main island, three other large islands in sight of the main island, and archipelagos--4,000 islets have been counted. The main island, Honshu, with s.h.i.+koku behind it, lies off the coast of Korea; the next largest and northernmost island, Hokkaido, off the coast of Siberia, and the remaining sizeable island and the southernmost, Kyushu, off the coast of China over against the mouth of the Yangtse. The area of this territory, that is of j.a.pan before the acquirement of Formosa, Korea, southern Saghalien and part of Manchuria, is about 142,000 square miles in area, which is that of Great Britain in possession not of one Wales but of four, or nearly 1 per cent. of the area of Asia. But there are several million more people in j.a.pan than there are inhabitants of Great Britain and thrice as many as there are Britons in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. (See also Appendix x.x.x.) j.a.pan, which lies between the lat.i.tudes of Cairo and the Crimea, may be said to consist of mountains, of which fifty are active volcanoes, with some land, either hilly or boggy, at the foot of them. It is nowhere more than 200 miles across and in one place is only 50. A note on the ocean currents which exercise an influence on agriculture will be found on page 195. The protection afforded to the eastern prefectures by mountain ranges is obvious. Generally the summer temperature of j.a.pan is higher and the winter temperature is lower than is recorded in Europe and America within the same lat.i.tudes.

"The mild climate and abundant rainfall," says the Department of Agriculture, "stimulate a luxuriant forest development throughout the country which in turn provides ample fountain heads for rivers. The rivers and streams run in all directions, affording opportunity for irrigation all over the country. The insular position of the country renders its humidity high and its rainfall abundant when compared with Continental countries. The rainy season prevails during the months of June and July, making this season risky for the harvest of wheat and barley; on the other hand it affords a beneficent irrigation supply to paddy-grown rice, which is the most important crop. The characteristic feature of the climate in the greater part of the islands is the frequency of storms in the months of August and September. As the flowers of the rice plant commence to bloom during the same period, these late summer storms cause much damage."

The weather in Tokyo in 1918 was as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jan. Feb. Mar. Apl. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rain and snow (mm.) 10 65 163 108 123 149 82 78 202 135 142 80 Temp. (C.) 1.6 3.6 6.7 11.7 16.7 20.2 26.0 26.0 22.6 16.0 10.4 3.9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

The varied climate of j.a.pan is indicated by the following statistics for centres as far distant as Nagasaki in the extreme south-west and Sapporo in Hokkaido:

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Nagasaki Kyoto Tokyo Niigata Aomori Sapporo ---------------- -------- ------- ------ --------- -------- --------- Days of rain or snow 179 176 144 218 229 216 Average temp. (C.) 14.9 13.6 13.8 12.5 9.4 7.3 Maximum 36.7 37.2 36.6 39.1 36.0 33.4 Minimum _5.6_ _11.9_ _8.1_ _9.7_ _19.0_ _25.6_ ---------------------------------------------------------------------

The italicised temperatures are below zero. Average dates of last frost: Tokyo, April 6; Nagoya, April 13; Matsumoto, May 17.

POPULATION OF j.a.pAN, MANCHURIA AND MONGOLIA [x.x.x]. The population of the Empire according to the 1920 census was 77,005,510, which included Korea, 17,284,207; Formosa, 3,654,398; Saghalien, 105,765; and South Manchuria (that is, the Kwantung Peninsula), 80,000. In Old j.a.pan (Honshu, s.h.i.+koku and Kyushu with the near islands, and Loo-choos and Bonins) there were 53,602,043, and in Hokkaido (including Kuriles) 2,359,097.

Tokyo is the largest city, 2,173,000, followed by Osaka, 1,252,000.

Kobe and Kyoto have a little more than half a million; Nagoya and Yokohama four hundred thousand apiece. Ten other cities have a hundred thousand odd.

In the following table the populations and areas of j.a.pan, Great Britain and the United States are compared:

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Country Area Population Population per sq. mile ------------------------------------------------------------------------ j.a.pan (excluding Korea, Formosa and Saghalien) 142,000 55,961,140 394 (1920) British Isles 121,636 47,306,664[*] 388 (1921) United States (excluding Alaska and oversea possessions) 3,000,000 105,683,108 35 (1920) ------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Ireland taken at 1911 census figures.

j.a.pan's 394 per square mile is lowered by the population of Hokkaido (2,359,097), which is only 66 per square mile. The population of the three chief j.a.panese islands is: Honshu, the mainland (41,806,930), 471; s.h.i.+koku (3,066,890), 423; and Kyushu (8,729,088), 511. (These figures are for 1920.) "As regards density per square kilometre,"

writes an official of the Imperial Bureau of Statistics in the _j.a.pan Year-book_, with the figures antecedent to the 1920 census before him, "it is calculated at 140 for j.a.pan and this compares as follows with Belgium (1910) 252, England and Wales (1911) 239, Holland (1909) 171, Italy (1911) 121, Germany (1910) 120 and France 44. When comparison is made on the basis of habitable area j.a.pan may be considered to surpa.s.s all as to density, for while in j.a.pan it const.i.tutes only 19 per cent, of the total area, the ratio is as high as 74 for Belgium, 73 for England and Wales, 67 for Holland, 76 for Italy, 65 for Germany and 70 for France." The Professor of Agricultural Science at Tokyo University says: "The area under cultivation, even in the densely populated parts, is comparatively smaller than in any other country."

In a statement issued in 1921 the Department of Agriculture reckoned the population at 145 per square kilometre and recorded the mean rate of increase "in recent years" as 12.06 per 1,000. It stated that the density of the rural population was 44 per square kilometre or 9.42 per hectare of arable, in other words that the density "is higher than that of France, Belgium, Switzerland and some other countries where the agriculture is marked by fairly intensive methods." Mr.

Nikaido, of the Bureau of Statistics, writes in the _j.a.pan Year-book_ that the annual increase of j.a.pan's population was 14.78 per 1,000 for 1909-13 and 12.06 for 1914-18, "a rate greater than in any civilised country, with the exception of Germany and Rumania in the pre-War years."

The birth rate is high, but so is the mortality. The death rate of minors is thrice that of Germany and Great Britain. Here the increasing industrialisation of the country is no doubt playing its part. The ratio of still births has steadily risen since the eighties.

The ratio of births, other than still births, per 1,000 of population, which in 1889-93 was 28.6, increased by 1909-13 to 33.7; but the death rate fell only from 21.1 to 20.6. The ratio of unmarried, 63.22 in 1893, was 66.22 in 1918.

The following figures for j.a.pan Proper are printed by the _Financial and Economic Annual_, issued by the Department of Finance:

--------------------------------------------------------- Year. Total. Annual Increase Average Increase per of Population. 1,000 Inhabitants.

--------------------------------------------------------- 1910 50,716,600 -- 14.09} 1911 51,435,400 718,800 14.17} 1912 52,167,000 731,600 14.22} 14.21 1913 52,911,800 744,800 14.28} 1914 53,668,600 756,800 14.30} 1915 54,448,200 779,600 14.53} 1916 55,235,000 786,800 14.45} 1917 56,035,100 800,100 14.49} 14.50 1918 56,851,300 816,200 14.57} 1919 57,673,938 822,638 14.47} 1920 55,961,140 -- -- ---------------------------------------------------------

It will be seen that for the year 1920 there was a big drop. The population of 55,961,140 for the year 1920 is the actual population as returned by the census; the figures of the preceding years are "based," it is explained to me, "on the local registrars' entries. The national census has demonstrated that the figures were larger than the actual number of inhabitants, the discrepancies being partly due to erroneous and duplicate registration and partly to the exodus of persons to the colonies or foreign countries whilst retaining their legal domiciles at home. But the table serves to show the rate of increase." A million and three-quarters is a substantial figure, however, to account for in this way. It would seem reasonable to suppose that the increased cost of living, marriage at a later age than formerly and increased mortality due directly or indirectly to the factory system have arrested the rate of increase of the population in recent years. For trustworthy figures of the j.a.panese population we must await the next census and compare its figures with those of the 1920 census, the first to be taken scientifically.

A considerable part of j.a.pan is uninhabitable. Of how much of the British Isles can this be said? The fact that there are in j.a.pan fifty more or less active volcanoes, about a thousand hot springs and two dozen mountains between 12,000 and 8,000 ft. high speaks for itself.

Ben Nevis is only 4,400, Snowdon only 3,500 ft.

The population of Korea in 1920 (17,284,207) was 239 per square mile.

According to _Whitaker_ for 1921 the population of Manchuria (11 millions) is 30 per square mile, and of Mongolia (3 millions) 2.8.

SMALL FARMS DECREASING [x.x.xI].

------------------------------------------------------ Year Below 5 Over 5 Over 5 Over 2 Over 3 Over 5 _tan_ _tan_ _cho_ _cho_ _cho_ _cho_ ------------------------------------------------------ 1908 37.28 32.61 19.51 6.44 3.01 1.15 1912 37.14 33.25 19.61 5.96 2.83 1.21 1918 35.54 33.30 20.70 6.33 2.82 1.31 1919 35.36 33.18 20.68 6.21 2.83 1.74 ----------------------------------------------------

See also Appendix XLVII.

FORESTS [x.x.xII]. The following figures for 1918 show, in thousand _cho_, the owners.h.i.+p of forests (bared tracts in brackets): Crown, 1,303 (89); State, 7,288 (392); prefectures, cities, towns and villages, 2,894 (1,383); temples and shrines, 111 (15); 7,186 (1,630); total, 18,782 (3,509). The largest yield is from sugi (cryptomeria), pine and _hinoki_ (_Charmae-cyparis obtusa_).

ARMAMENTS [x.x.xIII]. 1,505 million yen of the national debt is for armaments and military purposes against 923 million yen for reproductive undertakings (railways, harbours, drainage, roads, steelworks, mining, telephones, etc.), 143 million for exploitation of Formosa, Korea and Saghalien, 123 million for financial adjustment and 98 million for feudal pensions and feudal debt. Of the expenditure for 1920-1, 846 million, some 395 million were for the army and navy.

During a period of 130 years the United States Government has spent nearly four-fifths of its revenue on war or objects related to war.

LANDOWNING AND FARMING [x.x.xIV]. Before the Restoration the farmers were the tenants of the daimyos' va.s.sals, the samurai, or of the daimyos direct. When the daimyos gave up their lands the Crown made the farmers the owners of the land they occupied. Its legal value was a.s.sessed and the national land tax was fixed at 3 per cent, and the local tax at 1 per cent. Various adjustments have since taken place.

The j.a.panese Const.i.tutional Labour Party has insisted in a communication to the International Labour Conference at Geneva that j.a.panese tenant farmers are not properly called farmers but that they are "labourers pure and simple." See Appendix LXXVI.

STATE RAILWAYS [x.x.xV]. The railways, which were nationalised in 1907, extended in 1919 to 6,000 miles. There were also nearly 2,000 miles of light railways (in addition to 1,368 of electric street cars). Most of the lines are single track. The gauge is 3 ft. 6 in. The Government has proposed gradually to electrify the whole system.

ILLEGITIMACY [x.x.xVI]. In j.a.pan illegitimacy is a question not of morals but of law. That is to say, it is a question of registration.

If a husband omits to register his marriage he is not legally married.

Thus it is possible for there to be born to a married pair a child which is technically illegitimate. If the child should die at an early age it is equally possible for it to appear on the official records as illegitimate. A birth must be registered within a fortnight. It may be thought perhaps that it is practicable for the father to register his marriage after the birth of the child and within the time allowed for registration. It is possible but it is not always easy. An application for the registration of the marriage of a man under twenty-five must bear the signature of his parents and the signature of two persons who testify that the required consent has been regularly obtained. In the event of a man's father having "retired," the signature of the head of the family must be secured. If a man is over twenty-five, then the signatures of his parents or of any two relatives will suffice. Now suppose that a man is living at a distance from his birthplace or suppose that the head of his family is travelling. Plainly, there may be a difficulty in securing a certificate in time. Therefore, because, as has been explained, no moral obloquy attaches to unregistered marriage or to unregistered or legally illegitimate children, registration is often put off. When a man removes from one place to another and thereupon registers, it may be that his marriage and his children may be illegitimate in one place and legitimate in another.

There is a difference between actual and legal domicile. A man may have his domicile in Tokyo but his citizen rights in his native village.

SAKe AND BEER [x.x.xVII]. Sake is sold in 1 or 2 _go_ bottles at from 10 to 25 sen for 2 _go_. As it is cheaper to buy the liquor unbottled most people have it brought home in the original brewery tub. There are five sorts of _sake_: _seishu_ (refined), _dakushu_ (unrefined or muddy), _s.h.i.+rozake_ (white _sake_), _mirin_ (sweet _sake_) and _shochu_ (distilled _sake_). _Sake_ may contain from 10 to 14 per cent. of alcohol; _shochu_ is stronger; _mirin_ has been described as a liqueur. j.a.panese beers contain from 1 to 2 per cent. less alcohol than English beers and only about a quarter of the alcohol in _sake_.

More than four-fifths of it is sold in bottles. Beer is replacing _sake_ to some extent, but owing to the increase in the population of j.a.pan the total consumption of _sake_ (about 4,000,000 _koku_) remains practically the same. In 1919 beer and _sake_ were exported to the value of 7,200,000 and 4,500,000 yen respectively.