The Foundations of Japan Part 45

MISTAKES IN CROP STATISTICS [LVIII]. Generally speaking, it may be said that cereals are under-estimated and coc.o.o.ns over-estimated.

Cereals may be 20 per cent. under-estimated. The under-estimation may no doubt be traced back to the time when taxation was on the basis of the grain yield.

OCCUPATIONS FOR THE BLIND [LIX]. A third of the 70,000 sightless are _amma_, about a quarter as many practise acupuncture and the application of the moxa, while nearly the same number are musicians or storytellers. The blind have pet.i.tioned the Diet to restrict the calling of _amma_ to men and women who have lost their sight.

WELL SINKING FOR GAS [LX]. The presence of gas, which is odourless, is betrayed by the discoloration of the water from which it emanates and by bubbles.

HEALTH, HEIGHTS AND WEIGHTS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN [LXI]. In 1917-18 the const.i.tutions of 1,193,000 elementary school boys were reported as 53 per cent. robust, 48 per cent. medium and 4 per cent. weak. The const.i.tutions of 1,016,000 elementary school girls were reported 49 per cent. robust, 48 per cent. medium and 3 per cent. weak. Just as women are often underfed in j.a.pan, girls may frequently be less well fed than boys. Elementary school boys of 16 averaged 4.84 _shaku_ in height and 10.85 _kwan_ in weight. The average height and weight of 512 elementary school girls of the same age were 4.71 _shaku_ and 10.83 _kwan_.

HEIGHT AND WEIGHT OF WRESTLERS [LXII]. In a list of ten famous wrestlers the tallest is stated to be 6.30 _shaku_ (a _shaku_ is 11.93 inches) and the heaviest as 33.2 _kwan_ (a _kwan_ is 8.267 lbs.). The average height and weight of these men work out at 5.84 _shaku_ and 28.4 _kwan_. By way of comparison it may be mentioned that the percentage of conscripts in 1918 over 5.5 _shaku_ was 2.58 per cent.

The average weight of j.a.panese is recorded as 13 _kwan_ 830 _momme_.

EXEMPTION FROM AND AVOIDANCE OF CONSCRIPTION [LXIII]. The age is 20 and the service two years (with four years in reserve and ten years depot service). The only son of a parent over 60 unable to support himself or herself is released. Middle school boys' service is postponed till they are 25. Students at higher schools and universities need not serve till 26 or 27. The service of young men abroad (i.e. elsewhere than China) is similarly postponed. (If still abroad at 37, they are entered in territorial army list and exempted.) Young men of education equal to that of middle-school graduates can volunteer for a year and pay 100 yen barracks expenses and be pa.s.sed out with the rank of non-commissioned officers and be liable thereafter for only two terms of three months in territorial army.

There are about half a million youths liable to conscription annually.

To this number is to be added about 100,000 postponed cases. (In 1917, 47,324 students, 32,263 abroad, 15,920 whereabouts unknown, 5,069 ill, 3,147 criminal causes, 2,477 absentees, family reasons or crime.) Evasions in 1917: convicted, 234; suspected, 1,582. There are two conscription insurance companies with policies issued for 69 million yen. In one place charms against being conscripted are sold--at a shrine. Desertions in 1916 (7 per cent, officers) 956, of which 258 received more than "light punishment." The conscripts suffering from trachoma were 15.3 per cent. and from venereal diseases 2.2 per cent.

Heights (1918): under 5 _shaku_, 10.95 per cent.; 5-5.3 _shaku_, 53.34 per cent.; 5.3-5.5 _shaku_, 33.13 per cent.; above 5.5 _shaku_, 2.58 per cent. In these four cla.s.ses there was a decrease in height in the first two of .39 per cent. and .57 per cent. respectively and an increase in the second two of .80 per cent. and 15 per cent.

respectively.

HOKKAIDO HOLDINGS [LXIV]. There are only 28 holdings of more than 1,000 _cho_, 62 of over 500 _cho_, 161 over 100 _cho_ and 80 over 50 _cho_. These large holdings are used for cattle breeding alone. There are no more than 620 holdings over 20 _cho_ and only 6,756 over 10.

The number over 5 _cho_ is 51,877, and over 2 _cho_ 62,015. Under the area of 2 _cho_ there are as many as 40,928. Few of the largest holdings are worked as single farms. They are let in sections to tenants.

CLAUSES IN A TENANT'S CONTRACT [LXV]. (1) The tenant must make at least 1 _cho_ of paddy every year. (2) Rent rice must be the best of the harvest, but the tenant may pay in money. (3) In the following cases the owner will give orders to the tenants: (_a_) If tenants do not use enough manure, (_b_) If there is disease of plants or insect pests, (_c_) If the tenant neglects to mend the road or other necessary work is neglected. (4) The owner will dismiss a tenant: (_a_) If the tenant does not pay his rent without reason, (_b_) If the tenant is neglectful of his work or is idle, (_c_) If the tenant is not obedient to the owner and does not keep this contract faithfully. (_d_) If the tenant is punished by the law. (5) When tenants leave without permission of absence more than twenty days the owner can treat as he will crops or buildings. (6) In the following cases the tenant must provide two labourers to the owner: mending road, drainage ca.n.a.l or bridges; mending water gate and irrigation ca.n.a.l; when necessary public works must be undertaken.

CULTIVATED AREA AND LIVESTOCK [LXVI]. The area of cultivated land in j.a.pan (counting paddy and arable) was, in 1919, 15,179,721 acres (6,071,888 _cho_). The number of animals kept for tillage purposes was 1,199,970 horses and 1,036,020 homed cattle. The total number of horses in the country was only 1,510,626 and of horned cattle, excluding 207,891 returned as "calving" and 12,761 as "deaths,"

1,307,120. Sheep, 4,546; goats, 91,777; swine, 398,155. The number of horned cattle slaughtered in the year was 226,108. Some 86,800 horses were also slaughtered. In Great Britain (arable, pasture and grazing area, 63 million acres) there were, in 1919, 11 million cattle, 25 million sheep, 3 million pigs and 1-3/4 million horses.

EGGS AND POULTRY [LXVII]. Even with the a.s.sistance of a tariff on Chinese eggs and of a Government poultry yard, which distributes birds and sittings at cost price, there were in 1919 14,105,085 fowls and 11,278,783 chickens. There was an importation of 3-1/2 million "fresh"

eggs.

MEAT CONSUMPTION [LXVIII]. The present meat consumption by j.a.panese is uncertain, for there were in 1920[A] 3,579 foreign residents and 22,104 visitors, and there is an exportation of ham and tinned and potted foods. The number of animals slaughtered in 1918 was: cattle and calves, 226,108; horses, 86,800; sheep and goats, 9,587; swine, 327,074. Someone said to me that "the nutritious flesh of the horse should not be neglected, for the farmer is able to digest tough food."

[Footnote A: In 1921 as many as 24,000 foreigners landed in nine months.]

TUBERCULOSIS IN THE MILLS [LXIX]. When we remember early and mid-Victorian conditions in English mills and the conditions of the sweat shops in New York and other American cities (vide "Susan Lenox"), we shall be less inclined to take a harsh view of industrial j.a.pan during a period of transition. But it is to the interest of the woollen industry no less than that of its workers that the fact should be stated that a competent authority has alleged that 50 per cent. of the employees in the mills suffer from consumption and that many girls sleep ten in a room of only ten-mat size. Improvements have been made lately under the influence of legislation and enlightened self-interest--the president of the largest company is a man of foresight and public spirit--but when I was in j.a.pan, as I recorded in the _New East_ at the time, girls of 13 and 14 were working 11-hour day and night s.h.i.+fts in some mills.

WOOLLEN FACTORIES [LXX]. In the j.a.panese woollen factory the cost of the hands is low individually, but expensive collectively. An expert suggested that it takes half a dozen of the unskilled girls to do the work of an English mill-girl. It is much the same with male labour.

"An English worker may be expected to produce work equal to the output of four j.a.panese hands." Labour for heads of departments is also difficult to get. There are textile schools and probably a hundred men are graduated yearly. But the men are not all fitted for the jobs which are vacant. Therefore, one finds a man acting as an engineer who, because of his lack of technical experience, is unable to exercise sufficient control over the men in his charge. A curiosity of the industry is the high wages which many men of this sort command.

They are really being paid better for inferior work than skilled men in England. The capital of the factories in 1918 was 46-1/2 million yen with 32-3/4 million paid up. Before the War the companies made 8 per cent, as against the 2-1/2 per cent, which contents the English manufacturer, who has often side lines to help his profits. There was more than 100 million yen invested in the woollen textile business, manufacturing and retail. The industry did well during the War by supplies of cloth to Russia and of yarn and muslin to countries which ordinarily are able to supply themselves. In 1918 the production (woollen fabrics and mixtures) was valued at 85 million yen (muslin, 32; cloth, 21; serges, 19; blankets, 3; flannel, 1; others, 8). The imports of wool were 60 million and of yarn 251,000. In 1919 the figures were 61 million and 710,000 respectively. In 1920 the exports were: woollen or worsted yarns, 1,437,926 yen; woollen cloth and serges, 3,019,382 yen; blankets, 1,024,540 yen; other woollens, 548,922 yen. The Nippon Wool Weaving Company, which in 1921 distributed a 20 per cent, ordinary and 20 per cent. extraordinary dividend, has 15 foreign experts.

POPULATION OF HOKKAIDO [LXXI]. In 1869, 58,467; has risen as follows:

Year Population

1874 174,368 1884 276,414 1894 616,650 1904 1,233,669 1914 1,869,582 1919 2,137,700 1920 2,359,097

EXTENSION OF CROP-BEARING AREA OF j.a.pAN [LXXII]. There is normally added to the crop-bearing area about 53,000 _cho_ (132,000 acres) a year. From the new crop-bearing area every year is deducted the loss of arable land from floods, the extension of cities and towns and railways and the building of factories and inst.i.tutions. This is reckoned at nearly 8,000 _cho_ in the year. One computation is that there are 2 million _cho_ (5 million acres) available for addition to the crop-bearing area, of which 1 million _cho_ would be convertible into paddies. A decision was taken by the Government in 1919 to bring 250,000 _cho_ under cultivation within nine years from that date, and by 1920 some 20,000 _cho_ had been reclaimed. Persons who reclaim more than 5 _cho_ receive 6 per cent, of their expenditure.

The increase in the area of cultivation has been as follows (in _cho_):

Year Paddy Upland Farm Total -------------------------------------------------- 1905 2,841,471 2,540,906 5,382,378 1906 2,849,288 2,551,170 5,400,459 1907 2,858,628 2,639,680 5,498,309 1908 2,882,426 2,684,531 5,566,958 1909 2,902,899 2,777,453 5,680,352 1910 2,910,970 2,804,434 5,715,405 1911 2,923,520 2,836,002 5,759,522 1912 2,939,445 2,880,301 5,819,756 1913 2,953,947 2,902,445 5,856,392 1914 2,961,639 2,916,569 5,878,208 1915 2,974,042 2,948,075 5,922,118 1916 2,987,579 2,971,800 5,959,379 1917 3,005,679 3,012,685 6,018,364 1918 3,011,000 3,070,000 6,081,000 1919 3,021,879 3,050,008 6,071,887

Whereas the percentage of cultivated land to uncultivated was in 1909 14.6 per cent., it was in 1918 15.6 per cent.

USE TO WHICH THE LAND IS PUT [LXXIII]. Here are the details of the division of the land in 1909 and 1918:

Division of the Land Years Area in _cho_ Percentage of in 000 's Total Area ------------------------ -------- ---------------- -------------- Total area 1909 38,847 100.0 1918 38,864 100.0 Paddy fields 1909 2,903 7.5 1918 3,011 7.7 Upland fields 1909 2,777 7.1 3,070 7.9 Total arable as above 1909 5,680 14.6 1918 6,081 15.6 Meadows and pastures 1909 39 0.1 1918 43 0.1 Gra.s.s lands and heather 1909 1,941 5.0 (excluding pastures) 1918 3,509 9.0 Forests 1909 22,072 56.8 1918 18,783 48.3 Dwellings, factories, 1909 9,115 23.5 roads, railways, 1918 10,448 27.0 inst.i.tutions, etc. ------------------------ -------- ---------------- --------------

Crop Cho Yield ----------------------------------------------------------- Rice (1919) 3,104,611 60,818,163 _koku_; value, 2,891,397,063 yen Mulberry (1918) 508,993 6,832,000 _koku_; raw silk, 7,891,000 _kwan_; value, 546,543,000 yen Tea (1919) 48,843 10,397,719 _kwan_ value, 33,377,460 yen Barley (1919) 534,279 9,664,000 _koku_ Naked Barley (1919) 646,362 7,995,000 _koku_ Wheat (1919) 548,508 5,611,000 _koku_ Soy Bean (1918) 432,207 3,451,320 _koku_ Other Beans (1918) -- 1,237,000 _koku_ Peas (1918) -- 536,000 _koku_ Millets (1918) -- 2,903,000 _koku_ Buckwheat (1918) 136,313 852,000 _koku_ Sweet Potato (1918) 314,012 918,328,000 _kwan_ Irish Potato (1918) 132,090 323,930,000 _kwan_ Rape Seed (1918) 116,300 856,880 _kwan_ Sugar Cane (1918) 29,367 316,745,596 _kwan_ Indigo (1918) 5,570 2,717,757 _kwan_ Hemp (1918) 11,821 2,564,114 _kwan_ Cotton (1918) 2,930 681,021 _kwan_ -----------------------------------------------------------

Radish (1917), 576,746,000 _kwan_; taro (1917), 159,168,000 _kwan_; burdock (1917), 43,424,000 _kwan_; turnip (1917), 41,527,000 _kwan_; onion (1917), 37,601,000 _kwan_; carrot (1917), 26,976,000 _kwan_; cabbage (1917); 19,951,000 _kwan_; wax-tree seed (1918), 13,761,000 _kwan_; rush for matting, (1918), 10,442,000 _kwan_; flax (1918), 17,300,000 _kwan_; ginger (1918), 8,189,000 _kwan_; paper mulberry (1918), 6,964,000 _kwan_; peppermint (1918), 3,380,000 _kwan_; lily (1917), 682,000 _kwan_; chillies (1918), 441,000 _kwan_.

EMIGRANTS AND RESIDENTS ABROAD (LXXIV). The latest official figures as to j.a.panese resident abroad, supplied in 1921 and probably gathered in 1920, are:

Asia China 200,740 Kwantung 79,307 Tsingtao 23,555 Philippines 11,156 Strait Settlements 10,828 Russian Asia 7,028 Dutch India 4,436 Hongkong 3,083 India 1,278 Burma 680 Indo-China 371

Europe England 1,638 Germany 409 Holland 375 France 342 Switzerland 87 Italy 34 Belgium 12 Sweden 10

North America U.S.A. 115,186 Hawaii 112,221 Canada 17,716 Mexico 2,198 Panama 225

South America Brazil 34,258 Peru 10,102 Argentine 1,958 Chile 484 Bolivia 145

Africa South Africa 38 Egypt 35

Oceania Australia 5,274 South Seas 3,399

Total 648,915

(The comparable return for 1918 was 493,845.) It has been suggested that these official statistics are incomplete; 7,000 as the number of j.a.panese in Russian territory seems low. Even during the War, in 1917, pa.s.sports were issued to 62,000 j.a.panese going abroad. Of these, according to the _j.a.pan Year-book_, 23,000 were made out for Siberia.

Professor s.h.i.+ga has stated that "no small number" of j.a.panese leave their country as stowaways.

RISE IN PRODUCTION PER "TAN" OF PADDY [LXXV]. The 3 or 4 _koku_ is reached in favourable circ.u.mstances only. The average is far below this, but it rises, as shown in Appendix XV.