INDUSTRIAL JAPAN
OUTLINE OF TOPICS: Agriculture; petty farming; small capital and
income; character of farmer; decrease of farmers; principal products;
rice; tea; tobacco; silk; cotton; camphor; bamboo; marine products
and industries.—Mining.—Engineering.—Shipbuilding.—Miscellaneous
industries.—Mechanical industries.—Shopping in Japan.—Wages
and incomes.—Guilds, labor unions, strikes, etc.—Mr.
Katayama.—Socialism.—Bibliography.
The chief occupation of the Japanese is agriculture, in which the
great mass of the people are employed. On account of the volcanic
nature and the mountainous condition of the country, there are large
portions not tillable;[14] and for the same reason, perhaps, the soil
in general is not naturally very fertile. It must be, and can be, made
so by artificial means; but as yet not half of what is fairly fertile
soil is under cultivation. Large portions of arable land, particularly
in Yezo and Formosa, can be made to return rich harvests, and are
gradually being brought under man’s dominion. But it can be readily
understood that if for any reason the crops fail, severe suffering will
ensue, and perhaps become widespread. The prosperity of the country
depends largely upon the prosperity of its farmers.
Farming, like almost everything in that land of miniatures, is on a
limited scale, as each man has only a very small holding. “There is
no farm in Japan; there are only gardens” (Uchimura). Even a “petty
farmer” of our Northwest would ridicule the extremely insignificant
farms of the Japanese, who, in turn, would be astounded at the
prodigious domains of a Dalrymple. A careful investigator, Dr. Karl
Rathgen, has summed up the situation as follows: “In Japan are to be
found only small holdings. A farm of five _chō_[15] (twelve acres) is
considered very large. As a rule the Japanese farmer is without hired
labor and without cattle. The family alone cultivates the farm, which,
however, is so small that a large share of the available labor can
be devoted to other purposes besides farming, such as the production
of silk, indigo, tobacco. The average holding for the whole of Japan
(excluding the Hokkaidō) for each agricultural family is 8.3 _tan_[15]
(about two acres), varying from a maximum of 17.6 _tan_ in the
prefecture of Aomori to a minimum of 5.3 _tan_ in the prefecture of
Wakayama.” “There are no large landed proprietors in Japan.”
A Japanese farm is so insignificant, partly because a Japanese
farmer has only a very small capital, and needs only a slight income
to support life. It has been estimated that a man so fortunate as to
own a farm of five _chō_[15] obtains therefrom an annual income of
100 or 120 _yen_.[15] And yet the Japanese farmers are very careful
and thoroughly understand their business. “In spade-husbandry,” says
Dr. Griffis, “they have little to learn”; but “in stock-raising,
fruit-growing, and the raising of hardier grains than rice, they need
much instruction.”[16]
A Japanese farmer is hard-working, industrious, stolid, conservative,
and yet, by reason of his fatalistic and stoical notions, in a way
happy and contented. “Left to the soil to till it, to live and die upon
it, the Japanese farmer has remained the same, ... with his horizon
bounded by his rice-fields, his water-courses, or the timbered hills,
his intellect laid away for safe-keeping in the priest’s hands, ...
caring little who rules him, unless he is taxed beyond the power
of flesh and blood to bear.” He is, however, more than ordinarily
interested in taxation, for the land-tax of three and one-third per
cent of the assessed value of the land amounts to about half the
national revenue, and is no inconsiderable part of the state, county,
town, and village taxes. It would have reverted to the original rate of
two and one-half per cent; but it has been still further increased on
account of the Russo-Japanese War.[17]
The principal products of the Japanese farms are rice, barley, wheat,
millet, maize, beans, peas, potatoes (Irish and sweet), turnips,
carrots, melons, eggplants, buckwheat, onions, beets, and a large white
bitter radish (_daikon_). A very good average yield is fifty bushels
to an acre. The entire annual production of rice varies each year, but
averages about 46,000,000 _koku_;[18] and the annual exportation of
rice runs from about 8,000,000 _yen_ to over 10,000,000 _yen_. The list
of fruits[19] and nuts grown in Japan includes pears, peaches, oranges,
figs, persimmons, grapes, plums, loquats, apricots, strawberries,
bananas, apples, peanuts, chestnuts, etc.
Among other important Japanese productions must be mentioned, of
course, tea, tobacco, and mulberry trees. Of these the last is,
perhaps, indigenous; but the other two are importations in their
origin. The culture of tea is most extensively carried on in the middle
and southern districts. The annual production is now about 7,000,000
_kwan_;[20] the annual export trade is valued at over 10,000,000
_yen_. The price of tea runs from five cents to six dollars per pound,
of which the last is raised at Uji, near Kyōto. The Japanese are a
tea-drinking people; they use that beverage at meals and between meals,
at all times and in all places. It is true that they drink it from a
very small cup, which holds about two tablespoonfuls, but they drink,
as we are told to pray, “without ceasing.” Hot water is kept ever
ready for making tea, which is sipped every few minutes, and is always
served, with cake or confectionery, to visitors.[21]
Tobacco was introduced into Japan by the Portuguese, but its use
was at first strictly prohibited. The practice of smoking, however,
rapidly spread until it became well-nigh a universal custom, not even
restricted to the male sex. The Lilliputian pipe would seem to indicate
that only a limited amount of the weed is used; but smoking, like
tea-drinking, is practised “early and often.” The Japanese tobacco is
said to be “remarkable for its mildness and dryness.”
The silk industry is the most important in relation to Japan’s foreign
trade, and is on the increase. Silk is sent away to American and
European markets chiefly in its raw state, but is also manufactured
into handkerchiefs, etc. The exports of silk for the year 1910 amounted
to about $90,000,000, or about two-fifths of the entire export trade.
It would, of course, be beyond the limits of this chapter to enter into
the description of the details of sericulture; it may be sufficient
here to state that only the stolid patience of Orientals can well
endure the slow, tedious, and painstaking process of feeding the
silkworms.[22]
[Illustration: COTTON MILLS, ŌSAKA]
Cotton-spinning is a comparatively new industry in Japan, but is
growing rapidly. Cotton is, of course, the principal material for the
clothing of the common people, who cannot afford silk robes. But Japan,
though raising a great deal of cotton, cannot supply the demand, and
imports large quantities from India and America. It is only within a
short time that cotton-spinning by machinery has become a Japanese
industry; formerly all the yarn was spun by hand; but in 1907 there
were 136 cotton-mills in Japan. Some are very small concerns; but in
Osaka, Nagoya, and Tōkyō there are comparatively large and flourishing
mills. Ordinary workmen receive from 12 to 20 _sen_ a day; skilled
laborers make from 30 to 40 _sen_; girls earn from 10 to 20 _sen_,
and children only a few _sen_ per day; but the stockholders receive
dividends of from 10 to 20 per cent per annum.
Since Japan acquired Formosa from China, she has had added to her
resources another very important and valuable product, in which she
possesses practically a monopoly of the world’s market and a supply
supposed to be sufficient for the demands of the whole world for this
entire century. It has been estimated, for instance, that the area of
interior districts in which the camphor tree is found will reach over
1,500 miles. The camphor business of Japan in Formosa is in the hands
of a British firm, to whom, as highest bidder, the government let out
its monopoly for a fixed term of years.[23]
Perhaps the most generally useful product of Japan is the bamboo,[24]
which “finds a use in every size, at all ages, and for manifold
purposes,” or, as Huish expresses it, “is used for everything.” Rein
and Chamberlain each takes up a page or more for an incomplete list
of articles made from bamboo; so that Piggott is surely right when he
states that it is “an easier task to say what is not made of bamboo.”
Inasmuch as Japan is an insular country, with a long line of
sea-coast, it is natural that fishing should be one of the principal
occupations of the people, and that fish, seaweed, and other marine
products should be common diet. From ancient times down to the opening
of Japan, the fishing industry was a simple occupation, somewhat
limited in its scope; but since the Japanese have learned from other
nations to what extent marine industries are capable of development,
fishing has become the source of many and varied lines of business.
The canning industry, for instance, is of quite recent origin, but is
growing rapidly. Whaling and sealing are very profitable occupations.
Smelt-fishing by torchlight by means of tame cormorants was largely
employed in olden times, and is kept up somewhat even to the present
day. The occupation of a fisherman, though arduous and dangerous, is
not entirely prosaic, and, in Japan, contributes to art. The return
home of the fishing-smacks in the afternoon is an interesting sight;
and the aspect of the sea, dotted with white sails, appeals so strongly
to the æsthetic sense of the Japanese that it is included among the
“eight views” of any locality.
Mining is also a flourishing industry in Japan, as the country is
quite rich in mineral resources. Coal is so extensively found that it
constitutes an item of export. Copper, antimony, sulphur, and silver
are found in large quantities; gold, tin, iron, lead, salt, etc.,
in smaller quantities. Oil, too, has sprung up into an important
product.[25]
Engineering, perhaps, deserves a paragraph by itself. This department
in the Imperial University is flourishing, and sends forth annually a
large number of good engineers. In civil engineering the Japanese have
become so skilful that they have little need now of foreign experts
except in the matter of general supervision.
It is worthy of special notice that the Japanese have become quite
skilful in ship-building, so that they now construct vessels of various
kinds, not only for themselves but for other nations. The Mitsu
Bishi Company, Nagasaki, has constructed for the Oriental Steamship
Company three fine passenger steamers of 13,000 tons each. At the
Uraga Dockyard large American men-of-war have been satisfactorily
repaired; and on October 15, 1902, a small United States gunboat was
launched,—“_the first instance in which Japan has got an order of
shipbuilding from a Western country_.”[26]
Among the minor miscellaneous industries which can only be mentioned
are sugar-raising, paper-making (there are a number of mills which are
paying well), dyeing, glass-blowing, lumber, horse-breeding, poultry,
pisciculture, ice, brick, fan, match, button, handkerchief, pottery,
lacquer, weaving, embroidery, _sake_ and beer brewing, soy, etc. The
extent and variety of the industries of Modern Japan are also clearly
evidenced in a short article about “The Ōsaka Exhibition” of 1903 in
the Appendix.
In what we style “the mechanical arts” the Japanese excel, and
have a world-wide reputation. With their innate æsthetic instincts
they make the most commonplace beautiful. It is a trite saying that
a globe-trotter, picking up in a native shop a very pretty little
article, and admiring it for its simplicity and exquisite taste, is
likely to find it an ordinary household utensil. Japanese lacquer work
is distinctive and remarkable for its beauty and strength; lacquered
utensils, such as bowls, trays, etc., are not damaged by boiling
soups, hot water, or even cigar ashes. In porcelain and pottery, the
Japanese are celebrated for the artistic skill displayed in manufacture
and ornamentation. “The bronze and inlaid metal work of Japan is
highly esteemed.” Japanese swords, too, are remarkable weapons with
“astonishing cleaving power.” To summarize this paragraph, it may be
said that the Japanese have turned what we call mechanical industries
into fine arts, which display a magnificent triumph of æstheticism even
in little things.[27]
This chapter would be incomplete without a paragraph concerning
Japanese shops, or retail stores, which are among the first curiosities
to attract and rivet a foreigner’s attention. The building is,
perhaps, a small, low, frame structure, crowded among its fellows on
a narrow lane. The floor is raised a foot or so above the ground, and
is covered, as usual, with thick matting. Spread out on the floor or
on wooden tiers or on shelves are the goods for sale. The shopkeeper
sits on his feet on the floor, and calmly smokes his pipelet, or fans
himself, or in winter warms his hands over the _hibachi_ (fire-bowl).
He greets you with a profound bow and most respectful words of welcome,
but makes no attempt to effect a sale, or even to show an article
unless you ask to see it. He is imperturbably indifferent whether or
not you make a purchase; either way, it is all right. He will politely
display anything you want to see; and, even if, after making him much
trouble, you buy nothing or only an insignificant and cheap article,
he sends you away with as profound a bow and as polite expressions as
if you had bought out the shop. Whether you buy little or much or even
nothing, you are always dismissed with “_Arigatō gozaimasu_” and “_Mata
irasshai_,” which are very respectful phrases for “Thank you” and “Come
again.” Having dropped into “a veritable shoppers’ paradise,” you will
quickly “find yourself the prey of an acute case of shopping fever
before you know it!” It is, indeed, true, to quote further from this
same writer, that “to stroll down the Broadway [known as the Ginza] of
Tokio of an evening is a liberal education in every-day art.”[28]
From what has already been written, it is easily noticeable that wages
and incomes, like so many things in _petite_ Japan, are insignificant.
It may be added that ordinary mechanics earn on an average over
50 _sen_ a day, and the most skilful seldom get more than double
that amount; that carpenters earn from 70 to 100 _sen_ a day; that
street-car drivers and conductors receive 12 or 15 _yen_ per month, and
other workmen of the common people about the same. Even an official who
receives 1,000 _yen_ per year is considered to have a snug income. It
will be inferred from this that the cost of living is proportionately
cheaper, whether for provisions or for shelter or for clothes, and that
the wants, the absolute necessities, of the people are few and simple.
Literally true it is, that a Japanese man “wants but little here
below, nor wants that little long.” With rice, barley, sweet potatoes,
other vegetables, fish, eggs, tea, and even sweetmeats in abundance
and very cheap, a Japanese can subsist on little and be contented and
happy with enough, or even less than that. But, unfortunately, the
new civilization of the West has carried into Japan the itch for gold
and the desire for more numerous and more expensive luxuries, and has
increased the cost of living without increasing proportionately the
amount of income or wages.[29]
Industrial Japan has already become more or less modified by features
of Occidental industrialism, such as guilds, trade unions, strikes,
co-operative stores. It is true that feudal Japan also had guilds,
which are, however, now run rather on modern lines. One of the oldest,
strongest, and most compact is that of the dock coolies, who without
many written rules are yet so well organized that they have almost an
absolute monopoly, with frequent strikes, which are always successful.
Others of the guilds are those of the sawyers, the plasterers, the
stonemasons, the bricklayers, the carpenters, the barbers, the coolies
(who can travel all over the empire without a penny and live on their
fellows), the wrestlers, the actors, the gamblers, the pickpockets,
etc. The beggars’ guild is now defunct. The labor unions of modern days
include the iron-workers, the ship-carpenters, the railway engineers,
the railway workmen, the printers, and the European-style cooks. The
last-mentioned is one in which foreigners resident in Japan necessarily
take a practical interest! The only unions which have become absolute
masters of the situation are those of the dock coolies, the railway
laborers, and the railway engineers. As for co-operative stores, there
are a dozen or more in Tōkyō, Yokohama, and Northern Japan.
The perfect organization of these modern unions is due largely to the
efforts of a young man named Sen Katayama, who is the champion of the
rights of the laboring man in Japan. He spent ten years in America and
made a special study of social problems. He is the head of Kingsley
Hall, a social settlement of varied activity in the heart of Tōkyō, and
editor of the “Labor World,” the organ of the working classes. That the
changes rapidly taking place in the industrial life of Japan will raise
up serious problems, there is no doubt; what phases they will assume
cannot be foreseen. But “socialistic” ideas are carefully repressed in
modern Japan.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
“Japan and its Trade” and “Advance Japan” (Morris); “The Yankees
of the East” (Curtis); “Japan in Transition” (Ransome), chap. x.;
“The Awakening of the East” (Leroy-Beaulieu), chaps. iv. and v.;
“Dai Nippon” (Dyer), chaps. viii. and xi.; and especially Rein’s
“Industries of Japan,” in which the subject is treated in great
detail with German thoroughness. But to keep pace with the rapid
progress along industrial and commercial lines, one really needs
current English newspapers and magazines, such as are mentioned in
the chapter on “Language and Literature.” The reports of the British
and United States consular officials are also very useful in this
respect.
“The Japan Year Book,” issued annually, is a veritable cyclopedia of
important facts and figures.