INDUSTRIES, ARTS AND COMMERCE.
The basis of Japanese industry is agricultural, although each
year shows a decreasing proportion engaged in the tilling of the
soil. Rice is the principal product, but owing to the large amount
consumed at home it is not the chief export. As this crop needs an
abundance of water, the rice fields occupy the low lands and the
mountain gorges. Sometimes the narrow valleys that pierce the ranges
are so terraced as to look like steps, and at this time of the year
when the crop is being harvested, they resemble golden stairs. The
men and women work together in the field, and in many places we saw
them standing almost knee deep in mud, cutting the grain with old
fashioned hand-sickles. The rice is tied in bundles somewhat smaller
than our wheat sheaves, and hung over poles or laid along the edge
of a terrace to cure. If the threshing is delayed the grain is
stacked, not as we stack wheat and oats in the United States, but
in little columns with the heads of the sheaves tied to a pole in
the center. Sometimes the stacks are built around a living tree. The
grain is separated from the straw by means of a long toothed comb,
and at this season innumerable groups of persons are busily engaged
at this work. The yellow heaps of rice in the hull, looking from a
distance like wheat, can be seen from the train and from the country
roads. Straw mats are used to keep the grain off the ground and, I
may add, the mat is in evidence everywhere in Japan and is used for
all sorts of purposes.
The cultivation of the tea plant is an industry of no small
magnitude, although not so universal as the cultivation of rice. The
tea fields occupy the higher levels and add an interesting variety
to the landscapes. At one point on the railroad between Yokohama and
Nagoya the hillsides are covered with tea plantations, if such tiny
farms can be called plantations. The tea plant is something like
our gooseberry and currant bushes in size, but the foliage is much
thicker. The leaves vary widely in value, from the cheaper grades,
which are exported, to the Uji which costs what is equivalent to
five or more dollars per pound.
Some cotton is grown here, but the cotton plant as we saw it is
small compared with our plant, and the tillable area is too limited
to admit of the growing of cotton on a large scale.
Tobacco is cultivated to some extent, but the sale of manufactured
tobacco is a government prerogative.
Raw silk is by far the most valuable export, thirty-five million
dollars' worth having been sent abroad last year. Three-fifths
of the entire export goes to the United States, the remainder to
Europe, with France as the largest European purchaser. As fifteen
million dollars' worth of silk fabrics went abroad also, as against
five million dollars' worth of tea and four million dollars' worth
of rice, it will be seen that the cultivation of the silk worm and
the mulberry tree is extensively carried on. The silk worms are kept
indoors and the leaves brought in to them. When put outdoors the
silk worms are devoured by birds.
Fruits grow here in great variety. We have found everywhere apples
of excellent quality, raised in the northern parts of the islands,
while the southern islands produce oranges, bananas and pineapples.
The apple tree was imported from America about thirty-five years
ago; now apples are exported to China and Siberia. The most popular
orange is the tangerine, or kid glove orange as it is sometimes
called; many of these are exported.
There is a kind of fruit called the ban-tan grown on the island
of Kyushu. It looks something like the grape fruit, but grows
considerably larger and has a thicker skin; the meat is pink in
color, sweeter and less juicy than the grape fruit. Pears grow here;
one variety looks like a russet apple in shape and color. Peach
trees are sometimes trained as we train grape vines on an arbor, so
that the orchard seems to have a flat roof of foliage.
They have here, too, persimmons as large as apples and as solid.
We found these on the table in all parts of the island and there
are several varieties. The grape is cultivated in Japan, but we did
not see grape vines in such profusion as they are seen in southern
Europe, along the lakes in western New York or in California. And,
in this connection, I may add that wine is not used here to the
extent that it is in some other countries, the national drink, sake,
being made from fermented rice. Ordinarily this beverage contains
from eleven to fourteen per cent of alcohol, but there is a stronger
kind called shochu, which contains as much as fifty per cent of
alcohol. It is evident, however, that liquor by any other name can
be as intoxicating as our whisky, and we found at Tokyo a national
temperance society with branches throughout the empire. Mr. Ando,
the president of this society, is a Japanese gentleman of great
earnestness and intelligence, who was converted to Christianity a
few years ago when he was representing his country in Honolulu.
While, as I have stated in another article, I have seen no evidences
of drunkenness, Mr. Ando informs me that his society has ample work
to do. I carry back with me a badge which the society gave me on
learning of my total abstinence habits. I have only mentioned the
leading products of the field, but I can not leave the cultivators
of the soil without a word concerning the gardens. They are so cute,
occupying as they do the little nooks and corners that can not be
utilized for the large crops. There does not seem to be a square
inch of ground wasted. The vegetables are planted in rows which
are either straight or curved, never crooked, and we have scarcely
seen a weed. Fertilizer is extensively used, being kept in stone or
cement vats protected from the weather by a straw colored shed. Near
the cities the soil is enriched by the refuse from closets which is
collected and carried away during the night. The introduction of
sewage systems has been somewhat impeded in some cities by the fact
that sewage would be an expense while closets are now a source of
profit. It must be confessed, however, that the present system tends
to make fresh vegetables unpopular with the tourist.
Most travelers land at Yokohama and depart at Kobe, or land at Kobe
and depart at Yokohama, these being the two principal ports. As
these are about 300 miles apart, one has a chance to see much of
the farming land from the railroad. The side trips from Tokyo to
Nikko, from Yokohama to Miyanoshita and from Kyoto to Nara, give
additional opportunities for seeing the farmer at work, but the ride
from Kobe west to Shimonoseki surpasses any of these in interest
and in beauty of scenery. As this route leads along the sea coast
as well as through densely populated valleys, there is greater
variety. Now one skirts the inland sea, with its numerous islands,
its transparent waters, its little harbors and its fleets of fishing
boats; now he winds his way along a stream with falls and rapids and
spanned by frail foot bridges or by stone wagon bridges. On the one
side he sees a bamboo grove and on the other a tiny graveyard or
a little hill dedicated to a Shinto shrine--stone steps ascending
along a shaded path from the sacred gate, which invariably marks
the entrance to holy ground. In passing over this railroad route
one gathers a large amount of information concerning the industries
of the sea coast, as well as those of the inland, and besides one
can visit the Shimonoseki Strait which is of historic interest to
Americans. The Sanyo railroad, which connects Kobe and Shimonoseki,
is well equipped and well managed and has built an excellent hotel,
The Sanyo, at Shimonoseki for the accommodation of its patrons.
From this point a steamer runs to Fusan, the nearest Korean port,
where direct connection is made for Seoul, the Korean capital. From
Moji, just across the strait from Shimonoseki, one can take a train
to Nagasaki, the western seaport of Japan. At Shimonoseki one is
shown the house in which Marquis Ito and Li Hung Chang drafted the
Japanese-Chinese treaty in 1894.
[Illustration: JAPANESE WATER CARRIER.]
Mining is an industry of considerable importance here. Gold, silver
and copper are found in paying quantities. More than six million
dollars' worth of copper was exported last year. One of the gold
fields on the island of Kyushu, near Kagoshima, gives promise of
considerable richness. Coal is found in such abundance that the
exports of this commodity have amounted to nearly ten million
dollars in a single year. A hard quality of smokeless coal has
recently been discovered in western Japan.
The islands also produce a number of varieties of valuable woods.
The camphor tree grows to an enormous size, a gigantic statue of the
Goddess of Mercy in one of the temples at Kamakura being carved from
a single camphor log. The value of the camphor exported from Japan
last year exceeded a million and a half dollars. Among the hard
woods suitable for carving, cherry seems to be the most popular.
Of all the trees, however, the bamboo is the most useful. Just at
this time when the returning soldiers are being welcomed, it is
present everywhere in the form of flag poles, and there is nothing
that equals it for this purpose; long, slender, light and strong,
it is just the thing for flags and banners, and when a little plume
of leaves is left at the top, it is still more beautiful. The
bamboo is used for water pipes and for fences, for furniture and
picture tubes, for dippers, baskets, fishing poles, flower vases,
candlesticks, wicker work, etc., etc.
In wood carving the Japanese have long been skilled. Specimens of
work done hundreds of years ago and testifying to their taste, no
less than to their deftness of hand, may be seen in their ancient
palaces and temples.
Stone cutting is also an ancient industry here. There is an
abundance of stone and granite, while the lanterns, Korean lions and
sacred gates have furnished subjects for many a chisel. Osaka seems
to be the center of the stone cutting industry.
The iron industry is represented by an increasing number of
establishments. In many instances workmen have been brought from
abroad and employed until Japanese artisans were sufficiently
trained to take their place. Much of the iron work is still done in
little shops and by hand, although machinery is being imported in
large quantities.
I visited a tannery at Kagoshima and found that the proprietor had
spent seven years in America learning the business, and that on his
return he had taught native help each branch of the business. He is
now turning out an excellent product.
One of the most promising industries in Japan is cotton spinning.
There are a number of factories already in operation and new ones
are building. I visited one of the plants of the Osaka Nippon Boseki
Kaisha at Osaka. This company has about seventy thousand spindles
and the mills employ nothing but native labor. Foreign artisans
were used in the beginning, but are no longer needed. A great many
women are employed and some children; for the latter a school is
maintained for two hours a day in the building. Cotton yarn is now
selling for about forty cents a pound and is becoming one of the
leading articles of export; China is the largest purchaser. Some
idea of the growth of this branch of industry can be gathered from
the fact that the exports of cotton yarn amounted to less than four
thousand dollars in 1891 and 1892; in 1896 it had grown to over two
millions, in 1898 to over ten millions, and during the last two
years it has averaged about fifteen millions.
At Osaka I also visited a brush industry and found that from bones,
imported from the slaughter houses of America, and from bristles,
purchased in Russia and in China, they made tooth, nail and hair
brushes for export to both Europe and America. Here, too, they
have dispensed with the foreign labor which they employed in the
beginning.
Earthenware is manufactured in abundance and of every variety. The
exports of porcelain and earthenware reached almost two million
dollars last year. In Kyoto we visited a pottery and found two rooms
in which the finished product was displayed; the first contained
beautiful specimens of Japanese skill, graceful in shape and dainty
in decoration; the second was filled with big pieces in loud colors
and of inferior workmanship. These last articles, we were informed,
were made especially for the American trade.
Some beautiful porcelain work is done in Kyoto, the decoration
representing a high degree of artistic skill.
One of the most famous kinds of china produced by Japan is known as
Satsuma ware, the glazing of which is of a peculiar tint and has a
crackled appearance. The secret of the manufacture of this ware was
brought from Korea by the captives taken in war some three hundred
years ago, and the industry still flourishes in Japan, although it
has perished in Korea. Kagoshima is the center for Satsuma ware,
and a colony of Koreans living near there, as well as Japanese
manufacturers, produce excellent specimens.
Lacquer work has been done in Japan from time immemorial, samples of
which, centuries old, can be seen in temples, palaces and museums.
When gold and silver are used in connection with the lacquer the
product is often very valuable.
The bronzes produced in the little shops scattered over Japan give
play to the artistic taste which one finds here. Osaka and Kyoto are
noted for their bronzes. Sometimes various metals are inlaid in the
forms of flowers, birds, animals and landscapes, producing a most
pleasing effect. Then there are damascene factories and places for
embroidery and for pictures made in cut velvet, etc., etc.
No one can pass through Japan without being impressed with the
taste, which seems to be national, and with the delicate skill which
has been handed down from generation to generation. And nothing, in
my judgment, more clearly exhibits this union of taste and skill
than the Cloisonne work. Upon a metallic base, as a vase, placque
or box, an artist draws a design; this design is then outlined with
fine wires of gold and silver, then enamels of various colors are
filled in. When the enamels are hardened and the whole polished, the
product is a thing of marvelous beauty.
I have not space to speak of the minor industries, such as paper
making, matches (in which Japan monopolizes the trade of the East),
fans, umbrellas, lanterns, napkins, etc. The Japanese lantern which
we use for ornamentation is here a practical thing, in daily, or
rather nightly, use. These lanterns hang in front of the houses and
are carried on the streets. They are also used for illumination on
festive occasions; at the time of the naval review and the reception
to Admiral Togo, Yokohama and Tokyo were illuminated by these
lanterns as I never saw an American city lighted.
When Japan was opened to the commerce of the world, there were few
business houses or trading establishments of any size. Now there
are several department stores and large wholesale houses, besides
manufacturing and trading companies of importance. One business man
in Tokyo, Mr. K. Okura, has a private collection of curios valued
at one million dollars, which he offered to sell in Europe or
America, the proceeds to be given to the government for carrying on
the war against Russia. Osaka has a successful business man who has
earned the name of the "Japanese Carnegie" by giving a fine library
building to that city.
Consul General Miller, at Yokohama, and Consul Sharp, at Kobe,
furnished me with interesting statistics regarding the commerce of
Japan. Exports have increased from about eighty millions in 1891
to about three hundred and twenty millions in 1904; during the
same period imports increased from a little more than sixty-three
millions to a little more than three hundred and seventy-one
millions. While our country sells less to Japan than Great Britain
and British India, she buys more than any other nation from
Japan. Our chief exports to Japan last year were electric motors,
locomotive engines, steam boilers and engines, iron pipes, nails,
lead, oil, paraffine wax, cotton drills, cotton duck, raw cotton,
tobacco, coal, cars, turning lathes, condensed milk, flour and
wheat. Of these items, flour, raw cotton and oil were by far the
most valuable, each amounting to more than four and a half million
dollars.
In the ocean carrying trade, Japan is making rapid strides. In ten
years her registered steamers have increased from four hundred and
sixty-one to twelve hundred and twenty-four and her sailing vessels
from one hundred and ninety-six to three thousand five hundred and
twenty-three. There are now two hundred private ship yards in Japan,
and in 1903 they built two hundred and seventy-nine vessels. The
Japan Mail Steamship Company has a paid-up capital of eleven million
dollars, runs steamers between Japan, America, Europe and Asia and
pays a ten per cent dividend on its capital. The Osaka Mercantile
Steamship Company (Osaka Shosen Kaisha) has a paid-up capital of
nearly three and a half million dollars, owns about one hundred
vessels and pays a dividend of ten per cent. These are the largest
companies, but there are many smaller ones, some paying dividends of
sixteen and twenty per cent.
I will close this article with the suggestion that the mercantile
marine seems likely to show large growth in the future, offering, as
it does, a legitimate field for national expansion.
Japan's fishing industries furnish a training for seamen and her
people seem at home upon the water. She needs more territory for
her expanding population and has about reached the limit in the
cultivation of her tillable land. Every additional ship manned by
her citizens is like a new island, rising from the waves, upon which
her increasing population can be supported. If she seeks to acquire
land in any direction, she finds her efforts contested by the
inhabitants already there; no wonder she hails with delight these
floating farms constructed by the genius of her own people--new
land, as it were, won and held without the sacrifice of war.