The foreign commerce of Japan, like that of China, is allowed to be
carried on only at certain ports, called "treaty ports," of which
there are nineteen, the principal being Yokohama, Osaka, Nagasaki,
Hakodate, Niigata, and Kobe. The two principal cities, not treaty
ports, are Tokio and Kioto. TOKIO (1,300,000) is the capital and chief
centre of the political, commercial, and literary activity of the
empire. In many respects Tokio is a "modern" city. Its educational
features are excellent. Its sanitation also is good. KIOTO (340,000)
was formerly the capital, but after the revolution of 1868 it was
superseded in this respect by Tokio. YOKOHAMA (170,000), distant from
Tokio eighteen miles, is the chief place of the empire for foreign
trade. Its foreign trade, indeed, is more than half that of the whole
empire, being about $75,000,000 annually. OSAKA (487,000) is in
respect to population the second city of the empire, but its foreign
trade is not large and is carried on principally at HIOGO, a port near
it. NIIGATA (50,000) is the only treaty port on the west side of
Japan, the surf caused by the winter monsoon making the flat west
coast of the country very dangerous for shipping for half the year.
Other important ports are KOBE (161,000) and NAGASAKI (72,000). NAGOYA
(215,000) is an important inland town.