TOKYO
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trees on either side. As it is in close contiguity to the principal railway station, it is always very animated and thronged with vehicles and foot passengers.
The north end of the main street leads to the new public park or garden_named Uyeno, which was formerly occupied by the magnificent Temple founded and main- tained by the Shoguns, and which was destroyed by fire during the war of Restoration in July, 1868. In these grounds the Industrial Exhibition of 1877 was erected, when the gardens were converted into a public pleasure resort by the Government. Several exhibitions have since been held here and have proved very successful. In Uyeno is also situated the fine Imperial Museum (Haku-butsu-kwan).
Among the places much resorted to by visitors is the ancient temple of Kwannon, at Asakusa, not far from Uyeno, one of the most popular and most frequented temples in Japan. The temple is elevated about 20 feet from the ground. A flight of steps gives access to the interior. There is a chief altar at the extreme end of the temple, with side chapels at its right and left, containing a great number of wooden images and ex votos. The interior is not very large, and is not so conspicuous for cleanliness as most of the public buildings in Japan. At the right of the temple there is a fine old Pagoda, and near it two colossal stone statues. A new park was also opened close to the temple, about the same time as that of Uyeno. Thus, with Shiba, in the south-west, where are to be seen some of the splendid shrines of the Shoguns, among the chief glories of Tokyo, there are three large public gardens within the city. The buildings which are called the Temple of Confucius were formerly the University of Tokyo, but this has been superseded since the Restoration by the Teikoku Daigaku and other schools in which Foreign instructors are employed. There are altogether 1,275 temples in Tokyo, some of which are fine edifices. The building in which the Imperial Diet meets is a plain edifice, and is only intended for temporary use.
The districts of Honjo and Fukagawa form the quiet portion of the capital. This quarter is connected with Tokyo proper by five great bridges, some of which are constructed of iron and some of wood. They are called, commencing on the north, Adsuma-Bashi, Umaya-Bashi, Ryogoku-Bashi, Ohashi, and Eitai-Bashi respectively. The quay on the banks of the Sumida forms a spacious and handsome street, and may be especially recommended to a traveller who has only a few days to spend in Tokyo. In passing along the quay he will see across the stream several fine temples and great buildings which stand on the western banks of the Great River, and he may get at the same time a very good idea of the animated river-life of the Sumida, whose waters are always covered with junks and boats of all descriptions.
A great part of the remaining area forming the district north of the Castle is covered by paddy fields, in the midst of which rise picturesquely situated houses. There are also extensive pleasure gardens, such as Asuka-yama, and neat little villages. The surface covered by paddy fields and pleasure gardens may be estimated at 44 square miles. The part west of the Castle contains fifty temples, and a number of nobles' palaces. The district on the south of the Castle, with an area of about 17 square miles, contains about sixty temples. The most remarkable among them is Yutenji in Meguro.
Several great fires have during the last decade or so swept Tokyo, and these have led to great improvements and the widening of the streets. Rews of good houses in brick and stone, and new bridges, in many cases of iron or stone, have been built and the city has in many portions been thoroughly modernised. Tramways have been laid and the cars are usually crowded with passengers. The main streets and those adjacent to them are lighted by electricity, and the remainder by gas and oil lamps. A race course has been formed close to Uyeno. Lines of telegraph, amounting in all to 200 miles, connect the various parts of the city with one another, and with the country lines. The main streets are broad and well kept, and improvements attend the work of reconstruction after each conflagration. But as the city is in a transition state, it necessarily presents many strange anomalies. Side by side with lofty stone buildings stand rows of rude wooden houses. As with the buildings so with the people; while the mass still wear the native dress, numbers appear in European costume. The soldiers and police. are dressed in uniform on the Western model.
The environs of Tokyo are very picturesque and offer a great variety of pleasant walks or rides. Foreigners will find much to interest them in the country round. The finest scenery is at the northern and western sides of the city, where the country is surrounded by beautiful hills, from which there is a distant view of the noble mountains of Hakone, while beyond rises in solitary grandeur the towering peak of Fusi-yama, covered with snow the greater part of the year. The population of Tokyo and its suburbs was, according to the official census of 1890, 1,146,636; that of the city proper is about 900,000. The foreign residents in June, 1891 numbered 807, of whom 214 were