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JAPAN.
ARMY AND Navy.
The armed force of Japan is divided into the Standing Army, the Reserve, and the Militia, and the troops into five classes. The Standing Army comprises 42 battalions of Infantry, and one of Cavalry, 30 batteries Artillery, 14 companies Engineers, 6 companies of Transport Corps, and 9 companies Marine Artillery. When on a peace footing the Army numbers about 32,300 men, and on a war footing 85,000 men. They are stationed in various parts of the Empire, which is divided into six military districts, having headquarters at Tokyo, Nagoya, Sendai, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Kumamoto. Camps are established in 37 places. Not included in the above are the Imperial Guard, composed of about 3,700 picked troops, which bring up the strength of the regular army, in time of peace, to some 44,426. The army has been organised on the French system by officers specially selected by the French Government.
The navy of Japan consists of one ironclad frigate, four composite corvettes, one steel cruiser, one ironclad turret ship, four wooden corvettes, three sloops, six gunboats, one despatch vessel, and three training ships, all steamers besides three torpedo boats. The largest of these ships, the ironclad frigate Fu-80, was built by Messrs. Samuda, Brothers, at Poplar, London, and despatched to Japan in March, 1878. The Fu-so has a burthen of 3,700 tons displacement, with engines of 3,500 horse-power. The armour is from 7 inches to 9 inches in thickness, while the armament consists of four 15-ton and two 5-ton steel breechloaders by Krupp, so arranged as to command every point of the horizon. The second largest ship of the navy is an ironclad corvette, called the Kon-go, constructed at Earle's shipbuilding yard, Hull, after the design of Sir E. J. Reed, and which arrived in Japan in 1878. The Kon-go has a burthen of 2,800 tons displacement, with engines of 2,500 horse-power, and has a belt of armour 42 inches thick. The arma- ment consists of 12 Krupp guns, capable of throwing steel shells of 142 pounds. The Hi-yei, a sister ship to the Kon-go, was also built at Hull, and arrived in Japan in 1878. The latest addition to the navy is the Tsukushi-kan, which was built in England to the order of the Chilean Government and subsequently purchased by Japan. She steams 16 knots an hour, and carries two 25 ton breechloading guns, one in the bow and stern respectively. She arrived in Japan in September, 1883. Two more powerful armed cruisers, the Naniwa Kan and Takachiho Kan, have been built by Messrs. Armstrong & Co. in England, and more are in course of construction. The navy was manned in 1883 by 702 officers and 4,511 men.
POPULATION, TRADE, AND INDUSTRY.
The total area of Japan is estimated at 156,604 square miles, and the popula- tion according to census returns for 1883, prepared on the 1st January, 1884, was 37,451,764, namely, 18,954,770 males and 18,496,994 females. The empire is geogra- phically divided into the four islands: Hondo, the central and most important territory; Kiushiu, "the nine provinces," the south-western island; Sikoku, "the four states," the southern island; and Yesso, the most northerly and least developed. The former three islands are sub-divided into eight large roads, containing sixty-six provinces, and the latter (Yesso) is divided into eleven provinces. Administratively, as before mentioned, the Empire is divided into fu and ken, each ken containing more than one province.
Education is very general in Japan, and is making greater progress than before the revolution which made Japan a monarchy. In 1871, the Mikado appointed a Board of Public Instruction, which is reported to be very active. The number of elementary schools in 1882 was 29,081, of which 28,443 were public schools and 693 private schools. Of Middle Schools there are 163 public and 9 private establishments. There are 76 Normal Schools; and Colleges for special studies, such as Law, Medicine, Mining, Agriculture, and Foreign Languages, and 5 High Female Schools have been established, and are carefully fostered by the Government. In order to facilitate the acquirement of foreign languages, the Government of the Mikado has engaged many European professors, and also sent, at the public expense, a large number of students to America and Europe. An association called the
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