370
JAPAN.
The commercial intercourse of Japan is carried on mainly with two countries, namely, Great Britain, and the United States of America, the former absorbing more than two-thirds of the whole. The extent of trade with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined table, which gives the value of the total exports from Japan to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the total imports of British and Irish produce and manufactures into Japan in each of the five years 1868 to 1873:
Years.
Exports from Japan to Great Britain.
£188,222
Imports of
British Home Produce into Japan.
£1,112,804
1868... 1869 1870... 1871 1872...
***
167,308
96,173
109,224
184,342
1:442,104
1.609,367
1,584,517
1,961,327
The principal articles of export from Japan to Great Britain in the year 1872, were wax, of the declared value of £29,030, and tobacco, unmanufactured, of the value of £66,654; and tea, of the value of £8,685. The staple article of British imports into Japan consists of cotton goods, the value of which was £1,183,556 in 1872. Besides cotton manufactures, the British import consisted chiefly of iron, wrought and un- wrought, of the value of £110,370, and of woollen fabrics, of the value of £327,829 in the year 1872.
By treaties made with a number of foreign Governments-with the United States in March 1854; with Great Britain in October 1854; with Russia and the Netherlands in 1855; with France in 1859; with Portugal in 1860; with Prussia and the Zollverein in 1861; with Switzerland in 1864; with Italy in 1866; and with Denmark in 1867 the six Japanese ports of Yokohama, Nagasaki, Niegata, Hiogo-Ozaka, Hakodaté, and the city of Yedo, were thrown open to foreign commerce.
Money, Weights, and Measures.
The money, weights, and measures in common use at the three open ports of Japan, and the British equivalents, are :—
Money.
The Ichibu (silver), average rate of exchange..
39
Rið, or Tael
""
...18. 41d.
.58.
The Chinese system of taking money only for its strict metal value, and using it indiscriminately, either whole or in pieces, obtains also in Japan; but, unlike the Chinese, the Japanese have national coins. These coins were made out of the country until the latter part of 1870, when the government purchased at Hongkong the complete machinery of a mint, manufactured in England, and set it up at Osaka, in a building constructed for the purpose. The new coinage issued from this mint consists of gold 10, 5, and 24 dollar pieces, equal to Mexican dollars in shape, weight, and fineness; of silver dollars, and 50, 20, and 5 cents; besides copper 1 and cents and 1 mil, the latter said to be the smallest modern coin. They are made of iron, copper, silver and gold, and an alloy of gold and silver, and are of different shapes -rectangular, square, circular, and oval. According to a report of the Master of the Mint, addressed to the Minister of Finance, there were imported into Japan, during the year ending July 31st, 1872, for the use of the mint 858,226oz. of gold for coinage, or about 3,000,000l., and 4,767,175oz. of silver, or about 1,192,000ī. The total number of gold pieces struck during the same year was 2,190,256, valued at 14,488,981 dollars; and that of silver pieces 13,313,722, valued at 5,689,685 dollars, being a total of 15,503,978 pieces, valued at 20,178,666 dollars. There is also a paper currency, consisting of banknotes of one-quarter, one-half, and one Riô.
Weights and Measures.
The Picul, or ton........
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Kin Shaku Ri
K
160 momme.......
10 sun..
36 chỗ ...
133 lbs. avoirdupois.
1/1/10 11 inches. 21 miles.
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