JAPAN,
POPULATION, TRADE, AND INDUSTRY.
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The total area of Japan is estimated at 156,604 square miles, with a population of 36,358,994, namely, 18,423,274 males and 17,935,720 females, according to official reports of the year 1880. The empire is geographically 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 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 1880 was 25,459, of which 24,281 were public schools and 1,178 private schools. Of Middle Schools there are 31 public and 358 private establishments. There are 98 Normal Schools; and Colleges for special studies, such as Law, Medicine, Mining, Agriculture, and Foreign Languages, have been established, and are carefully fostered by the Government. In order to facilitate the acquirement of foreign languages, the Government of the Mikado engaged many European pro- fessors, and also sent, at the public expense, a large number of students to America and Europe.
The total value of the foreign trade of Japan was, according to consular reports, as follows in each of the ten years 1872 to 1881:-
YEARS.
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
IMPORTS.
EXPORTS.
$26,188,441
$24,294,532
27,444,068
20,660,994
24,223,629
20,001,637
29,467,067
18,014,890
24,087,515
27,669,466
25,900,54
21,692,121
33,334,392
26,259.419
32,603,838
27,372,976
36,622,243
27,419,629
30,912,442
30,328,607
The following table shows the imports and exports of each port for the years 1880 and 1881:-
1880.
1881.
PORTS.
IMPORTS.
EXPORTS.
IMPORTS.
EXPORTS.
Kanagawa
Hiogo
$26,343,108
7,847,866
$18,577,913
$21,472,026
$21,154,664
5,323,697
7,335,159
Osaka
Nagasaki
Niigata
Hakodate
931,499 1,278,066 No returns. 221,704
471,167 2,297,591
1,095,163
1,001,882
$36,622,243
No returns. 749,261
$27,419,629
No returns.
128,272
5,319,824 626,886 2,383,605
No returns.
843,628
$30,942,442
$30,328,607
The two staple articles of import into Japan, in the year 1881 were cotton and woollen fabrics, the former of the value of $12,511,287, and the latter of the value of $3,344,790; the value of mixed cotton and woollen goods was $1,237,921. The two staple articles of export in the year 1881 were raw silk, of the value of $12,667,121, and tea, of the value of $7,020,859. The export of silk for the first half of 1882 was 11,670 piculs. 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.
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