JAPAN.
499
of the regular army, in time of peace, to some 44,426. The ariny 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, three steel cruisers, one ironclad turret ship, four wooden corvettes, three sloops, eight gunboats, one despatch vessel, and three training ships, all steamers, besides three torpedo boats. The largest of these ships, the ironclad frigate Fu-so, 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 4 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 Jap in 1878. The steel cruiser Tsukushi-kan 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 respective- ly. She arrived in Japan in September, 1883. Two more fast and powerful armed cruisers, the Naniwa Kan and Takachiho Kan, built by Messrs. Armstrong & Co. in England, arrived in Japan in 1886. They steam 18 knots an hour and carry two 25. ton breechloading guns besides machine guns.
POPULATION, TRADE, AND INDUSTRY.
11
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.
There
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. Of Middle Schools there are 163 public and 9 private establishments. 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 Romaji Kai, for promoting the adoption of the Roman alphabet in Japan, was formed in 1885, and is making progress.
The trade of 1885 was divided between the ports in the following proportions:-
PORTS.
Kanagawa
Kobe and Osaka...
Nagasaki...
Hakodate
L
..
+
IMPORTS.
EXPORTS.
TOTAL.
£3,894,984
1,788,341
£4,178,282 1,412,372
£8,073,266 3,200,713
:33.468
1,386
611,845 119,447
845,313
120,-33
£5,918,179
£5,321,946
£12,240,125
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