Directory_and_Chronicle_1893 — Page 404

10

JAPAN--TOKYO

should come into operation in February, 1890, when the whole country was to be opened to subjects and citizens of such Powers, and extraterritoriality abolished. An agitation arose, however, in Japan, the Foreign Minister was, on the 19th October, 1889, severely wounded in an attempt made on his life in Tokyo, and the work of treaty revision had to be suspended. The German, American, and Russian Treaties were signed in 1889, but have not yet been ratified. Negotiations have since been resumed, and the British Treaty is now in course of revision.

Railways in Japan are now being rapidly pushed forward. The first railway constructed was the one connecting Yokohama with Tokyo; it is 18 miles long and was opened for traffic as a single road on the 12th June, 1872, and was completed as a double line throughout on the 8th May, 1880. There are now over 1,500 miles of railway open in Japan. The principal line in point of importance is what is known as the Tokaido Railway, which now unites Tokyo with Kobe, vid Yokohama, Shizuoka, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Osaka. The North-Eastern Railway runs from Tokyo to Aomori, a port on the northern coast, and is 454 miles in length. The last section, from Morioka to Aomori, was opened to traffic on the 3rd September, 1891. Other lines are in course of construc- tion, some of which will ultimately complete the chain of communication from the extreme north of Hondo to Nagasaki in the south. In 1892 the Diet passed a law giving power to the Government to construct a network of state railways which will ultimately connect all the important towns in the Empire, and to issue bonds in the first instance to the extent of Yen 60,000,000 to meet the expenses.

The ports of Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, Nagasaki, and Hakodate are connected with each other, and with Europe, by lines of telegraph, and the telegraph system, extending over 6,500 miles, connects all the important towns of the Empire. Japan has joined the Universal Postal Union, and for the past eleven years has conducted the international as well as domestic postal service. The telephone has been introduced into Tokyo and other large cities.

TOKYO

The capital of Japan [until the Restoration called Yedo] is situated at the north of the Bay of Yedo, has a circumference of 27 miles, and covers a surface of nearly 36 square miles. The Sumida, or Okawa (Great River), runs through the city, dividing Tokyo proper from the districts on the east side called Honjo and Fukagawa.

Tokyo as viewed from the bay is a pleasant-looking city, being well situated on undulating ground, and possessing abundant foliage. The city is divided into fifteen grand divisions, and its suburbs into six divisions. It is in fact more like an aggregation of towns than one great city. The Castle of Tokyo occupies a commanding position on a hill a little to the westward of the centre of the city. It is enclosed in double walls, and surrounded by a fine broad moat. Within the Castle formerly stood the Imperial Palace and several public offices, but the destructive fire of the 3rd of April, 1872, levelled these ancient and massive buildings, leaving only the surrounding lofty turrets and walls. A new Palace on the old site has been constructed, and the Mikado took up his residence there in January, 1889. The Imperial Garden called Fukiage is situated within the enclosure of the Castle. It is tastefully laid out in the pure native style, and contains fine forest trees, rare and beautiful plants of all kinds, a large pond, cascades, &c., and is most carefully kept. This fine garden well repays inspection, and admission can be obtained by visitors with orders granted by the Department of the Imperial Household.

Between the Castle and the outer walls, a large area was until recently occupied by the numerous palaces of the Daimios, but nearly all these feudal erections have now given place to smart brick or stone buildings, used as Public Offices, Barracks, Government Schools, &c., so that at the present time very few of the Daimios' palaces remain to illustrate what old Yedo was like in the time of the Shogunate. Some of those that remain, near the Castle, have been converted into Government Offices. They are large long buildings of a single high storey, plain but substantial, with no pretensions to architecture, but interesting as reminiscences of feudal Japan.

The remaining portion of the city outside the walls is very densely inhabited, and may be called the commercial district of Tokyo. It has a circumference of 24 miles and covers an area of about 29 square miles. The most important part of the business quarter is on the cast of the Castle, and is traversed by a main street running from the north to the south-west under different names. A considerable length of this thoroughfare, which is called Ginza, is lined with newly built brick buildings in the European style; the road is wide and well kept, the pavement broad and planted with