Directory_and_Chronicle_1924 — Page 577

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

MOJI AND SHIMONOSEKI

These two towns are situated one on each side of Shimonoseki Straits, the western entrance of the Inland Sea--the former on the north and the latter on the south side. The interests of both towns, so far as shipping is concerned, are identical. Shimonoseki is under the jurisdiction of Yamaguchi, 51 miles away, and Moji under that of Fukuoka, 47 miles away. The foreign merchants have their offices on the side that suits their own convenience, but the principal Japanese banks and shipping offices are at Moji. There is a fairly strong tidal current through the Straits, but the anchorage, which is at Moji, is only affected by an eddy, and good holding ground is general. Steamers entering from the West can get pilots at Rokuran Light, where boats have to stop in any case for medical inspection and harbour- master's instructions. From the eastward this inspection takes place at Hezaki Light. Means of transport are good. Liners run regularly to all foreign ordinary ports of call; and, while from Shimonoseki the Sanyo Railway taps the north, from Moji the Kiushiu Railway taps the south of Japan. The Shimonoseki Station Hotel, which for many years provided good accommodation for foreigners, was destroyed by fire in July, 1922; it is now being rebuilt on a greatly improved plan by the Imperial Railway Department. This Department has also two large ferry boats plying between Moji and the Shimonoseki Station, while a ten-minute ferry plies between the usual landing places at Moji and Shimonoseki.

There is a project

on foot to construct a tunnel under the Straits. Both towns have municipal water- works, are lit by electricity, and are connected by telephone with the principal towns, from Kagoshima and Nagasaki, in the south, to Tokyo in the north-east. Imports at Moji for 1922 amounted to Yen 64,446,602, and exports to Yen 24,919,122, as compared with Yen 60,289,996 and Yen 29,138,120, respectively, for the previous year. The population of Shimonoseki at the close of 1922 was 81,897 and of Moji *75,916. It should be specially noted that photographing and sketching are forbidden within a radius of ten miles round Shimonoseki and Moji on land and sea. The law in this respect is strictly enforced and ignorance is not accepted as an excuse.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1924 — Page 577

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