Appendix Xii Were:

----------------------------------------- |Income |Expenditure |Balance in hand ----------------------------------------- |yen |yen |yen A |477 |449 |28 B |915 |838 |77 C |971 |703 |68 -----------------------------------------

HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES.--The household expenditures of the three families were, in yen:

------------------------------------------- |A |B |C ------------------------------------------- |yen |yen |yen Food |192.76 |216.64 |189.57 House | 2.32 | 2.24 | 1.20 Clothes | 18.72 | 15.16 | 10.08 Fuel | 12.72 | 13.53 | 21.00 Tools and furniture | 10.97 |160.18 | 1.66 Social intercourse | 9.58 | -- | 6.05 Education | 1.56 | -- | 4.15 Amusement | 3.30 | 2.03 | 18.00 Unforeseen | 7.85 | 13.72 | 22.33 Miscellaneous | 6.43 | 7.71 | 11.15 |-------|-------|------ |266.21 |431.21 |285.19 -------------------------------------------

It will be observed that the expenditure of B under the heading of furniture, 160 yen, is out of all proportion with the expenditures of A and C, 10 yen and 1 yen respectively. This is due to the fact that B had to provide a bride's chest for a daughter.

A balance sheet given me by a peasant proprietor in Aichi (5tan of two-crop paddy and 5 tan of upland) showed a balance in hand of 27 yen.

An agricultural expert said to me, "The peasant proprietors are the backbone of the country, but the condition of the backbone is not good. The peasant proprietors can make ends meet only by secondary employments." The expert showed me average figures for 18 farmers for 1891, 1900 and 1909. The average land of these men was a little over a chō of paddy and 5 tan of upland and some woodland. They had spent 39, 63 and 86 yen on artificial manures as against 100, 153 and 204 yen on food. The balance at the end of the year for the three years respectively was 27, 40 and 29 yen. "The figures reflect the general condition," I was told.

INCOMES AND EXPENDITURES OF TENANTS.--I may also note the circumstances of the largest and of the smallest tenant in an Aichi village I visited. The largest tenant family showed a balance in hand, 93 yen; the smallest tenant, 23 yen.

The accounts of 16 tenants for 1891 showed an average sum of 3 yen in hand at the end of the year, for 1900 a loss of 5 yen and for 1909 a gain of 1 yen. These men had an average of 9 tan of paddy and 2 tan of upland. The man who gave me the data said that in the north-east of Japan "the condition of the tenants is miserable--eating almost cattle food." The only bright spot for tenants was that, as compared with peasant proprietors, they were free to change their holdings and even their business.

INCOMES OF TENANTS AND PEASANT PROPRIETORS (SHIDZUOKA).--One tenant, who pays 159 yen in rent and taxes, shows a total income of 374 yen and an expenditure of 538 yen, with a net loss of 164 yen. "Farmers of this class," notes the local expert on the memorandum he gave me, "are becoming poorer every year." This tenant spent 2 yen on medicine and 5 yen on tobacco. ("Nothing else for enjoyment," pencils the expert.) In addition to parents, a man, a woman and a girl of the family worked. Food cost 321 yen (cost of fish and meat, 4-1/2 yen) and clothing 34 yen.

In a "model village," where "the farmers are always diligent," a small tenant's income was 508 yen and expenditure 527 yen; loss, 19 yen. Clothes cost 95 yen and food 190 yen. (Cost of fish and meat, 4-3/4 yen.) There was an expenditure on medicine of 1-1/2 yen and on tobacco and saké ("only enjoyment") 10 yen.

Twenty per cent, of the farmers, I was told, "lead a middle-class life and occupy a somewhat rational area of land." The budgets often of these men, who own their own land, show a balance of 85 yen. "If they were tenants they would not be in such a good condition." "We think the farmer ought to have 2 chō."

BUDGETS OF FARMERS ON THE LAND OF THE HOMMA CLAN, YAMAGATA (page 186).--A tenant had 3 chō of paddy and a small piece of vegetable land. There lived with him his wife, two sons and the widow and child of the eldest son. After paying his rent he had 30 koku of rice left. The cost of production and taxes, 100 yen or a little more, had to come out of that. This tenant had a debt of 250 yen.

A sturdy wagoner with a sturdy horse lived with his wife and three children and his old mother. He hired 1 chō for 28 koku of rice and his crop was 40 koku. He spent 30 yen on manure and 4 yen went in taxes.

A middle-grade farmer owned a house and a little more than 1 chō and rented 3 chō of paddy and a patch for vegetables. His rent was about 38 koku. He spent 100 yen on manure and 128 yen for taxes, temple dues and regulation of the paddy. He employed at 2-1/2 koku a man who lived with the family, also temporary labour for 48 days. His crop might be 100 koku or more. He had no debt.

A third man was above the middle grade of farmer. His taxes were 240 yen and his manure bill 130 yen. His payment for paddy-field regulation, to continue for ten years, was 60 yen. He had three labourers and he also hired extra labour for 100 days. He had three unmarried sons of 40, 29 and 25. There were 260 yen of pensions in respect of the war service of one son and the death of another.

INCOME OF PEASANT PROPRIETORS (HOKKAIDO).--The following statistics for the whole of Hokkaido are based on the experience of peasant proprietors. The 2-1/2 chō men are rice farmers--rice farming means farming with rice as the principal crop. The 5-chō men are engaged in mixed farming:

----------------------------------------------------------------------- Farmer's|Income | Income | Total | Cost of |Cost of |Total |Balance. Area | from |from Other| |Cultivation|Living |Outlay| |Farming| Work | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | yen | yen | yen | yen | yen | yen | yen 2-1/2 | | | | | | | chō | 366 | 43 | 409 | 107 | 276 | 382 | 27 | | | | | | | 5 chō | 441 | 33 | 474 | 119 | 301 | 423 | 52 -----------------------------------------------------------------------

It will be seen that mixed farming is the more profitable.

Income of Tenants (Hokkaido).--Professor Takaoka was kind enough to give me the following summaries of balance sheets of tenants of college lands in different parts of Hokkaido in 1915. (In all cases the accounts have been debited with wages for the farmer's family.)

Five chō. Income, 447 yen; net return, 37 yen. (Rye, wheat, oats, corn, soy, potatoes, grass, flax, buckwheat and rape. One horse and a few hens.)

Five chō. Income, 763 yen; net return, 58 yen. (Rye, wheat, oats, rape, soy, potatoes, corn, grass, flax and onions. Three cows, one horse.)

Ten chō. Income, 1,015 yen; net return, 122 yen. (Same crops with two cows and one horse and some hired labour.)

Five chō (peppermint on 3 chō). Income, 882 yen; net return, 93 yen.

Three chō. Income, 1,195 yen; net return, 332 yen. (Vegetable farming. 206 yen paid for labour.)

Thirty chō. Income, 1,979 yen; net return, 61 yen. (Mixed farming; 632 yen paid for labour.)

Model 5-chō farm without rice. Made 604 yen, and 107 yen net return, farm capital being 1,487 yen. (208 yen allowed for labour, interest 128 yen, amortisation 27 yen, and taxes 13 yen.)

Milk farmer, 12 chō and 90 cattle. Income, 12,280 yen; net return of 3,641 yen.

2,120 chō (1,235 forest, 402 pasture, 110 artificial grass and 42 crops; 111 cattle). Income, 66,205 yen; net return, 1,011 yen. (Milk and meat farming.)

Average income and expenditure of 200 tenants of University land whose budgets Professor Morimoto (see Chapter XXXIV) investigated:

yen Crops 451.66 Wages earned 61.33 Horses 20.09 Poultry and eggs .96 Pigs .85 Manure (animal, 35 kwan; human, 14 koku) 24.50 Other income 29.64 ------ 589.03 yen Cultivation, etc. 206.32 Cost of living 303.33 ------ 509.65 ------ Profit 79.38 ======

The returns of capital yielded the following averages:

yen Tenant right in respect of 5-16 chō 750.82 Buildings (32.2 tsubo) 195.95 Clothing 162.82 Horse (average 1.23) 108.48 Furniture 58.47 Implements 51.23 Poultry (average 2.58) 1.15 Pigs (average .12) .87 -------- Total 1,329.79 ========

VALUE OF NEW PADDY . More delicious rice could be got, I was told, from well-fertilised barren land than from naturally fertile land. The first year the new paddy yielded per tan an average of 1.2 koku, the second 1.6, the third 2, and this fourth year the yield would have been 2.3 had it not been for damage by storm.

AREAS AND CROPS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF RICE . In 1919 there was grown of paddy rice 2,984,750 chō (2,729,639 ordinary, 255,111 glutinous) and of upland rice 141,365 chō. Total, 3,126,115 chō. The yield (husked, uncleaned) was of paddy 61,343,403 koku (ordinary, 56,438,005; glutinous, 4,905,398); of upland, 1,839,312. Total, 63,182,715 koku; value, 2,352,145,519 yen.

In 1877 the area is reputed to have been 1,940,000 chō with a yield of 24,450,000 koku and in 1882 2,580,000 chō with a yield of 30,692,000 koku. The average of the five years 1910-14 was 3,033,000 chō with a yield of 57,006,000 koku; of the five years 1915-19, 3,081,867 chō with a yield of 94,817,431 koku.

In a prefecture in south-western Japan I found that 2 koku 5 to (or 2-1/2 koku, there being 10 to in a koku) per tan was common and that from 3 koku to 3 koku 5 to was reached. "A good yield for 1 tan," says an eminent authority, "is 3 koku, or on the best fields even 4 koku." The average yield in koku per tan for the whole country has been (paddy-field rice only): 1882, 1.19; 1894-8, 1.38; 1899-1903, 1.44; 1904-8, 1.57; 1909-13, 1.63; 1914-18, 1.86; 1919, 1.99; 1920, 2.05 (ordinary, 2.06; glutinous, 1.92). Upland rice in 1920, 1.30 as against 1.02 in 1909. All these figures are for husked, uncleaned rice.

BARLEY AND WHEAT CROPS . The following table (average of five years, 1913-17) shows the yields per tan of the two sorts of barley and of wheat and the average yield all three together in comparison with the rice yield (all quantities husked):

go go Barley 1,672 | All three together 1,307 Naked barley 1,172 | Rice 1,808 Wheat 1,073 |

Naked barley is grown as an upland crop, as are ordinary barley and wheat; but it is more largely grown as a second crop in paddies than either barley or wheat. The barleys are chiefly used for human food with or without rice. Wheat is eaten in macaroni, sweetstuffs and bread. It is also used in considerable quantities in the manufacture of soy, the chief ingredient of which is beans. There was imported in the year 1920 wheat to the value of 28-1/2 million yen, and flour to the value of 3-1/4 million yen. Macaroni is largely made of buckwheat as well as of wheat. The other grain crop is millet, which is eaten by the poorest farmers. In 1918, as against 60 million koku of rice, there were grown 5 million koku of beans and peas. The crops of barley were 17 million, of wheat 6 million, of millet 3-1/4 million, and of buckwheat 3/4 million. More than a million kwan of sweet potatoes were produced and nearly half a million of "Irish" potatoes. (The figures for barley and wheat are for 1919.)

COST AND PRICE OF RICE . The annual figures (from Aichi) for the years 1894 to 1915 (page 384) show the cost of producing a tan of rice, that is the summer crop. The amounts per tan are calculated on the basis of the expenses of a tenant who is cropping 8 tan. The totals for the winter crop are also given. The figures which appear on the opposite page were described to me by the farmer concerned as "compiled on the basis of investigations by the chairman of the village agricultural association and by its managers and still further proved and quite trustworthy." It will be seen that the value of the winter crop is low; a secondary employment is usually a better thing for the farmer. In one or two places there is a sen or so difference in the additions which may have been made by the transcriber from the Japanese original. The difference in amounts of rent is due to difference in fields rented and also to reduction allowed owing to bad crops. The difference in the income from crops is usually due to destruction by hail or wind.

COST AND PRICE OF RICE (see page 383)

|Year | |Yield in | |koku | | |Reserved for Rent | | |and Seeds (koku) | | | |Market Price per | | | |koku (yen) | | | | |Gross Income including | | | | |Straw and Chaff, | | | | |not usually sold (yen) | | | | | |Manures (yen) | | | | | | |Taxes and Amortisation | | | | | | |of Implements (sen) | | | | | | | |Total Outlay (yen) | | | | | | | | |Net Income from Summer | | | | | | | | |Crop of Rice (yen) | | | | | | | | | |Days of Labour on | | | | | | | | | |Summer Crop of Rice | | | | | | | | | | |Net Income from | | | | | | | | | | |Winter Crop (?Barley) | | | | | | | | | | | |Total Net | | | | | | | | | | | |Income from | | | | | | | | | | | |both Crops. |------|------|------|-------|-------|-----|----|------|-------|------|-------|-------| | 1894 | 2.23 | 1.05 | 7.66 | 9.81 | 2 | 21 | 2.21 | 7.60 | 2.5 | 2.51 | 10.11 | | 1895 | 2.13 | 1.05 | 8.09 | 8.71 | 2 | 21 | 2.26 | 6.45 | 21.5 | 2.48 | 8.92 | | 1896 | 1.53 | .80 | 8.67 | 6.89 | 2.4 | 22 | 2.58 | 4.31 | 21.5 | 3.38 | 7.69 | | 1897 | 1.88 | 1.05 | 11.53 | 10.63 | 2.9 | 23 | 3.13 | 7.50 | 21.5 | 5.22 | 12.72 | | 1898 | 2.39 | 1.05 | 14.62 | 21.13 | 3.2 | 25 | 3.40 | 17.73 | 21.5 | 5.50 | 23.23 | | 1899 | 1.75 | .88 | 12.05 | 11.48 | 3.8 | 30 | 4.11 | 7.37 | 21 | 2.22 | 9.99 | | 1900 | 2.14 | 1.05 | 11.11 | 13.24 | 4.1 | 31 | 4.40 | 8.84 | 21 | 4.22 | 13.06 | | 1901 | 2.10 | 1.05 | 10.53 | 12.06 | 4 | 32 | 4.35 | 7.71 | 21 | 3.87 | 11.58 | | 1902 | 1.86 | .99 | 12.99 | 12.40 | 3.1 | 38 | 3.51 | 8.89 | 21 | 4.11 | 13 | | 1903 | 2.06 | 1.04 | 12.50 | 13.85 | 3.4 | 49 | 3.79 | 10.05 | 21 | 6 | 16.85 | | 1904 | 2.24 | 1.03 | 12.20 | 16 | 2.6 | 53 | 3.11 | 9.89 | 21 | 6.06 | 15.95 | | 1905 | 1.77 | .99 | 13.42 | 11.60 | 2.1 | 46 | 2.55 | 9.05 | 21 | 6.67 | 15.71 | | 1906 | 1.96 | 1.05 | 15.15 | 15 09 | 4 | 56 | 4.61 | 10.49 | 21 | 5.79 | 16.27 | | 1907 | 1.98 | 1.14 | 16.39 | 16.69 | 4.4 | 42 | 4.83 | 11.84 | 21 | 8.60 | 20.43 | | 1908 | 2.21 | 1.14 | 14.29 | 16.80 | 5.1 | 42 | 5.54 | 11.26 | 21 | 10.79 | 22.05 | | 1909 | 2.27 | 1.14 | 11.63 | 14.39 | 3.7 | 99 | 4.64 | 9.75 | 21 | 11.49 | 21.24 | | 1910 | 2.02 | 1.14 | 14.09 | 13.37 | 4.5 | 80 | 5.27 | 8.51 | 21 | 12.41 | 20.91 | | 1911 | 2.22 | 1.14 | 16.67 | 19.72 | 4.4 | 78 | 5.13 | 14.59 | 21 | 13.49 | 28.08 | | 1912 | 2.02 | .90 | 21.74 | 26.48 | 5.9 | 75 | 6.60 | 19.88 | 21.5 | 3.73 | 23.6 | | 1913 | 2.31 | 1.14 | 20.83 | 24.67 | 6.5 | 79 | 7.30 | 17.37 | 21.5 | 12.62 | 30 | | 1914 | 2.48 | 1.14 | 12.50 | 18.29 | 5.8 | 78 | 6.53 | 11.75 | 21.5 | 11.54 | 23.30 | | 1915 | 2.36 | 1.20 | 11.77 | 14.91 | 5.8 | 82 | 6.67 | 8.24 | 21.5 | 9.67 | 18.91 |

This table may be supplemented by the following prices for (unpolished) rice in Tokyo: 1916, 13 yen 76 sen; 1917, 19 yen 84 sen; 1918, 32 yen 75 sen; 1919, 45 yen 99 sen.

In the spring of 1921 the League for the Prevention of Sales of Rice at a Sacrifice proposed that rice should not be sold under 35 yen per koku. The price passed the figure of 35 yen in July 1918. At the time the League's proposals were made the Ministry of Agriculture was quoted as stating that the cost of producing rice "is now 40 yen per koku." The accuracy of the figures on which the Ministry's estimates are made is frequently called in question.

CULTIVATED AREA IN JAPAN AND GREAT BRITAIN [XVIII]. In 1919 there were in Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) 15,808,000 acres of arable, 15,910,000 of pasture and 13,647,000 of grazing, or a total of 45,365,000 acres out of a total area of 56,990,000 acres. In Japan there were 15,044,202 acres of paddy and of cultivated upland, 46,958,000 acres of forest and 8,773,000 acres of waste; total 70,775,000, out of 90,880,000 acres. The area of the United Kingdom without Ireland is 56,990,080 acres; that of Japan Proper, 75,988,378 acres. The population of the United Kingdom without Ireland (in 1911) was 41,126,000, and of Japan Proper (in 1911) 51,435,000. (See also Appendix XXX.)

HUMAN LABOUR v. CATTLE POWER . The Department of Agriculture stated in 1921 that "from 200 to 300, sometimes more than 500 days' labour [of one man] are required to grow a chō of rice." The area of paddy which is ploughed by horse or cattle power was 61.89 per cent. The area of upland so cultivated was only 38.97 per cent. The "average year's work of the ordinary adult farmer" was put at 200 days. The Department estimated an average man's day's work (10 hours) as follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Nature of Work | Tools used |Output by one | | Man per Day --------------------------------------------------------------------- | |hectare Tillage of paddy |Kuwa (mattock) | 0.06 " " " |Fumi-guwa (heavy spade) | 0.1-0.15 Transplanting rice |Hand work | 0.07-0.1 Weeding |Sickle and weeding tools | 0.1 Cutting the rice crop |Sickle | 0.1-0.15 Mowing grass |Sickle (long handle) | 0.5 " " |Scythe | 0.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

But I have never seen a scythe in use in Japan!

MANURE . The value of the manure used in Japan in a year has been estimated at about 220 million yen, but for the three years ending 1916 it averaged 241 millions, as follows:

Produced or obtained by the Farmer | Purchased yen | yen Compost 63,500,000 | Bean cake 32,000,000 Human waste 54,000,000 | Mixed 17,000,000 Green manure 9,600,000 | Miscellaneous 16,000,000 Rice chaff 5,000,000 | Sulphate of ammonia 15,000,000 | Superphosphate 12,000,000 | Fish waste 12,000,000

Dr. Sato puts the artificial manure used per tan at a sixth of that of Belgium and a quarter of that of Great Britain and Germany. See also Appendix IV. An agricultural expert once said to me, "Japanese farmer he keep five head of stock, his own family."

SOWING OF RICE . A common seeding time is the eighty-eighth day of the year according to the old calendar, say May 1 or 2. Transplanting is very usual at the end of May or early in June. In Kagawa, Shikoku, I found that rice was sown at the beginning of May or even at the end of April, the transplanting being done in mid-June. The harvest was obtained 10 per cent. about September 10th, 30 per cent. in October and 60 per cent. about the beginning of November. The winter crop of naked barley was sown in the first quarter of December and was harvested late in May or early in June, so there was just time for the rice planting in mid-June.

In Kochi the first crop is sown about March 15, the seedlings are put out in mid-May and the harvest is ready about August 10. The second crop, which has been sown in June, is ready with its seedlings from August 13 to August 15, and the harvest arrives about November 1 and 2. The first crop may yield about 3 koku, the second 1-1/2 koku.

A good deal depends in raising a big crop on a good seed bed. This is got by reducing the quantity of seed used and by applying manure wisely. Whereas formerly as much as from 5 to 7 go of seed was sown per tsubo, the biggest crops are now got from 1 go.

The Japanese names of the most widely grown varieties are Shinriki, Aikoku, Omachi, Chikusei and Sekitori. At an experiment station I copied the names of the varieties on exhibition there: Banzai, Patriotism, Japanese Embroidery, Good-looking, Early Power of God, Bamboo, Small Embroidery, Power of God, Mutual Virtue, Yellow Bamboo, Late White, Power of God (glutinous), Silver Rice Cake and Eternal Rice Field.

There are several thousand chō in the vicinity of Tokyo where, owing to the low temperature of the marshy soil, the seed is sown direct in the paddies, not broadcast but at regular intervals and in thrice or four times the normal quantities.

RATE OF PLANTING . I have been told that an adult who has the seedlings brought to his or her hand can stick in a thousand an hour. The early varieties may be set in clumps of seven or eight plants; middle-growth sorts may contain from five to six; the latest kind may include only three or four. The number of clumps planted may be 42 per tsubo, which, as a tsubo is nearly four square yards, is about ten per square yard. The clumps are put in their places by being pushed into the mud. A straight line is kept by means of a rope. The success of the crop depends in no small degree on skilful planting.

HOW MUCH RICE DOES A JAPANESE EAT? [XXIII]. The daily consumption of rice per head, counting young and old, is nearly 3 go. (A go is roughly a third of a pint.) A sturdy labourer will consume at least 5 go in a day, and sometimes 7 or even 10 go. The allowance for soldiers is 6 go. These quantities represent the rice uncooked. In recent years more and more rice has been eaten by those who formerly ate barley or mainly barley. And some who once ate a good deal of millet and hiye are now eating a certain amount of rice. The average annual consumption per head of the Japanese population (Korea and Formosa excluded from the calculation) was: 1888-93, 948 go; 1908-13, 1,037 go; 1913-18, 1,050 go. The averages of 25 years (1888-1912) were: production, 42,756,584 koku; consumption, 44,410,725 koku; deficit, 1,984,970 koku; population, 45,140,094; per head, 0.980 koku. In 1921 the Department of Agriculture, estimating a population of 55,960,000 (see Appendix XXX) and an annual consumption per head of 1.1 koku per year, put the national consumption for a year at about 61,550,000 koku. See also Appendix XXVI.

IMPORTED AND EXPORTED RICE . "Good rice" is imported from Korea and Formosa. The objection is to "Rangoon" rice. But most of the imported rice does not come from Rangoon but from Saigon. The figures for 1919 were in yen: China, 283,011; British India, 1,012,979; Kwantung, 15,053,977; Siam, 29,367,430; French Indo-China, 116,313,525; other countries, 39,918; total, 162,070,840. The exports in 1919 were in yen: China, 1,354; Australia, 6,570; Asiatic Russia, 165,463; Kwantung, 213,633; British America, 356,600; United States, 476,756; Hawaii, 3,046,598; other countries, 60,707--all obviously in the main for Japanese consumption. The total imports and exports were in koku and yen over a period of years:

-------------------------------------------------------- | Imports | Exports | Year |-----------------------|-----------|-----------| | Koku |Value (yen)| Koku |Value (yen)| -------------------------------------------------------- 1909 | 1,325,243 | 13,585,817| 422,513 | 5,867,290 | 1910 | 918,627 | 8,644,439| 429,251 | 5,900,477 | 1911 | 1,719,566 | 11,721,085| 216,198 | 3,940,541 | 1912 | 2,234,437 | 30,193,481| 208,423 | 4,367,824 | 1913 | 3,637,269 | 48,472,304| 204,002 | 4,372,979 | 1914 | 2,022,644 | 24,823,933| 260,738 | 4,974,108 | 1915 | 457,606 | 4,886,125| 662,629 | 9,676,969 | 1916 | 309,158 | 3,087,616| 686,479 |11,197,356 | 1917 | 564,376 | 6,513,373| 769,129 |14,662,546 | 1918 | 4,647,168 | 89,755,678| 264,565 | 8,321,965 | 1919 | 4,642,382 |162,070,840| 95,219 | 4,327,690 | 1920 | 471,083 | 18,059,194| 116,249 | 5,897,675 | --------------------------------------------------------

The twenty-five years' average (1888-1912) of excess of import over export was 1,339,493 koku. See also Appendix XXVIII.

INCREASE OF RICE YIELD AND OF POPULATION .

----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |Percentage | | Percentage | 1882 | 1913 | of | 1918 | of | | |Increase | |Increase[*] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Population |36,700,000 |53,362,000 | 45 |66,851,000 | 55 Rice crop |30,692,000 |50,222,000 | 63 |53,893,000 | 75 (koku) | | | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------

* 1882-1918. The degree to which the increase in production will be maintained is of course a matter for discussion. As far as rice is concerned, it must be borne in mind that there is an increasing consumption per head.

FARMERS' DIET . It is officially stated in 1921 that "the common farm diet consists of a mixture of cooked rice and barley as the principal food with vegetables and occasionally fish." The barley is what is known as naked barley. Ordinary barley is eaten in northern Japan, but two-thirds of the barley eaten elsewhere is the wheat-like naked barley, which cannot be grown in Fukushima and the north. The husking of ordinary barley is hard work. The young men do it during the night when it is cool. They keep on until cock-crow. Their songs and the sound of their mallets make a memorable impression as one passes through a village on a moonlight night. Another substitute for rice beyond millet is hiye (panic grass). In the south it is regarded as a weed of the paddies, but in the north many tan are planted with this heavy-yielding small grain.

TAXATION [XXVII]. Before 1906 national taxation was 2.5 per cent. of the legal price of land. In 1900 it was 3.3 per cent., in 1904 5.5 per cent., in 1911 4.7 per cent, and in 1915 4.5 per cent. But local taxation increased in greater proportion.

FLAVOUR OF RICE AND PRICE FLUCTUATIONS [XXVIII]. Japanese rice has a fatty flavour which the people of Japan like. Therefore the native rice commands a higher price in Japan than Chinese or Indian rice. With the exception of a small quantity exported to Japanese abroad, Japanese rice is consumed in Japan. The supply of it and the demand for it are exclusively a Japanese affair. Naturally, when the crop fails the price soars, and when there is a superabundant harvest the price comes down to the level of foreign rice. Here is the secret of the enormous fluctuations in the price of Japanese rice with which the authorities have so often endeavoured to cope.

The Government granary plan is the third big effort of authority to manage rice prices. The Okuma Government, under the administration of which rice went down to 14 yen per koku, had a Commission to raise prices. The Terauchi Ministry, at a time when prices rose, touching 55 yen, had a Commission to bring prices down.

AREA AND CLIMATE . Japan Proper comprises a main island, three other large islands in sight of the main island, and archipelagos--4,000 islets have been counted. The main island, Honshu, with Shikoku behind it, lies off the coast of Korea; the next largest and northernmost island, Hokkaido, off the coast of Siberia, and the remaining sizeable island and the southernmost, Kyushu, off the coast of China over against the mouth of the Yangtse. The area of this territory, that is of Japan before the acquirement of Formosa, Korea, southern Saghalien and part of Manchuria, is about 142,000 square miles in area, which is that of Great Britain in possession not of one Wales but of four, or nearly 1 per cent. of the area of Asia. But there are several million more people in Japan than there are inhabitants of Great Britain and thrice as many as there are Britons in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. (See also