Transcriber’s Notes: The spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and accentuation are as the original, except for apparent typographical errors which have been corrected. There are references to both: Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and Women’s Christian Temperance Union These have been left as in the original. Italic text is denoted _thus_. Bold text is denoted =thus=. A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN _Uniform with this Work_ JAPAN AS IT WAS AND IS: A HANDBOOK OF OLD JAPAN. By RICHARD HILDRETH. In two volumes. A reprint edited and revised, with notes and additions, by Ernest W. Clement and an Introduction by William Elliot Griffis. With maps and 100 illustrations. 12mo, in slip Case. $3.00 _net_. A. C. MCCLURG & CO. _Chicago_ [Illustration: THE LATE EMPEROR MEIJI TENNO] New Revised Edition A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN BY ERNEST W. CLEMENT WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS _NINTH EDITION_ THOROUGHLY REVISED AND BROUGHT DOWN TO DATE WITH ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS ON THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR AND GREATER JAPAN [Illustration] CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1913 COPYRIGHT A. C. MCCLURG & CO. 1903; 1905; 1913 Copyrighted in Great Britain UNIVERSITY PRESS · JOHN WILSON AND SON · CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER INTRODUCTION This book, as its title indicates, is intended to portray Japan as it is rather than as it was. It is not by any means the purpose, however, to ignore the past, upon which the present is built, because such a course would be both foolish and futile. Moreover, while there are probably no portions of Japan, and very few of her people, entirely unaffected by the new civilization, yet there are still some sections which are comparatively unchanged by the new ideas and ideals. And, although those who have been least affected by the changes are much more numerous than those who have been most influenced, yet the latter are much more active and powerful than the former. In Japan reforms generally work from the top downward, or rather from the government to the people. As another[1] has expressed it, “the government is the moulder of public opinion”; and, to a large extent, at least, this is true. We must, therefore, estimate Japan’s condition and public opinion, not according to the great mass of her people, but according to the “ruling class,” if we may transfer to Modern Japan a term of Feudal Japan. For, as suffrage in Japan is limited by the amount of taxes paid, “the masses” do not yet possess the franchise, and may be said to be practically unconcerned about the government. They will even endure heavy taxation and some injustice before they will bother themselves about politics. These real conservatives are, therefore, a comparatively insignificant factor in the equation of New Japan. The people are conservative, but the government is progressive.