Japan has several stock exchanges and chambers of commerce in various localities, and these are all under the strictest supervision and close restrictions. It was in 1872 that National Bank Regulations were first issued, and a few banks were established; but in 1876 it was found necessary to make radical amendments in those regulations in the way of affording greater facilities for the organization of banks. The result was that by 1879 there were 153 national banks in the country; and in 1886 the further organization of national banks was stopped. In the mean time the Yokohama Specie Bank had been organized (in 1880) for the support of the foreign trade; and (in 1882) the Bank of Japan (Nippon Ginkō) had been organized to “secure proper regulations of the currency.” In 1897 the Industrial Bank, and later provincial agricultural-industrial banks were organized to give special banking facilities to local agricultural and industrial circles. The Bank of Formosa, the Colonial Bank of Hokkaidō, and a Credit Mobilier complete the list of official institutions. By 1899 all the national banks had either been changed into private banks or had gone out of existence. Private banks number almost 1,700, of which the Mitsui, the Mitsubishi, the Hundredth, the Sumitomo, the Fifteenth (Nobles’), the First, and the Yasuda are the strongest. Savings-banks are also quite numerous (652), and are helping to develop habits of thrift and economy among the common people.[37] [Illustration: FIRST BANK, TŌKYŌ] The first Japanese mint was established at Ōsaka in 1871, and has been actively at work ever since; and there is an institution in Tōkyō for the manufacture of paper money. The coins now chiefly used the copper, nickel, silver, and gold; but in the country districts it is still possible to find brass coins of less than mill values. The copper pieces are 1/2 _sen_ (5 _rin_), 1 _sen_, and 2 _sen_; the 5 _sen_ piece is the only nickel coin; the silver pieces are 5 _sen_, 10 _sen_, 20 _sen_, and 50 _sen_; and the gold coins are 5 _yen_, 10 _yen_, and 20 _yen_. There are also paper notes of 1 _yen_ and upward: these are issued only by the Bank of Japan, and amounted in 1910 to over 400,000,000 _yen_. In 1897 Japan adopted the gold standard, so that exchange fluctuations with the Occident are slight, and the Japanese currency has a fixed value, at the rate of about 50 cents for the _yen_.[38] Concerning the prospects of industrial and commercial Japan, it may be well to note the views[39] of Baron Shibusawa, one of the foremost of Japanese merchants and financiers. In referring to the capacity of the Japanese for business, the Baron says:—