“A foreign householder who intends to stay for more than nine days at one place in Japan, must, within ten days of his arrival, report to the police regarding himself and persons in his company, stating full particulars, ages, profession or other occupation, the place from which they last came, their home domicile, and the relationship of those persons with him; as well as the full address of the house in which he lives, countersigned by the landlord, any changes in such information to be treated in like manner from time to time.” The subject of taxation is one which may well be mentioned in this chapter, although it is scarcely profitable to devote much space thereto. In Old Japan taxes were paid in kind, chiefly with rice; but in New Japan they are payable only with cash. The system of taxation is rather complicated and oppressive; and yet the people stoically endure their burdens without indulging in the pastime of agrarian riots. The land-tax of 3-1/3 per cent of the assessed value of the land in the case of rural lands and 5 per cent in the case of urban lands is a very important source of revenue, and has always been the cause of great trouble in political circles. Other taxes are the business tax, the income tax, the house tax, etc. The last mentioned is the one which foreigners claimed to be exempt from paying, but the Japanese government claimed to have the authority to levy; the question has been submitted to arbitration, and is still _sub judice_. Under the new treaties Japan has the right to levy duties on imports, and thereby secures considerable revenue. In the list of articles exempt from duties we find books, maps, charts, bullion, coins, cotton, flax, hemp, jute, rice, wool, plants, trees, shrubs, etc.; and in the list of prohibited articles opium and adulterations are most prominent.[117] Inasmuch as the status of foreigners under Japanese law is a subject of growing practical importance, we make extracts from an address delivered by Dr. Masujima before the New York State Bar Association in January, 1903:— “The cases in which foreigners are restricted in the enjoyment of private rights, are the ownership of land or Japanese ships, the right to work mines, to own shares in the Bank of Japan or the Yokohama Specie Bank, to be members or brokers of exchanges, to engage in emigration business, or to receive bounties for navigation or ship building. Any company must, in order to own Japanese ships, have its principal office in Japan, and all members in case of a _Gōmei Kaisha_, all unlimited liability members in case of either a _Gōshi Kaisha_ or _Kabushiki Gōshi Kaisha_, and all directors in case of a limited company, must be Japanese subjects. Otherwise foreigners are as free as the Japanese to own shares in any Japanese commercial companies organized by themselves alone, or in combination with the Japanese, or to engage in any manufacture or other commercial operations.