While the future increase of this class of imports must be steady, it at the same time may not be rapid save in a few exceptional articles. Nor may the importation of machinery, excepting the most advanced, such as locomotives, be expected to grow more rapidly, the reason for this supposition being again the increasing activity of Japan's manufacturing life. The other two classes of imports, however, that is, raw material for manufacture and foodstuff for the growing population, have shown a wonderful advance, and may be said to command the most assured promise for the future. A glance at the following table will make an elaborate demonstration of our statement superfluous: IMPORTATION OF RAW MATERIAL AND FOODSTUFF (Unit of million _yen_) 1882 1892 1902 1903 1904 Cotton 0.46 12.32 79.78 69.52 73.42 Pig iron 0.09 0.24 0.98 1.25 2.24 Wool .... 0.30 3.40 4.81 9.97 Sugar 3.84 9.53 14.36 20.96 23.04 Rice 0.21[1] 1.86[1] 13.56[1] 51.96 59.70 Flour .... 0.27 3.28 10.32 9.62 Beans .... .... 4.95 6.37 8.12 Oil cakes 0.03 0.82 10.12 10.73 4.66 This remarkable showing of figures becomes highly significant when we consider further that most of the articles the importation of which increases the fastest come mainly from the East Asiatic countries. India furnishes the bulk of cotton, China supplies some iron, sugar, and rice, as well as some cotton, while North China and Manchuria send their beans and oil cakes, and Korea is beginning to be a great supply region of several cereals. Most flour and some iron, however, come from the United States, which, as we shall see presently, occupies a unique relation to Japan's trade. We have thus arrived at an important conclusion that Japan is obliged to depend in an increasing degree for her most important articles of importation on East Asia, to which she is intimately connected both geographically and historically.