Still graver is the charge brought against Japanese merchants of occasional lapses from a high standard of honour, and of availing themselves of the slightest possible pretext to avoid fulfilling the letter of their contracts, in which they contrast unfavourably with the higher class of Chinese merchants, whose reputation for integrity and for a strict adherence not only to their written, but also to their verbal promises, is well known, with some degree, possibly, of exaggeration. It is as well to recall in this connection that the Japanese were until quite recently a feudal and military people, who despised trade in all its branches, and those who were engaged in its pursuit were not considered any the better for being honest. In China, on the other hand, it has ever been otherwise, the merchants, after the literati, being looked upon as the most honourable class in the Empire, whereas the military were invariably despised, being recruited from the lowest ranks of society. Ideas have certainly been considerably modified in Japan in the last thirty years; still, the majority of the merchants are of the same class as their predecessors when they are not their immediate descendants; therefore, we should not be surprised if they retain some of their traditions it were better they were without. In a word, since the Restoration of 1868 the Japanese have done their best to get rid of the prejudices of feudal times, but although these are fast disappearing, some of their after-effects still remain. It has always been extremely difficult to induce Orientals to understand the value of time, and in this particular the Japanese are still on a par with their neighbours. Foreign merchants have the greatest difficulty in persuading their Japanese correspondents that a few days’; nay, a few hours’ delay in the transaction of business and in the despatch of goods often leads not only to much inconvenience, but to absolute loss. One of the chief desires of the Japanese at the present time is to see their export commerce pass from the hands of foreigners, who hold it, into their own; but they may rest assured that until they improve their business habits they will not succeed in carrying out their object in this direction.