n's
direct share is not more than a twelfth. Of the import trade the
principal part, almost one third, is with Great Britain. The United
States' share is about a twelfth, and that of France about one
twenty-fifth. The principal exports are RAW SILK (about one third of
the whole), SILK GOODS (about one tenth of the whole), TEA, coal,
copper, rice, and matches. The export of matches amounts to $2,500,000
annually. Characteristic exports, though they do not figure largely in
the total amount, are floor rugs, lacquered ware, porcelain ware,
fans, umbrellas, bronze ware, repousse work, paper ware and
papier-mache, fibre carpets, and camphor. There is also a large export
of fish, shellfish, cuttlefish, edible seaweed, and mushrooms to China
and other Asiatic countries. The chief import is RAW COTTON (almost
one fifth of the whole). Other important imports are sugar (although
she raises almost 100,000,000 pounds of sugar herself annually),
cotton yarn, cotton goods, woollen cloths, flannels and blankets,
kerosene oil, watches, and articles of iron and steel as above
enumerated. The fishing industry is a very important one and over
2,500,000 people are engaged in it. The number of fishing-boats is
about 400,000. The fish trade, which includes seaweed, is (when not
for home consumption) principally with China.

[Illustration: Japan's relation to eastern Asia.]

JAPAN'S SPECIAL TRADE CENTRES

The foreign commerce of Japan, like that of China, is allowed to be
carried on only at certain ports, called "treaty ports," of which
there are nineteen, the principal being Yokohama, Osaka, Nagasaki,
Hakodate, Niigata, and Kobe. The two principal cities, not treaty
ports, are Tokio and Kioto. TOKIO (1,300,000) is the capital and chief
centre of the political, commercial, and literary activity of the
empire. In many respects Tokio is a "modern" city. Its educational
features are excellent. Its sanitation also is good. KIOTO (340,000)
was formerly the capital, but after the revolution of 1868 it was
superseded in this respect by Tokio. YOKOHAMA (170,000), distant from
Tokio eighteen miles, is the chief place of the empire for foreign
trade. Its foreign trade, indeed, is more than half that of the whole
empire, being about $75,000,000 annually. OSAKA (487,000) is in
respect to population the second city of the empire, but its foreign
trade is not large and is carried on principally at HIOGO, a port near
it. NIIGATA (50,000) is the only tre