home in due course, education was taken in
hand, so also was the reorganisation of the Army and Navy, and
railways, telegraphs, and various other accessories of European
civilisation were introduced into the country. Japan, in a word,
became quickly transformed and, being unable any longer to keep the
foreigner out, she determined to utilise him and in the future fight
him, should fighting be necessary, with his own weapons, intellectual
rather than material, but not omitting the material. Thirty-eight
years and more have elapsed since the issue of the Imperial edict
referred to, and this book is designed to show what results have
flowed therefrom, along what lines the development of Japan has
proceeded, and what are the position and prospects of that country
to-day.

CHAPTER II

THE COUNTRY--ITS PHYSICAL FEATURES--PRODUCTS--FAUNA--FLORA, ETC.

The Empire of Japan (a corruption of Nippon, the native name) is
composed of four large islands--Honshiu, Shikoku, Kiushiu, and Yesso,
besides some thousands of smaller isles. The Kurile Isles, north of
Yesso, and in the neighbourhood of Kamschatka, have been incorporated
in the Empire since 1875, and the Loo-Choo Islands, some 500 miles
south-west of Japan's southern extremity, since 1876. The great island
of Formosa, situated off the coast of China, was ceded to Japan as the
outcome of the Chino-Japanese War in 1895, while as the result of the
recent conflict with Russia, Japan has obtained back the southern half
of the large island of Sakhalin, which formerly entirely belonged to
her, as well as Port Arthur and Dalny on the mainland, not to speak of
the preponderating influence she has obtained in Korea, which is now
practically under the suzerainty of Japan. The population of the
Empire according to the last census was about forty-seven millions,
and, like that of Great Britain, it is annually increasing. The
proximity of Japan to the Asiatic Continent, despite the lessons in
geography which the late war afforded, is not, I think, generally
understood. The nearest point of the Japanese coast is only 100 miles
distant from Korea, while between the two lies the important island of
Tsu-shima, which Japan found so useful as a strategic position during
the war with Russia. The island of Sakhalin, the southern portion of
which, as I have said, has lately passed into the possession of Japan,
is about 20 miles distant from the northern part of Yesso, while at
some places