JAPAN
means of transport improve, there is no doubt the trade will be greatly
increased. Chinese prejudice with regard to foreign trade is also breaking
down, and foreigners are learning that Chinese merchants are not only
industrious, capable business men, but thoroughly reliable and honest,
despite the corruption that exists in the government of the country.
(For commercial statistics, see p. 127.)
THE JAPANESE ISLES.
‘When people ask me, “ What is Japan like ?”” I always tell them it is the willow-
pattern plate, only more so. When we first steamed into Nagasaki Harbour I had
great difficulty not to scream with delight as I recognized the little hills with dark-
green tufts, the pagodas, funny boats, and many other things with which I had been
familiar since childhood. Again, Japanese children are exactly like the dolls we
know so well, and I never could help laughing at the sight of a troop of these funny
little people with their gay garments, fringes of thick black hair, and almond-shaped
eyes, pattering along to school on their tiny wooden clogs, with large paper umbrellas
firmly clasped in their hands.’—E, CoLQUHOUN.
THE Japanese Isles separate the shallow seas — Okhotsk, Japan, and
Yellow—from the deep waters of the Pacific, which are particularly deep
east of the Kurile Isles and North Hondo. Their arrangement has already
been traced to the continuity of the belts of folding that created their
mountainous axes (see p. 12). From Hokkaido (Yezo) one range can be
iraced passing through Sakhalin, and another through the Kurile Isles
and Kamchatka. In North Hondo, ranges run north and south, while the
configuration of South Hondo, Shikoku, and Kiushiu reflects the presence
of two ranges running north-east to south-west, and separated by the
Inland Sea. Further south a range can be traced through the Luchu
TIsles and Formosa. Many of these mountains are volcanic, and hot
springs and earthquakes are characteristic of the region (see p- 12).
The climate exhibits the alternation of warm, rainy summers
and cold winters, due to the monsoons ; and the temperature, though
less continental in character than on the mainland, has a wider range
than might be anticipated from the insular nature of the area. It is
on the average colder than the latitude, judged by a European standard,
would suggest.
As the islands extend over many degrees of latitude, the climate naturally varies
considerably in different parts, and on a climatic basis they are best grouped in the
following manner : (1) The northern isles—4.e., the Kurile Isles and Hokkaido ; (2)
Northern Hondo, including the whole of the west coastal belt ; (3) South-Eastern
Hondo, Shikoku, and Kiushiu ; (4) the Lu-chu Isles and Formosa.
