A very interesting article in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. LXXIV, 1911, April.
Charles W. Sale, “Some Statistics of Japan”, pp. 467–534.
The comparison with the United Kingdom is especially instructive:
| Japan | United Kingdom | |
|---|---|---|
| Area (square miles) | 147,648 | 121,390 |
| Population (1910) | 49,587,000 | 44,538,000 |
| ” per square mile | 335 | 367 |
| Birth-rate (per 1,000) | 31.30 | 27.95 |
| Death-rate ( ” ” ) | 20.70 | 16.89 |
| Increase ( ” ” ) | ++10.60 | ++11.06 |
| Grain, green crops, etc. | 12,894,000 (acres) | 12,437,000==16% |
| 13.6% | ||
| Grasses and pastures | 3,006,000 3.2% | 34,565,000==44% |
| Forests | 55,083,000=58.0 | 3,070,000==4% |
| Price of land (+cattle, etc.) | £1,299 million | £1,220==11% |
| ==57% of total na- tional wealth |
||
| Production (1907) | ||
| rice, wheat, barley, oats | ==372.8 million bushels |
307.3 |
| Potatoes | 3.9 (mill. tons) | 5.2 |
| Turnips, swedes | very little | 36.3 (mill. tons) |
| Radishes | 2.3 (mill. tons) | — |
| Hay | very little | 15.6 ” ” |
| Net imports of drink, food and tobacco |
£3.46 (million) | £212.4 million |
| Cattle (1908) | 1.3 ( ” ) | 11.7 ” |
| Horses (1908) | 1.5 (million) | 2.1 (million) |
| Sheep | 87,000(==0.08 mill.) | 31.3 ” |
| Pigs | 0.28 (million) | 4.0 ” |
| Number of coal miners underground (1908) |
126,999 | 796,329 |
| Coal raised (in tons) | 14.8 (mill.) | 261.5 |
| Tons of coal per miner per annum |
117 | 328 |
| Value sterling | 6.5 (mill.) | 116.6 |
| ” per ton | 8s. 9d. | 8s. 11d. |
| Tons of coal exported | 2.86 (mill.) | 62.55 |
| Value per ton exported | 12s. 11d. | 12s. 8d. |
| Railways (1908) in miles | 5,020 | 23,280 |
| Passengers (million) | 146.9 | 1,265.1 |
| Japan | United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Goods traffic (million tons) | 25.4 | 499.9 | |
| Earnings (per mile of rail- way) |
£1,690 | 4,854 | |
| Expenses ( ” ” ) | 868 | 3,133 | |
| Net earnings (”) | ++822 | +1,721 | |
| Steamships (100 tons and upward gross) |
1,146,977 | 18,059,037 | |
| Shipping entered at Chinese ports (1,000 tons) |
{{ 1902: | 7,350 (13.6%) | 26,950 (49.9%) |
| {{ 1909: | 18,949 (21.8%) | 34,027 (39.2%) | |
| Total value of product of textile factories (1907) |
£37.77 (mill.) | 247.27 | |
| {{ Operatives | 355,000 | 808,398 | |
| {{ Value per operative | £ 106 | £306 | |
| Imports ++ exports (including re- exports) |
{{ 1889: | £20.99 (mill.) | 744.0 |
| {{ 1909: | 82.35 | 1,094.0 | |
| dem per capita | 1899: | 10s. 6d. | £19. 19s. 10d. |
| 1909: | £1. 12s. 10d. | £22. 5s. 8d. | |
| National expenditure (1909) | £64.9 (mill.) | 152.3 | |
| Post Office savings (1909) | |||
| Number of depositors | 8.66 (mill.) | 11.1 | |
| Amount (£ mill.) | £10.8 (mill.) | 160.6 | |
| ” (per capita) | £1. 5s. 1d. | £14. 11s. 7d. | |
| Value of agricultural prod- ucts |
£126 (mill.) | 174.8 | |
| Number of farm labourers (including peasant pro- prietors) |
11.50 (mill.) | 2.05 | |
|
“With less than a fifth the number of labourers, the product in the United
Kingdom is larger, and 40 per cent greater in value” (p. 488)....
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Agriculture in Japan has special features, it accounts for 60 per cent of the population (p. 481). Out of a total number of households of 9,250,000, 3,748,000 are engaged exclusively in agriculture; 1,662,000 combine other occupations with agriculture. Other farmers = 70,000. Land-owners == 43,000. Σ == 5,523,000.
The land is very heavily taxed. Agriculture is on an extremely small scale:
| Per cent of farms (p. 482) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area of farms: less than 1 1/4 acres (5 tan) | 37.26 | ||||||
| from | 1 1/4 | to | 2 1/2 | acres | (5 tan-1 | cho) | 32.61 |
| ” | 2 1/2 | ” | 5 | ” | (1–2 | ” ) | 19.62 |
| ” | 5 | ” | 12 1/4 | ” | (2–5 | ” ) | 9.37 |
| over 12 1/4 acres (5 cho) . . . . . . . . . . | 1.14 | ||||||
| 100.00 | |||||||
The productivity of agricultural labour is extremely low, chiefly owning to the small scale of agriculture and the absence of machines.
In Japan, the production of rice requires 110 days’ labour per acre.
In Texas and Louisiana, the production of rice per acre requires one man for two days ++ a team for 1 1/2 days.
(American Economic Association Journal,
1904, November)
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