The Japanese Empire And Its Economic Conditions

ere was a population of 47,674,471 inhabitants, of which 24,047,953 were men and 23,626,518 women. On December 20, 1908, there were 49,232,822 inhabitants, 24,864,385 being men and 24,368,437 women. Japan is very long and very narrow. The climate is affected by this configuration, and whilst in the north the winter is very severe, in the south, on the contrary, the heat in summer is excessive; generally speaking, however, the climate is temperate, but extremely enervating for Europeans, especially for women. Suicide and neurasthenia are comparatively frequent amongst the white population. From the physical standpoint Japan can be divided into three zones: Northern Zone, island of Yezo and the north of Honshu to the bay of Sendai; Central Zone, from the bay of Sendai to Yokohama and the bay of Yedo; the Southern Zone, from the bay of Yedo to the extreme point of Kyushu. The Northern Zone, as I have just indicated, is very cold in winter; snow falls in abundance then and ice is permanent. The Central Zone is more temperate, but the seasons are not as clearly defined as in Central Europe, and there is always, even in winter, a certain humidity; the summers are exceedingly hot except upon chapter{Section 4the heights; thus in the plain of TSkyo the thermometer reaches to 99. As to the Southern Zone, it is distinctly less cold in winter and much hotter in summer; in its extreme southerly portion, that is to say, towards Nagasaki and Kagoshima, it is unbeara...