“Our rural problems,” a sober-minded young professor added, after one of those pauses which are usual in conversations in Japan, “is not a technical problem, not even an economic problem.  It is, as you have realised, a sociological problem.  It is bound up with the mental attitude of our people—­and with the mental attitude of the whole world.”

FOOTNOTES: 

[273] A high authority assured me that 100 million yen (pre-War figures) could be laid out to advantage.  A Japanese economist’s comment was:  “Why not touch on the extraordinary proportion of land owned by the Imperial Household and also by the State for military purposes?”

[274] In driving through what seemed to be one of the best streets in Sapporo, I noticed that some exceptionally large houses were the dwellings of the registered prostitutes.  Each house had a large ground-floor window.  Before it was a barrier about a yard high which cleared the ground, leaving a space of about another yard.  Such of the public as were interested were able, therefore, to peer in without being identified from the street, for only their legs and feet were visible.  In Tokyo and elsewhere this exhibition of girls to the public has ceased.  The place of the girls is taken by enlarged framed photographs.  I found on enquiry that the Sapporo houses are so well organised as to have their proprietors’ association.  At a little town like Obihiro an edifice was pointed out to me containing fifty or more women.

[275] The classification is 101,671 Protestants, 75,983 Roman Catholics and 36,265 Greek Church.

[276] “‘Spade farming’ is an apt designation of the system of farming or rather of cultivation, for little is done in the way of raising stock.”—­PROFESSOR YOKOI.

[277] See Appendix XXX.

[278] But surely the basic reason against a large emigration of farmers and artisans to Formosa, or to Manchuria, Mongolia or Korea, with the intention of working at their callings, is that the standard of living is lower there?  The chief attraction of America and Australasia is that the standard of living is higher.  The question of over-population must be considered in relation to the facts in Appendices XXV, XXX and LXXX, and on page 331.  It is not established that the Japanese have now, or are likely to have in the near future, a pressing need to emigrate.

[279] See Appendix LXXII.

[280] See Appendix LXXIII.

[281] See Appendix LXXIV.

[282] Between 1909 and 1918 the average area of holdings rose from 1.03 to 1.09 cho or from 2.52 to 2.67 acres or 1.02 to 1.08 hectares.

[283] There were in 1919 some 13,000 co-operative societies of all sorts.  The number increases about 500 a year.

[284] For rise in production per tan, see Appendix LXXV.

[285] See Appendix LXXVI.

[286] See Appendix LXXVII.