Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-08
The Enormous Strides She Has Made
in Recent Years.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS PREVAILING
Competition and Overproduction
Are Having Their Effect.
HOPEFUL FOR THE FUTURE
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
YOKOHAMA December L. 1897.
1t is but few years since that Japan
was almost unknown to ordinary readers,
and it is less thar half a century ago that
1t vas entirely closed to other than las own
people. its lawful monarch withheld from
the gaze of the people and worshipcd a
god and its subjects oppressed by feudal
lords and governed by a military despot.
Then so severe was the exclusion of the
country to all the outer world that even
to its own sons cast adrift on the high
seas there was no possibility of getting
back to their own kith and kin. for the
Japanese vigorously refused 10 receive back
any who had once left the shores of the
country.
1t is not, therefore, surprising that so
much interest should now be taken by the
whole civilized world in This comparatively
newly opened country, and especially when
it is understood how prone the people are
to adapt to their own use all the modern
improvements and inventions of the west.
The progress of the japanese in many
things, since they cast off their exclusive
ness and allowed Europeans to reside in
certain restricted ports of their domains,
mas been very marked, and, although these
foreign residents, who have been mainly
the instruments by which the improvements
and developments which are constantly 60
ing on have been brought into existence,
have been almost overlooked by the nations
which they are supposed to represent, still
the japanese deserve considerable praise
for the foresight they have shown i'll so
readily approaching the advantages 10 be
derived from these new ideas, and in SO
promptly applying them to their own Use
and benefit OF course these new adapta-
lions. being accepted quickly, the che
after the other, have not vet been placed
on that solid footing which they will re-
l.llp - n h.lF. coll
nent and prosperous, but The wonderful
growth OF the foreign trade Of the empire
during the last quarter of "A century and
the variety of industries which have al
ready been introduced show lnmistakabiy
what the people are capable Of doing and
what they may become when they have
learned to realize in what ways their abili-
ties can best be 1irecled.
Need of the Moment.
1t is this knowledge which the Japanese
are just now most in want Of because, hav-
ing passed from "A state of conservatism
as great as or even greater than that of
China. into the light and glow Of modern
civilization, during a period so short that
comparatively young foreign residents here
have witnessed the whole of II, il is not
surprising that shey should .cel consider
ably elated at their apparent success, and
De oVersanguine in everything they under
take. 1t is this apparent success of the
Japanese in almost everything they have
undertaken u use the word apparent
adVisedly, because the Japanese have gone
ahead so rapidly that they nave not yet
stopped to strengthen the weak points of
any of their new undertakings and appear
10 be positively Unconcerncd about serious
naWS, which. If not promptly attended to-
may cause a considera bic breakdown in
many of them) which is leading them on
TO build up such castles in The air as to
create alarm among those who know them
least, but ridicule among those who Know
them best.
However, there is considerable excuse for
lnis, as a glance at the following figures
of their foreign trade will show: