Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-06
JAPAN HAS YIELDED
Finally Permits Foreigners to
Hold Title to Land.
OLD PREJUDICE WIPED OUT
Nation Had Long Been Fearful That
Outsiders Might Obtain Too
Firm Footing.
Foreign Correspondence Of The Star.

| Foreign Correspondence Of The Star.
| TOXIC, May IL, 1910.
At the very close of it's session the
house of peers passed a bill extending
to foreigners the privilege Of owning
land in Japan.
His question may be said to have
been before the public during the past
thirty years. On the side of Japanese
Officialdom there never was any root
ed objection to making the concession.
| Count Inouye, when he essayed to
solve the problem Of treaty revision in
1885 by Offering to open the country
fully, did not think Of reserving the
right of land ownership, and when
Count Okuma approached the same
task in 1889 his views were not less
| liberal. Moreover there can be little
doubt that in Count Inouye's time the
nation would have acquiesced. But
when Count Okuma commenced his ne
gotiations the opening Of a national
assembly was in plain sight, and public
opinion had developed new activity.
| Two ideas prevailed. One was in
spred by International nervousness A
vague fear existed that were foreign
| erS permitted to own land their limit
less command of cheap capital would
enable them to buy up huge tracts. and
absorb the whole of the unearned in
crement-an increment which could
not fail to be considerable in a rapid
| ~ developing country like Japanese The
other idea was that the best method
| of achieving revision of the treaties
consisted in rendering the old conven-
lions intolerable by enforcing their re-
| strictions.
Chafed Under Restrictions.
| Naturally, the foreign residents had
not been content to remain, year after
| year, confined within the narrow limits
fixed by the treaties. when delightful re-
treats on the seashore or in the noun
tains offered every where, and when the
conventional restrictions could easily be
eVaded by purchasing land and register
ing it in the name of a trusty Japanese
clerk. or, perhaps, of a ''housekeeper."
Estates acquired in that manner still
| exist, and they were comparatively nu-
merous when Japanese politicians con-
celved the plan of strictly enforcing the
treaties. OF course. no practical re-
straint. retrospective or prospective,
could be imposed; but from such agita-
ton to general inference that foreign
ownership of land ought to be opposed on
patriotic principles the interval was
short. and undoubtedly the "strict en-
forcement' movement contributed ma
terially to foster popular prejudice. At all
had to be omitted from the revised
treaties
The government. on it's side, sought to
ease the Situation for foreigners. by in
shutting the system of 'superficies,' and
by enacting that ''juridical person"
registered in Japan might become a land
owner. These measures meant that an
individual foreigner could obtain a right
of land tenure for any fixed term, how
ever long, and that two or more foreign
@ n a
for the purpose of some commercial or
industrial enterprise, might become own
ers of land in fee simple. Still, the final
| restriction remained to be withdrawn.
and not until the twenty-sixth session of
| the diet did Japanese statesmen Judge
| that the time for withdrawing that re-
striction had fully come.
Passed Just in Time.
| Events proved that they had not de-
laysd a moment too long The bill
drafted by them for presentation to the
house of representatives was Of the
simplest description. 1t may be summed
up in a dozen words-the privilege Of
owning land in Japan, except in Sagha-
lien, Formosa and Hokkaido. or within
fortified zone, should be granted to the
subjects or citizens of every state which
extended similar privilege to Japanese
| subjects.
But the mouse OF representatives was
not prepared to go SO far. A majority
of the members showed themselves still
obsessed by the old apprehension that
foreign capitalists might employ agents
to buy up large tracts in Japan, with a
view to the unearned increment and with
out taking any active interest in the
country's welfare. They, therefore,
amended the bill in the sense that a
| foreign owner of land in Japan must
have, if an individual, domicile or a
place of residence in the empire and if
| a juridical person, a place of business;
that foreign juridicial person, before
acquiring land. must obtain the sanction
of the minister of state for home affairs,
| whereas no such sanction would be nee
| essary in the case Of a Japanese juridi-
cial person; and that q land owner los
ing his legal qualification must make
some disposition of his estate within FIVE
years.