FINANCE. The revenue of the Imperial Gov ernment is derived chiefly from the land tax (which since 1877 has been per cent. of the market value of the land) ; the taxes on sake and other liquors abut $30,0011,000) ; customs dues, the leaf-tobacco monopoly, stamp duties; income tax ($2,750,000) ; and the profits derived from t;overnment enterprises—railways, mining, post al and telegraph services. etc. The chief items of expenditure are: The army (819,000.000). navy ($10.000,000), administration of justice ( $5,000, 000), education, pensions, the prefectural gov ernments ($3,125,000), and the expenses of Par liament, the different executive departments, and civil list ($1,500,000). In 1901-02 the total revenue—ordinary and extraordinary—was esti mated at $138,748.500, and the expenditure, 8137,943.712. The public debt now stands at $255,099,500.
in local matters the fu and ken revenue in 1900 was $28,135,638, expenditure $24.238.995, the grants from the Imperial Treasury being $2,752,045. The revenue of the smaller com munes amounted in 1900 to $36,026,282, and the expenditure to $31,716.012.
Prior to ISSI the country was flooded with 'fiat' paper money, which had depreciated nearly 100 per cent. In that year the Bank of Japan, a Government institution, issued convertible notes in exchange for this depreciated currency, and by 1885 the difference in value between silver and paper had almost disappeared. The fol lowing year specie payments were resumed. In 1897 the gold standard was adopted. 74,-155,735 yen in gold were coined, the silver dollars were redeemed as far as received. The currency is now nominally on a gold basis. ln 1900 12.615, 549 gold yen were put into circulation, as well as 1,000.000 silver yen, and 300.000 yen in nickel pieces; total. 13,915,549. The notes in circula tion were 1.724.883 yen in Treasury notes, 470. 231 yen in national bank notes, mid 186.089,658 yen in gold and silver notes issued by the Bank of Japan. Total, ISS,284,772 yen.
For ARMY and see ARMIES and NAVIES.
PorxricAL )tvistoNs. Omitting Formosa (q.v.), it may he stated that Japan is di vided: (1) Into 84 'provinces,' separated the one from the other by natural boundaries; and (2) for administrative purposes into fu and ken or 'prefectures.' The former is the older division, and dates hack many centuries, though the number has not. always been the same. Their names are in more general every-day use than those of the newer divisions. With only
one or t WO exceptions each has both a Japanese and a Chinese name; thus Yamashiro is also called Joshiu. and so on. those ending in -shin. (which may be translated 'province') being of Chinese origin. Of these 84 provinces two are separate islands (lki and Tsushima. which lie between the island of Kiushiu and Korea). The others are grouped into nine regions, of which eight are named do or 'circuits.' The other is the Go-kinai or Five Home Provinces, which surround the old capital, Kioto (q.v.). Taken in order from east to west. the eight circuits are as fol lows: (1) Ilokkaido or 'North Sea Circuit,' com prising the 10 provinces of Yezo (q.v.), and an eleventh added in 1875, made up of the Kurile Islands: (2) Tozando or 'Eastern Mountain Cir cuit,' comprising 13 provinces, the most easterly of which lie toward Yezo: (3) Tokaido or 'East ern Sea Circuit,' comprising 15 provinces, and stretching along the Pacific from Sendai Bay toward the Five Home Provinces (Fuji-san, Tokio, Yokohama, and other important or well known places are in this do) : (4) Hokuroku-do (or riku-do), the 'Northern-land Circuit,' lies along the Sea of Japan, and comprises seven prov inces; (5) San-in-do. or 'Mountain-shade Circuit,' comprises eight provinces which border the Sea of Japan; ((;) San-yo-do or 'Mountain-sun Cir cuit.' lying along the south or `sunny' side of the mountains (the last two circuits are fre quently spoken of as Chiugoku or the `central provinces') ; (7) Nan-kai-do or the 'South-sea Circuit,' comprising the four provinces of Shiko ku. the island of Awji. and Kishiu on the main island, six in all; (8) Saikai-do or the 'West-sea Circuit,' comprising the nine provinces of KIM shin. The subdivisions of the provinces are called kori.
For administrative purposes the Empire—ex chiding Hokkaido (Yezo and the Kurile Islands) and Formosa, is divided into three fit (Tokio, Kioto. Osaka), and 43 ken or prefectures. one of which comprises the Loo-choo Islands, annexed in I578-79, and is grouped with Kinshin as Okin awa Ken. They are here given with their area and the population at the census of 189S: These prefectures are further divided into 557 gun, 52 shi, or independent towns with a popula tion of more than 20,000, and 13,949 villages ranked as cho and son. Yezo is similarly subdi vided into 88 gun, 3 shi, and 753 villages. The capital of the country is Tokio (q.v.). The pre Restoration capital was Kioto.