A Fantasy of Far Japan Part 22

All officials in Government service have before their appointments to undergo a requisite examination, except when the appointment is for the position of the Ministership of State.

THE DIET

The Imperial Diet consists of two houses: the House of Peers and the House of Representatives. There is no difference of privilege between the two houses, except that the annual budget is to be first submitted to the House of Representatives, and that the latter may be dissolved, while no law exists for the dissolution of the former; further, that the president and vice-president of the Upper House are appointed by the emperor from amongst the members, whilst those of the Lower House are appointed by the emperor out of three candidates for each elected by the House.

The Representatives are elected by direct votes of electors. Until recent years the country was divided into many small electoral districts (nearly three hundred, in fact). Each district elected one representative, and a few elected two representatives, the difference having arisen from the difficulty of demarking the Sphere uniformly, on account of the local peculiarities and the number of the population. The total number of the representatives amounted to just three hundred. A great change was introduced in recent years in the system of election.

Each prefecture now forms one large electoral district, except that all the cities, although they are all situated within the prefecture, form separate districts, each independently. Each district elects a certain number of representatives allotted to it by law, based upon the number of the population of such district. (In cases of extremely small cities the allotment is only one representative.) Each elector may vote for only one candidate whatever may be the number of representatives allotted to that district. Men who have polled the largest number of votes are picked out to the allotted number, and they are regarded as elected, but in all cases the elected must have polled one-fifth of the number obtained by dividing the whole number of the registered electors by the number of the representatives allotted to the district. This mode of election is called the 'large-district single-vote-system.' It easily enables the minority of the district to have themselves represented in the Diet. When any vacancy occurs within a year from the election, the one who has polled the largest number next to the elected takes his seat, provided that he had also polled the requisite quorum of votes as above mentioned. The voting is by ballot (anonymous). There are, of course, some disqualifications for being an elector or a candidate, including the disability of t.i.tled n.o.blemen for taking part in the matter. The actual number of the representatives is three hundred and seventy-six. The qualifications of the electors are that they shall be male subjects of twenty-five years old or above, paying ten yen (M 20) of direct taxes and having a year's residence in the district. The qualifications of the candidates are that they shall be male subjects thirty years old or above, and their terms are four years.

The composition of the House of Peers is somewhat complicated. The j.a.panese name for it is 'Kizoku-in.' 'Kizoku' is generally translated as peers, and it certainly means n.o.ble or high families, but not in the strict sense of t.i.tled people in the West. For the strict equivalent of peers or n.o.bility, in the Western sense, we have another term 'Kwazoku.'

Our House of Peers consists of the following members, who must always be males:

(1) Male members of the Imperial family who have attained their full age.

(2) Princes (dukes) and marquises who have attained the age of twenty-five years.

Both these cla.s.ses (one and two) sit in the House by their inherent right.

(3) Representatives elected by counts, viscounts, and barons from amongst themselves, each grade separately.

The numbers of such representatives is previously determined, always not exceeding one-fifth of the total number of each grade. They must be twenty-five years old, and their terms are seven years.

(4) Life members appointed by the emperor by virtue of distinguished services rendered to the state, or of intellectual distinction. They all of them must be fully thirty years old; nearly all of those who are thus nominated do not belong to the n.o.bility in the strict sense of the term.

(5) Members elected, one for each prefecture, by mutual election of fifteen highest direct-tax payers of each of the respective prefectures.

Such tax payers must be thirty years old, and their paying the taxes must be on account of the lands they hold or of industry or commerce.

Therefore, one who simply lives on an income derived from state-bonds would hardly be ent.i.tled to claim this privilege. The terms of these members are also seven years. The total number in cla.s.ses four and five may not exceed the total number in cla.s.ses two and three, viz., members belonging purely to the n.o.bility.

The Diet is to be convoked once a year for an ordinary session, the length of which is three months, and can be prolonged when necessary.

Special sessions may be inst.i.tuted when necessary. All members of both Houses, except those belonging to cla.s.ses number one and number two of the Upper House, or those who are in the government service, receive two thousand yen (M 4000) a year, whilst presidents and vice-presidents receive five thousand yen and three thousand yen respectively.

ARMY AND NAVY

The recruiting and organisation of the j.a.panese army are very much like those of the European continental powers, especially those of Germany, from whom we have learned much. Those of the j.a.panese navy are like those of England, except that our sailors are taken not only from volunteers, but also by obligatory service; in other words, youths who have to serve as soldiers by the universal service system may be taken for sailors, considerations of course being given to their personal inclination. These latter, _i.e._ obligatory ones, form about half the total number in the navy.

LOCAL ADMINISTRATION

The whole of j.a.pan proper is divided into forty-five prefectures. The prefectures of Tokio, Kioto, and Osaka are called Fu, whilst all others are called Ken. The difference is more a matter of sentiment than anything else, for there is no difference whatever for any practical purposes. The administrative systems of Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Formosa each diverge from those of j.a.pan proper to some extent, though they are gradually being made similar to those of the main islands. I therefore put those three Islands, Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Formosa, outside the scope of the present paper for the sake of convenience. Each prefecture is presided over by a governor appointed by the central Government. It is partly an administrative district of the state and partly a communal district having its communal administration supported by local taxes.

For this latter aspect each prefecture has a local a.s.sembly, members of which are elected by direct votes of electors of the prefecture. Each prefecture is divided into counties, and the counties (Kreis) into rural and urban village communities (Gemeinde). Larger urban communities are incorporated as cities and are made independent of counties. Counties are prefectures on a small scale. Each of them is presided over by a _Gun-cho_, whose office is very similar to that of a French sub-prefect.

But counties also have their communal sides like prefectures and have representative a.s.semblages. The communal side of counties, however, is not very important, because communal affairs on a large scale are discharged by prefectures, and ordinary communal affairs are mostly discharged by village communities. Cities and village communities are the real 'self-governments' of the people. Each of them has a representative a.s.semblage, and elects its own executive officials. The composition of these officials differs in cities and village communities; that in the cities is, of course, more complicated. Even amongst the cities there is a great difference in the degree of importance, because there are many cities which are extremely small, inasmuch as a town having a population over twenty-five thousand could as a rule be incorporated as a city. The existing ordinances for the const.i.tution of these local governments are very much like those of Prussia--in fact, the ordinances for those of the cities and village communities are in a great measure founded upon those of Prussia. The chief points of difference are that, unlike Prussia, our prefectural governments subordinate direct to the central Government, with no intermediary which represents the latter and superintends the former, and that, unlike Prussia, there is in j.a.pan no 'Gutsbezirk' (signorial community) side by side with ordinary communities.

THE CONCLUSION

Such is the political organism of j.a.pan. My description, however, is only the merest skeleton of it. That such a skeleton should be endowed with the proper spirit requires that the whole nation from the sovereign down to the lowest member of the community should be animated by sincerity and loyalty and supported by a liberal and tolerant regime.

That j.a.pan is doing her best in those respects, I can only ask my readers to infer from their own observation of the admitted progress that she has been fortunate enough to accomplish so far.

I may, however, explain some of the more important points bearing on the question. The emperor is extremely popular amongst his people at large. I may say that it is not mere popularity in the ordinary sense of the word, but a popularity which is more of the nature of reverence.

This reverence for the emperor on the part of the people is manifested in their extreme loyalty. On the other hand, the emperor has not the least inclination to take advantage of it and abuse it for selfish purposes. His majesty entertains the keenest sense of duty in regard to his position, not as a person privileged to do whatever he may choose, but rather as a person to whom is intrusted the great task of taking care of the people over whom he reigns. Thus there exist between the sovereign and his subjects mutual confidence and love, which cannot fail to prove the greatest blessing to the country in any hour of national emergency.

As to the position of the Diet versus the Government, party landmarks are not so strong in j.a.pan as among most of the Western nations. True it is that in j.a.pan also there are several political parties, but the Government is not 'a party government' as it is in England or America.

In that respect the Government of j.a.pan most resembles that of Germany.

According to the const.i.tution, the Ministers of State are responsible only to the Emperor, but every practical statesman knows that no government can be satisfactorily carried on without concurrence of the Diet so long as there is such a body, and therefore in j.a.pan, also, every Ministry has to do its best to count on such good relations with the parties as it can secure; but, nevertheless, party feeling does not run so high, and party struggles are not so severe as to make the formation of a Cabinet depend on party issues.

The cause of all this is plain so far as we are concerned. The emperor does not interfere with politics, but when at the hour of supreme necessity he manifests his will, his subjects, one and all, instantaneously obey it, and rally around the throne, forgetting for the time being any differences of personal opinion. It was so at the time of the Sino-j.a.panese war, and again in the Russo-j.a.panese war. This state of things is due, amongst others, to the liberal administration of the Imperial regime. The press, speech, and right of meeting are for all practical purposes entirely free. Personal freedom is guaranteed by the const.i.tution. Taxes are levied, but no abuse of authority is known. The people at large have no real grounds of complaint or grievance against the Government as such, and have absolutely none against the Emperor.

Moreover, j.a.pan knows no difficulty in matters of religion, and consequently no party based upon religious notions exists to give trouble to Government. If this or that section of the people has any disputes with the Government or between themselves, those are essentially questions of some temporary and pa.s.sing character. Hence in j.a.pan it is not a difficult matter for the people at large to unite themselves under a common national policy in a time of national emergency.

II

j.a.pANESE EDUCATION[1]

In this paper I shall sketch something of the systems of education in j.a.pan, especially that of elementary education. My readers, however, must not think I have anything wonderful to show to them; for, as a matter of fact, I have nothing to take them by surprise. All that I can sum up is, that we are doing those things with the utmost sincerity, as we do other things which are already manifest to the Western public In days gone by, that is to say, during the feudal period, there was one college in the capital town of every feudal lord, in which the children of the retainers of Samurai were educated. There were some hundreds of such lords, some great and some petty. Their ranks and importance differed considerably, and naturally the number of their retainers differed; in consequence the scale and magnitude of such colleges also varied. The most famous of them were those of Mito, Chosiu, k.u.mamoto, and others belonging to great lords. Above all, there was one such belonging to the Shogunate itself. It may be here noted that inst.i.tutions where the young Samurai practised the use of swords, or spears, or firearms, or the art of _jiujitsu_, were established sometimes in connection with, and sometimes independently of, these colleges. There were also many plebeian colleges in different parts of the empire. These were mostly private inst.i.tutions founded by _savants_.

The founders were generally of plebeian origin; but there were among them many who were originally Samurai, and who betook themselves to such occupation from love of independence, or some other causes. But it must be remembered that, though they did not belong officially to the _cadre_ of Samurai, yet the social respect paid to them was great. In such a private inst.i.tution, the founder himself was the master, a.s.sisted by those of his pupils who were more advanced than others. The master taught the advanced pupils, or gave general lectures for the benefit of all; and the advanced taught and gave lectures to the less advanced. The pupils were generally youths of plebeian gentry, but not exclusively so, because many of the youthful Samurai from all parts of the empire enlisted themselves as pupils, especially when any such inst.i.tution had become famous on account of the achievements of the master and of the general work of the inst.i.tution.

The curricula of such colleges, both of the official ones of feudal lords and of private ones, were diverse, but generally comprised elementary as well as higher education. There was, of course, no uniform course of study to restrain the method of teaching; and every inventive faculty was employed in each college, so that many special characteristics were observable. But one thing which is undeniable was, that ethical training formed one of the most important branches everywhere.

The chief feature of the college inst.i.tutions of those days, especially of private inst.i.tutions, was enforced privation and hardship. I can never forget the days when I, in common with all others, of course, ate meals only twice a day, and those, too, of the simplest diet. The food often consisted of nothing else than a little rice with a very little salt, or the like. We ourselves were cooks in turn. We swept and washed out, not only our own rooms, but those of the master also. We often used cold water in the depth of severe winters for the purpose of washing, and suchlike. We heated the water in turn for the baths of our fellow pupils. We sometimes sat up whole nights in winter with scarcely any fire to warm us, in order to accustom ourselves to rigid discipline. In those days no idea of sanitation in the modern sense entered the minds of the master or of ourselves; neither did any outward show of appearance trouble us, nay, the more one was regardless of those things, the more was one thought strong in character. It is, no doubt, due to the training of those days that I, personally, for instance, cannot bear the trouble of appearing like a grandee, or a fashionable person. Thus, for example, I, who never used gloves in my boyhood, cannot endure the discomfort of wearing them, even on winter days.

Amongst the lower cla.s.ses (peasants or shopkeepers) there was generally one or other private person, in village or town, who could teach elementary writing and reading, and who taught the children in his neighbourhood by establishing a sort of private school. This was very commonly done by a priest of the Buddhist or Shinto temple of the place.

It seems that at one time this was done almost universally by the priests of Buddhist temples; so much so, that we have the term _Tera-ko-ya_. _Tera_ means a Buddhist temple, _Ko_ means children, and _Ya_ means a house--_Tera-Ko_ came generally to mean children who go to learn elementary writing and reading, and _Tera-ko-ya_ to mean the place where such children were taught. We have a famous tragedy, one act of which is called _The Scene of Terakoya_. There is a translation in German of that act by a German scholar. It is a scene which represents a tragic incident taking place in the tenth century A.D., in a private school for children opened by an old retainer of a n.o.bleman. It has nothing to do with a temple; and yet it is called _The Scene of Terakoya_.

It was, however, only after the inauguration of the Meiji era that education became thorough and universal. In the earliest days of this era there was an officer called _Daigaku-Betto_ (Chancellor of the University), who was a functionary of great dignity. In the course of a few years a special Ministry was inst.i.tuted for education, with a Minister of State, who, of course, had a chair in the Cabinet; and that system has ever remained the same. The Minister of Education controls the educational affairs of the whole country. At first the sphere of direct control of the central Government was naturally limited to higher education; but, with the abolition of the feudal system and the gradual consolidation of local administration, the sphere has extended step by step, and has culminated in the present system of universal education.

For the system of education, also, we are indebted to Europe and America; for the method of its practical working is, like many other new inst.i.tutions, borrowed from the Occidental nations. The only difference perceptible, perhaps, lies in the fact that in j.a.pan the moving force of the whole system is manipulated by the central Government to a greater degree than it is in any other country--certainly far more so than it is in England. The question of how far popular education should be interfered with by the state, or rather what difference of advantage exists between the system whereby the state takes upon itself far-reaching responsibility and one whereby a great margin is left to an independent development of private inst.i.tutions, is a matter which admits many pros and cons. It is not, however, my business to discuss this problem in this place. The fact remains, that with us the state exercises conspicuous influence in the matter. Almost all the educational inst.i.tutions of j.a.pan are official or public; for they belong either directly to the state or to the local administrations (Prefectural or Communal), and they are all controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Ministry of Education. There are some private inst.i.tutions also, it is true; but their number is very small when compared with the others, and even those must abide by the general direction of the state. The reason of this is, that private undertakings for elementary education have to be similar to the compulsory education imposed by the state, and such similarity can only be acquired by following the general direction of the state. In those of a higher standard, it is because there are many things in which certain privileges are given to those persons who possess certain educational qualifications. For instance, in obtaining a postponement of actual enrolment for military service, or in becoming a candidate for civil service examinations, such educational qualifications are generally measured by the standard of certain public inst.i.tutions; so that private inst.i.tutions of higher standard have to conform themselves to the direction of the state, if they wish to avail themselves of the aforesaid privileges. The chief reason why in j.a.pan the state takes upon itself so much responsibility in education is, apart from the intrinsic merit _per se_ of the system, that the country, under the circ.u.mstances of the period, could not afford to wait patiently the natural growth of extensive private enterprises.

Putting aside special and technical educational inst.i.tutions, as well as those of a private nature, the grades of our educational inst.i.tutions are: (1) the Universities; (2) High Colleges, which may be regarded as preparatory _Almae Matres_ for universities; (3) Middle Schools; (4) Higher Primary Schools; (5) Common Primary Schools.

The first two belong to the state itself. The last three belong to local administrations--in fine, there is one or more of the Middle Schools in each Prefecture, supported by the prefectural taxes, the number varying according to the requirement of the locality; and one or more Higher Primary Schools in each county, and one or more Common Primary Schools in each village-community, all supported by local rates.

The case of cities is similar to that of a county and its village-communities put together. The system is thoroughly carried out throughout the country; for I can say that there is no community where a Primary School is not provided. In populous towns there are _Kindergarten_ for the benefit of little boys and girls under school age, though the number of such _Garten_ is still only a few hundreds in all.

Elementary education is compulsory for both boys and girls: the school age begins at six. Common Primary Schools are the places where compulsory education is given. The course is four years. Excuses for absence are taken only in certain cases. According to the official report of the school year of 1901-2, the percentage of the boys receiving requisite elementary education was 93.78, and that of the girls 81.80, the average being 88.05.

The present system of our writing, which is more commonly used than another which consists of phonetic letters only, is very c.u.mbersome, because it consists of a mixture of Chinese ideographs and our phonetic letters. It is a great drawback to our education, nay to our national life. Boys and girls, however, have to learn it; and, therefore, the poor children of j.a.pan have to take more pains than those of other countries, which are blessed with the common use of a phonetic alphabet only.

Boys and girls of all cla.s.ses attend the same schools--children of rich merchants and county gentry side by side with those of coolies or humblest peasants. Our schools are essentially national inst.i.tutions for all cla.s.ses on an equal footing. No cla.s.s distinction is to be found in them. This holds good with higher inst.i.tutions. There exist, of course, no longer any colleges like those of former days, which belonged to feudal lords, and were more or less exclusively used by the Samurai cla.s.s. The emperor and empress have established, out of special interest for the education of n.o.bility, a peers' school and a peers' girls'

school in Tokio. But even these schools are not exclusively attended by boys and girls of the n.o.bility; for children of the commons who possess a satisfactory social standard are admitted to them. On the other hand, too, children of the n.o.bility do not necessarily join those schools only; for many such children are sent to ordinary schools, from convenience of locality or from some particular inclination of the parents. The zeal for education has been carried to such an extent, that primary education was made universally free, by a recommendation of the Diet. Without questioning the means of the family to which the children belong; although, under some special circ.u.mstances, trifling fees, almost nominal, may be imposed by special permission of the proper authorities.

The method of teaching in Primary Schools has developed itself in the following manner. A few years after the abolition of the feudal system, namely in 1872, the first Normal School was established in Tokio; and some seventy young students were collected. An American school teacher was engaged to train these youths for the purpose. They were divided into two cla.s.ses, those who acquitted themselves with greater credit at the entrance examination having been given a place in the first cla.s.s.

The American teacher taught the first of these two cla.s.ses exactly in the same manner as he did in America, the students having become as mere children. One or other of the students belonging to the cla.s.s so taught, taught in turn the other cla.s.s in a similar manner, though somewhat modified to suit our requirements. In conjunction with this practice, charts and simple text-books were prepared by some officials of the Ministry of Education who were attached to the school. This was soon followed by an establishment of five more Government Normal Schools in different parts of the empire, and a Women's Normal School in Tokio. In the course of a few years each Prefecture came to establish its own Normal School under subsidy of the Government; and the Government Normal Schools were abolished, except those established in Tokio, which were maintained as before, as a model for the local Normal Schools.

In the development of this scheme the graduates of the first Normal School inaugurated in Tokio played an important part, of course. Since then the system has remained the same in the main; but the method of teaching has been gradually improved by our inventions to meet our own requirements, supplemented by new intelligence brought back from the West by officials or students sent abroad for studying such matters.

The mode of making teachers at present is as follows. There is a High Normal School and a High Women's Normal School established in Tokio by the state; and another has been recently established in Hiroshima, also by the state. Their chief object is to train teachers for higher local inst.i.tutions, viz., teachers of Prefectural Normal Schools, Middle Schools, and suchlike. In each Prefecture one or more Normal Schools are established. The maximum of accommodation of the Prefectural Normal Schools, together with the numbers of the students to be trained therein, is determined by an ordinance of the central Government, and is made obligatory upon the Prefectures. The students who are trained in Normal Schools, both High and Prefectural, are supported by the State or by the Prefecture, as the case may be, on condition that they serve as teachers for a certain number of years. Teachers thus trained in Prefectural Normal Schools become teachers of all elementary schools.