Chapter X

THE FUTURE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION IN JAPAN—RELATIONS BETWEEN JAPANESE
AND FOREIGNERS

Questions which are raised by the recent evolution in Japan—Can the
Japanese assimilate the civilization of peoples of a different
race?—Precedents and analogies—Up to what point does Japan wish to
resemble Europe?—Character and degree of the changes which have
taken place in Japan from the social, political, and economical
point of view—Adaptation of Western institutions in Japan—Feeling
of the Japanese towards foreigners—The revision of treaties with
foreign Powers—The absolute necessity for Japan to enter into
intimate relationship with the rest of the world if she wishes to
retain her newly-acquired civilization.

To one who has studied Japan on the spot, a very serious question presents itself for solution, one of vast importance, not only to the inhabitants of that island Empire, but to the entire human family, _i.e._, Will the evolution which this country has undergone prove permanent and not likely to collapse at a given moment, bringing with it the ruin of the State? In a word, the question is, whether it be possible for a people so suddenly to assimilate the old-established and elaborate civilization of another race. Let us, to begin with, remember that the Japanese have already afforded precedents proving that they possess powers of assimilation in a rare degree. From the third to the sixth century of our era they introduced Chinese civilization into their dominions, and from the ethnographic point of view, whether the Japanese belong to the Mongol or to the Malay family, they are not so far removed from the Chinese as the whites; nevertheless they are quite as distinct from them as are the Aryans from the Semites, and as the French or the Germans from the Arabs. The example of Russia is perhaps less marked, because more intimate affinities unite the Slavs to the Western races, and yet the Russians are the least Slav of any of the Slavs, being in reality for the most part Finns who have submitted to Slav influences. The Finns are related to the Mongols, and Muscovy, moreover, was under the Tatar yoke for three centuries, a dominion which has left a very profound impression on the race. Peter the Great’s enterprise was therefore not an easy one. The principal objection, however, which can be brought against the example of Russia is that her evolution was never completed, and did not influence the lower strata of society sufficiently for it to become completely Europeanized. Hungary offers a better field of investigation in this direction, for the peoples who originally invaded her were distinctly Oriental, but now this country has become absolutely European, the result probably of an intimate connection between its inhabitants and their neighbours. But beyond these facts, there is one point which we should not overlook. Our own civilization is not the monopoly of one race, but was constructed by the concurrence of many people. It results directly from Roman and Greek civilization, and through these from Phœnician and Egyptian. The Egyptians, needless to say, were a branch of the Hamites, the most degraded white race of our time; the Phœnicians, on the other hand, were Semites, and it was another Semitic race, the Arab, that during the Middle Ages held the light of civilization, and transmitted to us the inheritance of antiquity, after having widely extended its scientific uses. The whole history of our civilization, therefore, protests against its having ever been at any time monopolized by the Aryan branch of the white race.

Modern ethnography, based upon recent linguistic and anthropological discoveries, has shaken to its foundations those notions concerning the white races which were universally accepted in bygone times. We no longer hold that it was from the high plateau of Asia that swept those tribes who eventually peopled Europe, but that they radiated from the centre of Europe herself. Far from forming the majority of the inhabitants of the Continent, the Aryans, if that term still preserves its meaning, are but one of its elements. They have mingled everywhere in variable quantities among the different hordes of Finnish and other races who have overrun our continent. The varied formation of the skulls which has been observed among the different inhabitants of a single country corresponds with the predominance of one or other of these original elements, with the result that the unity of race which has hitherto been imagined to exist among all Western peoples is now proved to be chimerical.

Whatever truth these theories may contain, they are nevertheless subject to frequent modification, but it seems impossible with the present facts to sustain _à priori_ that one race cannot assimilate the civilization of another. No doubt the Japanese differ more completely from the Europeans of the West than do the Russians, or even the Arabs, or than they themselves do from the Chinese; but once the unity of the human race is admitted, this becomes a mere question of degree of parentage. Must we, therefore, draw a line of degree between peoples beyond which the transmission of the civilization of the one cannot penetrate to the other, even as the French law fixes a limit to the transmission of inheritance? Nothing short of experience can solve the question. For the matter of that, the phenomenon is constantly taking place before our eyes, and if there be a people who might attempt it with hope of success, it is surely the Japanese, who to exceptional intelligence and remarkable powers of assimilation add a great spirit of enterprise and an uncommon energy.

Japan cannot be compared for a moment with China; for, much younger than her Celestial neighbour—since she received her civilization at her hands at a period contemporary with the fall of the Roman Empire, when the annals of China reached as far back into the night of time as those of Egypt—she has not had time to fossilize herself in sterile admiration of the past, and she has never adopted that mandarinate which China considers one of her chief glories, but which is in reality slowly ruining her. Above all, like Europe in the Middle Ages, she has submitted to the virile influences of the feudal system, and, therefore, there is no reason _à priori_ why she should not succeed in her enterprise. Whether or no Japan wishes to convert herself on every point into an absolutely Europeanized nation, and a Western European nation at that, is another question which demands close attention. Possibly it is an exaggeration to say that the promoters of the remarkable series of reforms which have lately been effected in Japan had ever an eye to so complete a transformation. The first reform which engrossed their attention was undoubtedly to place their country, which had so suddenly broken through her ancient tradition of isolation, on a military, naval, and an economical basis, that would enable her to treat as an equal with any of the other nations of the world. The Japanese are the only Oriental people who have understood the conditions necessary to attain this aim. Japan discerned that by accepting a military and economic position equal to that of any European country, she was also obliged to undergo immense changes in every department of her national existence, and she unflinchingly faced her new position, resolved to accomplish every sort of transformation in order to place herself on a firm footing.

It seems to me that Japan has solved the difficult question as to which were the changes she ought to undergo. The fact that she has accepted the entire programme of European civilization, barring a few domestic usages, certain traditions of family existence and religion, speaks for itself. The religious question is one of the most interesting and curious phases of Japanese experience. Until the present day history has always demonstrated that the first act of a people which desired to model itself upon another was to adopt its religion, and in Japan itself 1,500 years ago Buddhism paved the way for the advent of Chinese civilization. In the sixteenth century, at a time when she was first brought into contact with Europeans, Christianity played an important part, and soon made many proselytes. To-day it is otherwise. The Mikado, it is true, does not prevent his subjects from embracing Christianity, but he does not encourage them to do so. Most probably this is the result of the fact that religion is no longer the foremost factor in Western civilization, and is somewhat veiled by important scientific discoveries and material improvements, and, whether rightly or wrongly, there can be no question that the spirit of the century pretends to solve political and social problems outside of the sphere of religion.

The Japanese have evidently arrived at the conclusion that it was unnecessary to effect a transformation in an order of ideas which the Europeans themselves apparently consider accessory. If one day they find that they have made a mistake, it probably will not take them long to change their minds; but for the present they have preferred to rally round the popular idea, neutrality of the State in matters of religion and freedom of conscience to all, and this allows them to retain Buddhism and Shintoism as the religion of the immense majority of the people.

From the civil point of view, on the other hand, they have introduced many European reforms. Japanese society formerly resembled in many ways that of ancient Rome, especially with respect to the constitution of the family. The new civil code which has been carried into effect is more in accordance with modern ideas, and modifies the excessive habit of adoption, diminishes the power of the head of the family over his married children and his younger brothers, and raises somewhat the position of women, who were already freer in Japan than in any other Oriental country. But it also permits, in accordance with Japanese traditions, very slight difference to exist between legitimate and illegitimate children, and on this point, as on that of divorce—whether for good or otherwise I do not consider myself called upon to judge—it shapes itself very much on the same lines as does modern legislation elsewhere. The personal status, therefore, of a Japanese is very much the same as that of a European, and the laws relating to property have for a long time been identical with our own. As to the penal code, it is one of the most moderate in the world, and the death sentence is only passed in cases of crime against the Emperor.

Politically speaking, the Japanese have gone further still, and have given themselves a Constitution analogous, as already stated, to that of Prussia. It may perhaps be queried whether they were wise in accepting so entirely our representative system; but undoubtedly within the last eight years Parliamentary life in Japan has made rapid strides, and, indeed, is neither better nor worse than it is in many a European country. The parties do not come to stay long, and their programmes are very confused. The relation between the clans and the provinces plays a very conspicuous part in the Parliamentary existence; but, for the matter of that, so they do in Italy and elsewhere. Even if it has been a rather premature experience, nevertheless Parliamentary Government in Japan seems likely to stay. The numerous provincial and communal assemblies carry out their business fairly well, although, to be sure, there are whispers of a slight amount of corruption—but where is it otherwise? One of the happiest traits of Japanese evolution is that there appears little probability of its ending, like the great Russian transformation under Peter the Great, in the creation of two distinct classes, separated by an insurmountable barrier. There is no serfdom or anything to maintain the Japanese peasantry in the same position of inferiority as the Russian mujik, and the mass of the nation unhesitatingly follows the lead of its chiefs.

Refined by from twelve to fifteen centuries of civilization, the subjects of the Mikado are much better educated than were those of Peter the Great, and therefore can march with far greater assurance on the road to progress. While the smallness of the country and the density of its population, concentrated for the most part on the coast-line, are likewise aids to the rapid penetration of new ideas, still further assisted by a well-organized system of primary instruction and a military service, it is, however, rather from the material point of view that the change has been most striking and rapid.

Without returning to the matter of the extraordinary rapidity of the increase of industry, there is one subject connected with it which I cannot forbear dwelling upon, and that is the excessive ability with which the Japanese have succeeded in organizing certain public services introduced from the West in such a manner as to place them within the reach of even the poorest. In many European colonies the high tariff of the rail and postal services deters the natives from using them; but in Japan it is otherwise. There you pay on the railway ¾d. a mile first class, ½d. second, and ¼d. third, which latter is used by the majority of the people, and the total returns for 2,290 miles of Japanese rail, notwithstanding these low rates, reached in 1895 £1,878,600 (of which £1,179,600 were paid by travellers), as against £766,300 for expenses, the profits being £1,112,300, or about 10 per cent. upon the outlay capital, which was £11,649,200. The post is also extremely cheap in Japan, ½d. being charged for letters and ¼d. for post-cards. In 1896–97 503,000,000 objects passed through the post-office, of which 263,000,000 were post-cards, 122,000,000 letters, and 87,000,000 newspapers. The preponderating number of post-cards, which surpasses that of letters, is strikingly in contradistinction to what one observes in every other country, and is a proof of the economical habits of the people and of their appreciation of this cheap method of correspondence. The enthusiasm with which the population profits by all the innovations introduced from the West is a convincing proof of the very slight resistance which the implanting of our civilization receives. Yet another favourable sign is the exceptional number of students in the new universities and public schools of all descriptions. Practical science, law, and medicine attract the majority of the students, and already many of them have attained marked success in their several careers. As an example, I may mention that it was a Japanese who discovered the microbe of the bubonic plague. The Japanese are sometimes, and possibly with some truth, accused of lacking the inventive faculty; but those peoples who are from many points of view at the head of civilization at the present day, the English and the Americans, are not those among whom the power of invention is exceptionally prominent. It is in France or in Germany that the principles of nearly all modern discoveries have been found, but it is in England and the United States that their application has been perfected. No one, however, can refuse the Japanese this latter gift, and they unquestionably possess an almost excessive faculty of attention to minute detail. Possibly they have not so far materially assisted in advancing science, and surely it is somewhat premature to pronounce judgment on this subject; but with good technical teachers—and everything points that they will have them—they can certainly soon acclimatize European civilization in their country, precisely as they did in days of old that of China, but only on the condition that they keep themselves well in touch with Europe.

Their principal danger, however, seems to me to consist in their attempting to isolate themselves too much, and to believe that they have learnt everything that can be taught them, and consequently have no further use for their masters. Perhaps, too, in certain cases they have got rid only too quickly of the services of foreign functionaries and councillors. Throughout the whole of the eighteenth century Russia, so to speak, modelled herself on the German plan, and Japan would also do well not to forget too hastily the advice of Western teachers. Already a certain amount of negligence is noticeable in the post-office and on the railways, whose systems are occasionally dislocated by many irregularities and also by a certain carelessness, usually attributed to excess of work or to the breakdown of machinery, but which is more probably due to the inexperience of the public servants of the entire hierarchy. The fact is, Japan does not at present value the most characteristic feature of modern civilization—punctuality; but, to be just, when we consider the indolent habits of Asiatics in general, we should not be surprised at this, rather the contrary. It would, however, be well for the Japanese, until they have got thoroughly trained to an appreciation of the value of time, to retain officials who will remind them of its importance.

It may also be added that in the commercial development considerable inexperience and too great zeal in every branch, industrial, financial, and commercial, has been displayed: in the over-rapid increase, for instance, of banks and companies of all kinds, in the mismanagement of new societies, and in the abuse that has frequently been made of credit. All these things are new to Japan, and they have occasionally not been treated as they should have been. We have bestowed so much praise on the economical development of the country that we may surely be allowed to observe that much has been done too quickly. But this has been the case in all new countries, in the two Americas, as well as in Australia, and one must not therefore be too severe on Japan in this respect, but also not surprised if it occasionally results in the paralysis of business and even in an occasional crisis. As often occurs, a rise in salaries accompanied industrial expansion, and proved very inconvenient to export industries, all the more so as these are for the most part mainly nominal, and prices rose almost immediately. During the last two years an inverse movement has taken place, and we must do the Japanese the justice to say that when they saw the danger they displayed considerable sagacity, and both the Government and the public expressed a wish to limit their desire for expansion. If there were serious economic difficulties in Japan in 1897–98, they seem now to have passed away; they were but the result of over-activity, and the present outlook in the Mikado’s dominion, although not as brilliant as it was immediately after the war, is once more normal.

The transitory troubles of the Empire of the Rising Sun will not, in our opinion, become very grave if the Japanese thoroughly understand that it is to their interest rather to increase their contact with foreigners than to limit it. Since 1889 there has existed in Japan a reactionary movement against strangers, which apparently reached its culminating point in 1896, and now seems gradually diminishing. It is sincerely to be hoped that this feeling of suspicion will absolutely disappear. One of the numerous reasons which contributed to raise a certain hostility against Europeans was their attitude with respect to the renewal of the treaties. This important question, which so closely concerned the relations between the Japanese and foreigners, has now been settled, and if Japanese statesmen are well inspired, the solution that has been arrived at should greatly enhance the true interests of their country.

Almost immediately after the Restoration, the Government of the Mikado expressed the desire to revise the treaties concluded between it and the foreign Powers during the last years of the old regime. What it most desired was to abrogate the extra-territorial privileges granted to strangers, and to render them responsible to the native tribunals. It also hoped to re-possess itself of the right to modify the Custom-house tariff, which was very low, not with a view to protection, but in order to augment the revenues. In exchange for these concessions Japan offered to open the country to Europeans, to allow them to reside and to establish their industries anywhere outside of the five ports in which they had hitherto been confined. Joint negotiations were opened with the seventeen Powers who had signed the treaties on several occasions, but without favourable results, and the check they received in 1897 greatly irritated public opinion in Japan. The Government then decided to negotiate separately through the intermediary of its representatives in Europe. The first success was with England, by the treaty concluded in 1894; the other nations followed suit, and the new treaties were enforced on July 17th, 1899.

For several years, however, a change had taken place in public opinion in Japan, and many people began to think that it might be as dangerous to completely open the country to foreigners as to grant them privileges of proprietorship. ‘They are much richer than we are,’ said they, ‘and will buy up all our lands and strip us of our resources, so that in time we shall cease to be masters in our own house.’ On the other hand, the Europeans began to make an outcry at the thought that they would be obliged to submit to Japanese jurisdiction, which, although founded on the European system, might be misapplied by the Yellow people, who were still barbarians, and who might use it to make the existence of foreigners in Japan intolerable. Both views of the case were exaggerated, and rendered the task of the various diplomatists an exceedingly difficult one. Diplomacy, however, carried the day, not without sacrificing the proposed absolute equality of rights between Japanese and foreigners.

The new treaties accepted the Japanese desideratum respecting the suppression of consular tribunals and European municipalities, but foreigners were, in their turn, to renounce proprietary rights. The English treaty thus summarizes the principal concessions granted: ‘All members of the principal contracting parties may carry on any wholesale or retail business, in any sort of product, manufactures and merchandise, personally or by their representatives, individually or through an association, either with other foreigners or with natives; and they shall have the right to possess, let or occupy houses, shops, manufactories and other premises as they deem necessary, or to hire lands, to live therein, or to engage therein in business, by conforming themselves to the laws, and the police and Custom-house regulations of the country, as if they were natives thereof.’ This gave rise to considerable controversy. It confirmed the right of foreigners to possess, let or occupy houses and divers places of business, but on the other hand, it only allowed them to rent land, which according to Japanese law can only be hired on short leases of between thirty and fifty years, as the case may be, which is, of course, a great hindrance to the installation of any important industry.

This apparent contradiction formed the subject of an agitated controversy carried on by the English papers printed at the various ports, which pointed out with rather thoughtless acrimony that the new treaty was only intended as a blind to deprive foreigners of their extra-territorial liberties. They forgot that outside of property and of the leasehold system the Japanese code contains another method of tenure, called ‘Surface Right,’ whereby the purchaser of a piece of land has the right to everything that is on the surface thereof (excepting the crops), that is, to plant or cut down trees and to build thereon. One can purchase the surface of the land in accordance with Japanese law for as long a period of time as one likes, a thousand years even, either on payment by instalments or complete purchase. For any enterprise which is not purely agricultural this purchase is equivalent to absolute possession of the land.

Foreigners can thus establish industries in Japan, and it is therefore to the interests of the Japanese to encourage them so to do. Private individuals, as well as the Government, ought to do everything they can to attract foreign capital, but this can only be done in the case of industrial enterprises by allowing foreigners to take the direction of affairs. I have been asked whether it is not possible to induce foreign capitalists to lend their money on sharing terms to Japanese companies as they do to the American railways, without taking any part in the direction, but I am afraid this is a hope the Japanese would do well not to entertain. Whether it be through prejudice or otherwise, it is quite certain that Europeans will do nothing of the sort, and the Japanese seem to be aware of the fact, and several railway companies have modified their statutes in order to admit a clause whereby foreigners can become shareholders; but as the Japanese possess all the land over which the lines run as well as the stations, I do not think that this proposition can be legal. It is, therefore, to be regretted that public opinion has not insisted upon a concession of the right of proprietorship being bestowed upon foreigners.

It is, however, not improbable that before long the Legislature may get over this difficulty by deciding that in companies constituted according to Japanese laws, and registered in Japan, the members, though they be foreigners, become thereby Japanese citizens, and can also be absolute land-owners. However, on all points the Japanese Government, supported by Parliament and public opinion, has taken the necessary precautions to apply the new treaties in the most liberal manner possible. If there have been some unfavourable verdicts pronounced in the Japanese tribunals in the short time they have been in existence, these have generally been revised on appeal. The greater experience gained by contact between the Japanese and Europeans, and the wish to see foreign capital collaborating in the development of the resources of the country, will doubtless suggest, little by little, new measures calculated to smooth down any feeling of irritation between the native and the foreign population. If there still exists a feeling of hatred of the foreigner among individual fanatics, a certain ill-will in the lower and more ignorant class of the people, some abuse of authority among inferior officials, the Government of the Mikado is too sagacious to allow any flagrant cause of annoyance to disturb European residents, which would soon be resented by their respective Governments and might even lead to the scattering of the fruits of thirty years’ progressive effort.

Japan has already done much, but especially because she has done so much in so short a time, and because the immense majority of her inhabitants had no idea thirty years ago of European affairs, and therefore have no means of comparison, they are apt to exaggerate their progress, however marvellous it may be, and consequently they are not in a position to notice that certain European importations come to them slightly deteriorated. Foreigners act the part of critics, and even if their criticism is sometimes severe, it is nevertheless useful. The functionaries and the young men who are sent on foreign missions also fulfil the same critical office, and this is an additional reason why the Government is so wise in maintaining these missions. Unless, indeed, from time to time the new civilization which has been imported in Japan is refreshed at its primary source, it will soon run a risk of losing strength, and, for the matter of that, any people, even European, that isolated itself too much and became absorbed in self-admiration, would inevitably deteriorate. It is not belittling the extraordinary progress so rapidly accomplished by the Empire of the Rising Sun to say that it can only be perfected if the people of that wonderful country remain in contact with the inhabitants of Europe and America.