Japanese yen

“ To an American, nothing is simpler than Japanese money. The yen corresponds to our dollar, and is made up of one hundred sen, while ten rin make one sen. The yen is about equal in value to the Mexican dollar, and is roughly reckoned at fifty cents gold United States money. One says dollars or yens indiscriminately, always meaning the Mexican, which is the current coin of the East. The old copper coins, the rin and the oval tempo, each with a hole in the middle, are disappearing from circulation, and at the Osaka mint they are melted and made into round sens. ”

“ The currency system, established by Japanese financiers at the beginning of the Meiji era was based on the gold standard, the unit being the gold yen a coin worth four shillings, in round numbers. But, in the first place, Japan's stock of gold was soon driven out of the country by her depreciated fiat currency, and, in the second, as all other Oriental nations were silver-using, and as the silver Mexican dollar was the unit of accounts in Far-Eastern trade, Japan ultimately drifted into silver monometallism, the silver yen becoming her unit of currency. ”

“ I also encouraged the Prime Minister to open his capital markets to more foreign investment. This will increase demand for Japanese yen, helping its price rise in relation to the dollar, thereby making it easier for the Japanese to buy our products and making our products better able to compete in other markets.
Economic issues are important, but as I noted, freedom and peace exist in an uneasy climate here. We need to remember that Japan and Korea are key allies. They know what living in the shadow of communism is like. ”

“ Of course it may be said that Japan has nothing to do with sterling values, the yen being simply a yen to her people, and not so many shillings and pence. But the price of Japanese labour and the prices of the commodities it produces have appreciated even more sharply than gold has appreciated during the past ten years. The labour that earned only twenty-four sen in 1891 can easily earn more than thirty-nine sen to-day, and of course it is proportionately easier for the producing classes to pay their taxes at present. ”

“ In obedience to elementary economical laws, the cheap money had steadily driven out the dear, and although the government mint at Osaka, founded in 1871, had struck gold and silver coins worth 80,000,000 yen between that date and 1881, the customs returns showed that a great part of this metallic currency had flowed out of the country. In these circumstances Japanese financiers decided that only one course remained: the treasury must play the part of national banker. ”

“ It has irregularity without picturesqueness, and the grey sky, grey sea, grey houses, and grey roofs, look harmoniously dull. No foreign money except the Mexican dollar passes in Japan, and Mr. Fraser’s compradore soon metamorphosed my English gold into Japanese satsu or paper money, a bundle of yen nearly at par just now with the dollar, packets of 50, 20, and 10 sen notes, and some rouleaux of very neat copper coins. ”

“ Later on, the Chamber of Commerce advised the Colonial Secretary to communicate with the Authorities of the Mint as to the coinage of a suitable dollar for the Colony. In reply, the Governor informed the Chamber (July 31, 1875) that Mr. Fremantle, the Deputy Master of the Mint, was of opinion that the Japanese yen might be accepted as a legal tender in Hongkong, that the American trade dollar, not being a dollar of an equivalent value, should be rejected, but that the proposal to coin in England a special dollar for Hongkong was impracticable, as it would cost two per cent. ”

“ By 1913, the estimated total of Japanese investments in China and Manchuria amounted to 435,000,000 Yen out of a total of 535,000,000 Yen estimated investments abroad. By the end of the World War, Japan had more than doubled her investments in China and Manchuria over those of 1913, a considerable part of this increase being due to the famous "Nishihara loans", which had been partially granted for political considerations. In 1926 the Japanese Diet, however, passed a law requiring the Government to take over these loans to the extent of 100,000,000 Yen, plus interest. ”

“ On this matter of the deterioration of the currency, the Financial Adviser says in one of his Reports: [66] “The currency of Korea, though nominally on a silver basis, has hitherto in reality possessed no standard, and only cash and nickel coins have been in circulation. Before the commencement of the reorganization of the currency, the market rate of the nickel coins fell to 250 won for 100 yen in gold (Japanese currency) ; while that of the cash fluctuated from 100 per cent. to 60 per cent. premium. All cash pass at a uniform rate in spite of their different sizes and weights. ”

“ On the position Japanese occupy as regards the acquisition of wealth Mr. Kure Bunso, the well-known statistician, writes in the “Shakaigaku Zasshi” as follows: There are only two men in Japan who pay an income tax on over 250,000 yen. There are only 13 men in the whole country who pay on 39,000 yen, being in the proportion of 4 persons to every 100,000 inhabitants; only 67 who pay on 24,000 yen, being in the proportion of 2 persons to every 10,000 inhabitants; 96 persons who pay on 17,000 yen, being in the proportion of 2.8 persons to every 10,000 inhabitants ”

“ A new foreign loan for 30 million pounds floated, in July, in London, New York, and Berlin, brought the figure up to 1656 million yen. Fortunately, the rice crop for 1904 was unusually good; an early control of the sea held open the highways of Japan's Eastern trade; the reduction of local impositions and expenditures counterbalanced the rise in national taxes; and the savings and general financial endurance of the people at large proved unexpectedly great. The unforeseen successes of Japan's arms also contributed to the temporary prestige of the cabinet. ”

“ Even unpractised and inexpert eyes can see great room for improvement in the management of these businesses. Here, I must admit, the Japanese are ahead of us. Take, for instance, the Yokohama Specie Bank: it has a paid-up capital of Yen 30,000,000 and has branches and agencies not only in all the important towns in Japan, but also in different ports in China, London, New York, San Francisco, Honolulu, Bombay, Calcutta and other places. ”

“ Out of every 1,000 inhabitants there are only 7 persons who make 2,700 yen a year. Thus it is seen that when compared with the French and the English the Japanese are extremely poor. The Germans seem to be rich to the Japanese, though when compared with the French and English they are poor. ”

“ Yokohama was no place for economy and we shook off its dust for that of Tokyo and were happy again in a native inn. With our linen suits laundered, we called on old friends and shopped betimes on credit. It was a rather queer sensation to be bargaining for luxuries when a mere bona fide payment of a ’ricksha charge meant a most delicate readjustment of our entire capital. Dealers were quite willing to forward boxes to America with hardly more guarantee than our [283] promise to pay sometime. I felt that if we were to ask them suddenly for ten yen in cash our credit would have crashed to earth. ”

“ We walked to our hotel in Yokohama and took rooms, relying that future funds would come out of the letter which was supposedly waiting at the bank for me. In the meantime in the bag which had been forwarded from Nagoya I found a two-dollar American [282] bill. This gift we cashed into yen and sat through the evening on a terrace over the bund along the water front, sipping forgotten coffee and ordering long, iced, fresh lemon drinks. A steamer had landed that day and at the next table to ours was a charming group of American girls. They were filled with enthusiasm for the exotic. ”

“ Fortunately all these things, and even dresses themselves, can be handed down from mother to daughter, as jewels and lace may be in European lands, Japanese ladies fashions not changing quickly.
A Japanese lady's dress will often represent a value of 200 yen, without counting the ornaments for her hair, worth perhaps as much again. A woman of the smaller shop-keeping class may have on her, when she goes out holiday-making, some 40 or 50 yen's worth. A gentleman will rarely spend on his clothes as much as he lets his wife spend on hers. ”

“ The general commerce is almost exclusively in the hands of Japanese and Chinese. In this respect Japan has made extraordinary progress during the last few years. In 1897 her imports amounted to 1,911,851 yen, and those of England were 3,713,907 yen. Four years later the Japanese trade increased to 2,844,815 and England's dropped to 2,853,866. Since the Commercial Exhibition at Osaka, Japan's trade with Korea has advanced even more, so that, for instance, cotton goods, once imported exclusively from Manchester, are now replaced by the fabrics of Nippon. ”

“ University students, who formerly got along on 11 yen a month, can scarcely now manage under 20 yen. The price of a box for the ten days wrestling matches at Ekō-in, Tōkyō, rose from 40 to 54 yen for the best places, and from 38 to 45 yen for the next best in the single year between January, 1900, and January, 1901. ”

“ The widow tells me that house-masters pay 2 yen once for all for the sign, and an annual tax of 2 yen on a first-class yadoya, 1 yen for a second, and 50 cents for a third, with 5 yen for the license to sell sake.
These "godowns" (from the Malay word gadong) , or fire-proof store- houses, are one of the most marked features of Japanese towns, both because they are white where all else is grey, and because they are solid where all else is perishable. ”

“ An ordinary working Jinrikisha costs a little over 30 yen, and will last three years if repaired a couple of times yearly. Hand some private jinrikishas may come to 45 or even 50 yen. The total cost of the outfit of a jinrikisha-man—coat, drawers, hat, and lantern all complete—is estimated at from 2, to 5 yen. The usual fare is from 15 to 25 sen per ri (2 1⁄2 miles English) . Many men work on their own account, their one Jinrikisha being their stock in trade. These are they that loiter about the street corners, waiting for a job. ”

“ But for its passage, the deficit of the next fiscal year would have reached beyond forty-six millions of yen.
Let us pause a moment to examine the nature of the Japanese land tax, without an understanding of which neither the past nor the future of the parliamentary politics will be comprehended with sufficient clearness. The reader will recall how before the fall of feudalism most of the arable land in the country was held in fief, and how the tenants paid to their lords onerous rents, ranging between thirty and seventy per cent. of the product of the soil. ”

“ Undoubtedly, to carry the currency of a nation from a discount of 70 or 80% to par in the course of four years, reducing its volume at the same time from 160 to 119 million yen, was a financial enterprise violent and daring almost to rashness. The gentler expedient of a foreign loan would have commended itself to the majority of economists. But it may be here stated, once for all, that until her final adoption of a gold standard in 1897, the foreign money market was practically closed to Japan. ”

“ The ambition and docility of the people would seem to be well exemplified by the phenomenal growth of silk and cotton textile industries, which have risen twenty-fold in value during the last two decades, and by the creation of certain new, prosperous industries, particularly in matting, lucifer matches, straw braids, and cotton yarns. The exportation of the six principal branches of manufactures above enumerated amounted in 1888 to less than 31 million yen, and nearly 195 millions in 1904. ”

“ Article 94 A person who violates an order of neutrality in a war between foreign states shall be punished by imprisonment without work for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than 500,000 yen. ”

“ No doubt every precaution that financial skill could suggest was taken by the Government of which he was a member. One of the earlier instalments of the indemnity was converted in London into gold bullion and conveyed to Japan as fast as steam could transport it, to be minted into coins in the Government mint. In buying bullion, too, care was taken to secure it without much disturbance of the market or loss to the Government. The gold thus turned into [296] coins between July 1897, and April 1898, as a reserve for the exchange of silver yen, amounted to roughly £7,500,000 sterling. ”

“ The outcome of these various arrangements was that, by the middle of 1885, the volume of fiduciary notes had been reduced to 119,000,000 yen, their depreciation had fallen to 3%, and the metallic reserve of the treasury had increased to 45,000,000 yen. The resumption of specie payments was then announced, and became, in the autumn of that year, an accomplished fact. From the time when this programme began to be effective, Japan entered a period of favourable balance of trade. According to accepted economic theories, the influence of an appreciating currency should be to encourage imports ”

“ It is obvious that the interests charged on banking transactions must be large to cover the cost of stately buildings and numberless clerks, combined apparently with a minimum of business. The Japanese have imposed a Japanese currency on the country, and the bulk of the money used does equally for both countries, but there is a small quantity of coin bearing the Korean stamp which is not current in Japan. ”