ts people.

If rice is the national food, tea is emphatically the national
beverage, despite the large consumption of sake and the increasing
consumption of the really excellent beer now brewed in Japan. Like
most other things, the tea-shrub is said to have been imported into
Japan from China. Almost since the opening of the country, the United
States has been Japan's best customer in respect of tea, and she has
from time to time fallen into line with the requirements of the United
States Government in regard to the quality of tea permitted to be
imported into that country. For instance, when, in 1897, the United
States Legislature passed a law forbidding the importation of tea of
inferior quality and providing for the inspection of all imported tea
by a fixed standard sample, the Tea Traders Association of Japan
established tea inspection offices in Yokohama and other ports, and
all the tea exported from the country was and still is passed through
these offices. The tea is rigidly tested, and if it comes up to the
required standard is shipped in bond to the United States. The quality
of the tea is thus amply guaranteed, and it, accordingly, commands a
high price in the American Continent. The value of the tea exported to
the United States amounts to something like L1,200,000, and there are
no signs of any falling off in the demand for it. Canada is also a
good customer of Japan for the same article, but Great Britain and the
other European countries at present take no Japanese tea. I do not
know why this is the case as the tea is really excellent, and it has,
as regards what is exported, the decided advantage of being inspected
by experts and the quality guaranteed. The tea industry is undoubtedly
one of great national importance, the total annual production
amounting to about 65,000,000 pounds, the greater portion of which is,
of course, consumed in the country.

I have already referred to the importance of Japanese arboriculture,
and to the steps taken by the Japanese Government in reference to the
administration of forests and the planting with trees of various parts
of the country not suitable for agriculture. The State at the present
time owns about 54,000,000 acres of forests, which are palpably a very
great national asset. I may mention that the petroleum industry is
growing in Japan. The quantity of petroleum in the country is believed
to be very great, and every year new fields are being developed. The
consu