ess there moulds, and how far it follows public opinion is somewhat
problematical. Be that as it may, many of the native papers are
vigorously and effectively written, and indeed many eminent men in
Japan have been either directly or indirectly connected with the
press. The newspapers of Japan differ in this respect from those of
this country--that there is a press law there, and newspapers are in
theory, at any rate, somewhat more hampered in their criticisms and
the publication of news than is the case here. This press law seems to
have irritated the English more than the vernacular press of Japan,
especially during the late war. Under the provisions of the law, a
warning is always given to an offending newspaper before any official
action is taken. The English journals in Japan have, perhaps not
unnaturally, not so far been able to divest themselves of the idea
that they have still extra-territorial rights, and are consequently
justified in publishing any criticisms or news irrespective of the
provisions of the press law.

Newspapers in Japan do not of course attain such large circulations as
some of those in England. I do not think there is any paper in the
country with a circulation exceeding 100,000, and there are only one
or two which reach anything like that figure. Advertising in Japan in
papers has not attained the same importance as in this country. Of
course all the journals, whether daily or weekly, have a large number
of advertisements, but the non-advertisement portion of the paper
forms a greater portion of the whole than is the case here. It may
interest some of my readers to know that poetry which has long been
tabooed by the press of this country is still a feature in that of
Japan, and that the novel "to be continued in our next," is also
served up for the delectation of Japanese readers.

A free press in a free country is no doubt an admirable institution,
but it has its disadvantages. I need not enumerate them, as my readers
probably know them as well as I do myself. Indeed, both in England
and America of late years we have had plenty of object-lessons, were
any needed, in regard to these disadvantages. "The yellow press" is a
phrase which has now come into general use to denote the certain kind
of journalism which lives and thrives by pandering to the desire that
so many persons in this world have for morbid sensationalism and the
publication of nauseating and shocking details. People who have
a