200 miles in length. Although Japan is situated much further south
than Great Britain, its northern extremity being in about the same
latitude as Cornwall, its climate is, on the whole, not unlike that of
this country. Of course the climate of such a mountainous country and
one extending over 14 degrees of latitude varies considerably. That of
the island of Yesso, for example, is in winter rigorous to a degree, a
fact in some measure caused by a cold current which flows down its
eastern shores from the Sea of Okohotsk. Professor Rein, who has given
great attention to the matter of the Japanese climate, has remarked in
reference thereto: "The climate of Japan reflects the characteristics
of that of the neighbouring continent, and exhibits like that two
great annual contrasts--a hot, damp summer and a cold relatively dry
winter; these two seasons lie under the sway of the monsoons, but the
neighbouring seas weaken the effects of these winds and mitigate their
extremes in such a manner that neither the summer heat nor the cold of
winter attain the same height in Japan as in China at the same
latitudes. Spring and autumn are extremely agreeable seasons; the
oppressive summer heat does not last long, and in winter the contrast
between the nightly frosts and the midday heat, produced by
considerable insulation but still more by the raw northerly winds,
causes frequent chills, though the prevailing bright sky makes the
season of the year much more endurable than in many other regions
where the winter cold is equal. As a fact the climate of Japan agrees
very well with most Europeans, so that people have already begun to
look upon certain localities as climatic watering-places where the
inhabitant of Hong Kong and Shanghai can find refuge from the
oppressive heat of summer and invigorate his health."

The mean annual temperature of Tokio is about 56 deg. The lowest
temperature is in January or February, when the thermometer seldom
falls below 25 deg., the highest in August, when it sometimes rises to
95 deg. or 100 deg. in the shade, the average being 82 deg. The
Japanese suffer a good deal from the effects of the wintry weather,
bronchial, chest, and rheumatic affections being prevalent. The
dwellings of the people, somewhat flimsy in construction as they are,
are not well adapted to withstand the effects of a low temperature. On
the whole the people must be pronounced to be extremely healthy--a
fact probably due to their scru