JAPAN 237 JAPAN Ton of United States war vessels. He extorted a treaty from the frightened Shogun, March 31, 1854, and Japan, aft- er a withdrawal of 216 years, entered once more the family of nations. Other countries slowly followed the example of the United States till 16 in all had ob- tained the same privileges. The assassination in 1877 of Okubo, chief of the party whose reforms gave rise to the Satsuma rebellion, was fol- Upper Chamber. The nation is itself divided into three classes, Ktvazokn ("nobility"), Shizoku ("gentry"), and Heimin ("commonalty"). Officials are of four classes, shinnin, chokunin, sonin, and hannin. Officials constitute the flower of the nation ; class jealousy is ab- sent, careers being open to the poorest. The main results of the triumohant war with China in 1894-1895 were the war indemnity, and the acquisition of For- TEMPLE AT YEYASOU, JAPAN lowed 12 years later by the assassination of Viscount Mori, a cabinet minister. The court no longer live in seclusion. The emperor and empress have visited all the chief institutions and are present at public spectacles. The crown prince, Haru, was the first in the long dynasty to be educated at a public school. A new nobility was created in 1884, drawn partly from the old feudal baronage and partly from the new men of 1868, who send representatives to the newly created mosa. Japan was visited by a terrible earthquake in 1892; and in June, 1896, an earthquake wave cost 10,000 lives. From 1897 to 1900 the question of Korea was warmly debated between Japan and Russia. On Jan. 8, 1904, war broke out between Russia and Japan, and this was terminated by the treaty of Portsmouth Sept. 5, 1905. The losses of Russia, dead and prisoners, were 388,500, and of Ja- pan, 167,500, and of ships, Russia 83, of Japan 12. The treaty was unexpect- Vol. V— Cyc— P
