cause it contemplates the mercenary advantages to be reaped from the expected throngs of pleasure-seekers, and is, therefore, also practical. And the same person makes another suggestion, wholly practical and pecuniary, as follows:—
"Japan is geographically situated in an advantageous position, as at the centre of the world's commercial routes. China will be the future market of the world, and Japan will receive the mercantile vessels fitted to be despatched to all parts of the earth. Japan should provide herself with extensive docks at the various ports of the island on the route of the mercantile vessels, to give them shelter and, if needed, necessary repairs and cleaning, and eventually supply fuel and water."
We have already referred, in the closing paragraphs of the first chapter, to the physiographical advantages of Japan, but we are impelled to dwell more at length on the subject. A noted Japanese[1] has emphasized the point with the following suggestions:
"To all appearances, the seas about Japan and China will be the future theatre of the Far East. The Philippines have been reduced to a province of the United States. China, separated from us only by a very narrow strip of water, is offering every promise of becoming a great resource open to the world of the twentieth century. The Siberia railway has been opened to traffic; and the construction of a canal across Central America
- ↑ Rear-Admiral Kimotsuki in the "Taiyō" (Sun). See also chap. xiii. of "Japan in Transition" (Ransome).
