the hall-mark of progress and modernity in the gentlemen of New Japan. Is it not forbidden to the ladies of Japan to present themselves at Court in Japanese dress?
Nor is it only the boys that attend the schools in this year of grace 1908; for the schoolgirl in magenta hakama, with satchel and books in hand, walking blithely to the nearest academy, is the rule rather than the exception of to-day—and a vastly significant one in an Eastern country. And if we turn to statistics regarding education, we find that they more than confirm the deductions of casual observation. Thus in 1885, 77 per cent of the boys and 44 per cent of the girls of school age were attending school—figures which had increased twenty years later to 98 and 93 per cent respectively. During the school year 1905 (the latest for which figures are obtainable), £3,821,660 was spent on public education; and 5,841,302, or 96 per cent of the children, boys and girls combined, of school age were recorded as receiving elementary education.[1]
- ↑ The figures are taken from the Thirty-third Annual Report of the Minister of State for Education.
