JAPAN
relations were re-established between Japan and the Occident in modern times, and also the embarrassments that resulted from the marked difference between the silver price of gold in Japan and its silver price in Europe at the epoch when the trade was opened. Another fact which greatly helped to render foreign commerce unpopular at first was an extraordinary appreciation of prices that followed its inauguration. The severity of the fluctuation may be seen from the following table:—
| Commodity. | Quantity. | Silver Price in 1830. |
Silver Price in 1865. | |||
| Rice | 1 | koku | 91.00 | momme | 207.50 | momme |
| Barley | ‘‘ | 32.50 | ‘‘ | 160.00 | ‘‘ | |
| Salt | ‘‘ | 10.31 | ‘‘ | 62.50 | ‘‘ | |
| Shoyu (soy) | 1 | barrel | 24.10 | ‘‘ | 62.63 | ‘‘ |
| Rape-oil | 1 | koku | 251.00 | ‘‘ | 1220.00 | ‘‘ |
| Brown sugar | 1 | catty | 0.75 | ‘‘ | 3.175 | ‘‘ |
| Firewood | 20 | kwamme | 4.70 | ‘‘ | 22.60 | ‘‘ |
| Charcoal | 1 | bag | 4.10 | ‘‘ | 15.10 | ‘‘ |
| Mats | 10 | 36.74 | ‘‘ | 180.00 | ‘‘ | |
| Dried Banito | 10 | kwamme | 200.00 | ‘‘ | 1600.00 | ‘‘ |
| Herring fertiliser | ‘‘ | 19.00 | ‘‘ | 110.00 | ‘‘ | |
| Mushrooms | 1 | 160.00 | ‘‘ | 800.00 | ‘‘ | |
| Lacquer | 1 | kwamme | 85.00 | ‘‘ | 450.00 | ‘‘ |
| Tiles (roof) | 1000 | 150.00 | ‘‘ | 800.00 | ‘‘ | |
| Copper | 100 | catties | 320.00 | ‘‘ | 1380.00 | ‘‘ |
Two hundred per cent of this appreciation was due to change of coinage effected by the Government in order to convert the ratio between gold and silver from one-fifth, at which it stood in Japan, to one-fifteenth, the European figure. But in many cases, as the table shows, the apprecia-
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