The sailing navy, which up to 1921 – in contrast to the trend of all the world navies – had marked an increase, is now in decline, and the total tonnage rises to about 300,000 tons.
Most of the fleet (about 2,500,000 tons) is divided between 22 shipping companies, the most important of which are Nippon Y ū sen Kwaisha and Ō saka Sh ō sen Kwaisha ; followed by the Kokusai Kisen Kwaisha, the Kinkai Y ū sen Kwahha, etc. The former entered into an operating agreement with the latter in 1931, which has already allowed considerable savings. Another concentration was carried out between 5 tramp companies, which formed the Kai-un Ky ō wa-kwai, which was supposed to control 60% of the tramps. Japanese, but it didn’t work.
The development of the Japanese nation is largely due to state aid, but the main aid measure in favor of armament is currently (1932) constituted by the subsidies – renewable every 5 years – for the exercise of the great imperial lines and by agreements with other companies for the exercise of regular services in the seas of Japan and China; with an expenditure, for the tax authorities, of approximately 7,000,000 yen per financial year. Add to these the postal subsidies for a total of 1 million yen.
Today’s general crisis have repercussions for the Japanese navy, which in 1931 also had to suffer for his special vicissitudes depending on the conflict with China (anti-Japanese boycott) and the abandonment of the gold – standard British. Aid was established in 1930 to encourage the construction of 5,000-ton vessels. and 14 miles of average speed; the banks were authorized to grant mortgages up to ⅔ of the value of the vessels at an interest not exceeding 6%; the government makes an interest rate contribution of ½-2%.
The main lines managed by Nippon Y ū sen Kwaisha are: the Yokohama-London (fortnightly), touching Hong-kong, Ceylon, Porto Said, Naples, Marseille, etc.; the Hong-kong-Valparaiso (fortnightly), touching Kobe, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc.; the Yokohama-Melbourne; Hong-kong-Takoma (SU), touching Kobe, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Ō saka Sh ō sen Kwaisha operates the Yokohama-Bremen, Kōbe-Pugetsound (SU) and Kōbe-Buenos Aires lines, among others. Of the Italian shipping companies, only Lloyd Triestino has call with its own lines in Japanese ports.
There are 759 ports in Japan for internal trade. For that with foreign countries, the ports open throughout the empire are 65 divided as follows: on the island of Sakhalin: Maoka and Ōdomari; on the island of Yezo: Hakodate, Kushiro, Muroran, Nemuro and Otaru; on the island of Hondo: Aomori, Fushiki, Hamada, Itozaki, Kobe, Miyazu, Nanao, Niigata, Ōsaka, Sakai, Shimizu, Shimonoseki, Taketoyo, Tokuyama, Tsuruga, Yokkaichi and Yokohama; on the island of Kyūshū: Hakata (Fukuoka), Kagoshima, Karatsu, Kuchinotsu, Miike, Misumi, Moji, Nagasaki, Suminoye and Wakamatsu; on the island of Shikoku: Imabari; on the island of Sado: Ebisu; on the island of Tsushima: Izuhara, Sasuna and Shishimi; in the Ryū-kyū: Nawa; in Korea: Chinkai, Chinnampho, Fusan, Gensan, Gunsan, Jinsen, Jōshin, Masanpho, Mokpho, Ryūganpho, Seishin, Shingishū and Yūki; in the islands of Formosa and Pescadores: Anping (port of Tainan), Gorō, Kiirun (Keelung), Kōkōkō; Kōrō, Kyūkō, Makō, Rokkō, Takao, Tansui, Tōkō and Tōseki.
Civil aviation depends on the Ministry of Communications. Air traffic is entrusted to the following companies: Compagnie de transports aériens: has a capital of 10 million yen, owns 44 devices of the Fokker, Bréguet, Nakajima type; has 40 pilots in service; Japanese Air Transport Institute: owns 7 Hansa and Junkers type aircraft; has 10 pilots in service; Periodic Air Navigation Association of the newspaper ” Asahi “: it has 9 aircraft of the type Dornier-Komet, Dornier-Merkur, Salmson; it has 10 pilots in service. The first operates the Tōkyō-Ōsaka lines, km. 425, two-day service; Ōsaka-Fukuoka, km 500, id.; Fukuoka -Urusan, km.240, three-weekly service; Urusan-Kejiō, km 310, id.; Kejiō-Dairen, km.600, id. The second line: Ōsaka-Takamatsu, km.140, daily service; Takamatsu-Matsuyama, 150 km, id. The third is the Tōkyō-Niigata line, km. 380, service three times a week. The most important air bases are: Dairen, Matsuyama, Niigata, Ōsaka, Takamatsu, Taikyū, Tōkyō and Tokushima (civil airports); Eiyō, Fukuoka, Söul and Tokoroxavra (military airports); Hommura, Kasumigaura, Obama and Sasebo (water stations).
According to picktrue, the modern Japanese postal services, elaborated and conducted on the Western model, began in 1870, replacing the old, defective indigenous system, and since then have been increasingly perfected and developed. In June 1877 Japan became part of the International Postal Union and in 1879-80 the post offices that some European governments kept in some Japanese cities were removed; Japan thus had complete autonomy. In the meantime, telegraphic services also began and immediately developed enormously. The telephone made its first appearance in 1890 with the opening of urban service in Tōkyō and Yokohama, and intercity between the two cities. The remote service was started in 1897 between Tōkyō and Ōsaka (about 563 km.). Both services, urban and remote, they quickly spread widely. Since April 1920, automatic machines have appeared, the number of which is constantly increasing. The following table, valid for Japan itself, summarizes some data for the year 1928.
The telephones, in the same year, had 609,146 subscribers, connected with 2450 telephone exchanges.
The activity of all these services is enormous. In 1927, in Japan alone, there was a movement of over 4 and a half billion correspondences (71 per resident) and over 70 million telegrams. With foreign countries there were 35,092,000 correspondence and 1,189,000 incoming telegrams, against 22,584,000 correspondence and 1,133,000 outgoing telegrams from the country.
The marvelous development of radio communications has not left Japan indifferent. As early as 1908 this became part of the International Radiotelegraphic Union. The first transmitting station was established in 1916 by the imperial navy at Funabashi and equipped for regular communications with the Hawaiian Islands and the Americas. This service passed in 1921 to the transmitting station of Hara-no-machi (400 kW., Antenna of 183 m. And transmission range of over 6000 km.) And the receiving station of Tomiokamachi (350 kW.), Currently the most powerful of the Empire, both in the prov. of Fukushima. For communications with Europe, a station was set up in Ōsaka in 1923. Currently, 3 private and 22 government stations operate throughout the Empire, not to mention another 7 stations in the Mariana, Caroline and Marshall Islands. The most important, in addition to those already mentioned, are: on the island of Yezo: the Ochiishi station (30 kW transmitter and 7 kW receiver, JOC badge). Around Nagasaki: Ōsezaki station (25 kW. And 7 kW., JOS badge). On the island of Formosa: Kiirun station (25 kW., JFK badge). In Kwan-tung: Dairen station (35 kW., JDA badge). In the Ryū-kyū: the Nawa station (15 kW. And 7 kW. JCX badge). Finally, it must be said that, by imperial decree of March 1925, all Japanese ships with a tonnage exceeding 2000 tons, or having more than 50 men on board, are required to be equipped with a radiotelegraphic device, under penalty of inhibition of oceanic and coastal navigation. The circular radio hearing began in 1925 with the installation of the transmitting stations of Tōkyō, Ōsaka and Nagoya on the initiative of private individuals. The following year the three companies merged to form the Japanese Association for Circular Radio Hearing. In 1927, the Söul station (Korea) came into operation. It is incredible the enormous diffusion achieved by these services. To give an idea, the following table will suffice, showing the increase in the number of auditors in the first year of operation alone.
