Newspapers In Japan

In one of my conversatie, with the prime minister he observed to me; "It is unfortunate for us that we have no paper like yonr leading morning journals, and what is even more unfortu nate is that we have no public opinión In controlling our press as you have. But if you wish to write upon the journalism of Japan you ehould go and see my friend, Capt. Brinkley, the editor of the Japan Daily Mail. No ons can give you better information on the Bubject toan he can." To Capt. Brinkley, th'erefore, I went. As he is entering upon nis thirtieth year of residence in Japan, in which country he began as a teacher of strategy and mathematics in the naval college, which he quitted after ten years of hard work, to become the editor of the important serci-official English paper which he conduots with great ability and on original lines of hia own, and as he ie intimately connected in many ways with the land of nis adoption, he, better than any one else, was qualified to give me the information I sought. "The increase in Japanese journalism," he said, "is marvelous; but I fear the ïmprovement is rather in quantny tnan in quality. When I flrst carne here, thirty years ago, there were not more than twenty papers in the whole country, and they of the most wretched description. Now we have 802 newspapers and magazines, wlth a total yearly circulation of 278,157,421 copies. Here in Tokio alone we have twentythree dailies, with an annual circulation of 134,804,729, and fifty-six magazines, issuing 4,865,999 copies yearly The chief dailies aro the Nichi Shimbun, i. e., the Daily News, which ough to interest you specially," he added with a smile, "and the Jiji Shimpo which is edited by Fukuzawa, one o the finest men in Japan to-day. He also keeps a large school, in which have been educated many oL our lead ing etatesmen. These two papers have e daily circulation of 40,000 each and are very influential. "There is no public opinión as we understand it in Japan. The one distinct trait in the Japanesa character is never to interfere with your neighbor, and, though the papers have gone in l for the grossest American forms of personal attack on individuals, yet the tendency of the people attacked is simply to ignpre it altogether. A want of moral fiber is part of the national character. 'Rumor never lasts more than eeventy days' is a proverb with them, and so the papers with impunity insult public characters and never really get the sense of their duty to the public. They become, therefore, absolutely iresponsible. Then another unfortunate feature Is that editorial supervisión, as we understand it in England, is ukBown. The editor does his special work, but he exercises no supervisión over the rest, the consequence belng that the most shocking and imponible personal paragraphs are inseited, all this being the result of abeolute irresponsibility and lack of restraining public opinión. No,' the interview Is not popular, nor when it is attempted is it in any way a success, for inaecuracy and delibérate misstatement is the rule rather than the exception. You see, the truth is, they can not afford to pay good men. The reporters are improving eomewhat. Formerly they were not even recognized as belonging to respectable clety. At present men who have graduated fröm the principal private schools and failed to get official appointments go in for journalism, and are paid from L30 to L40 a year as subeditors. This applies to the general run of papers, not to the tour or five which are good propertie3, paying the proprietors irom L2,000 to L4,000 a year, after paying editora and staff fairly well. Want of money, want of public appreciatlon, keeps the paper world sadly in arrears. Thero is not a single Japanese paper which has a service of foreign telegrams, and the telegrama in your paper are horrlbly expensive. Nevertheless, the power of the press grows daily, and the leading article is as much or more of a feature even than it is In England."- Tokio Correspondence of Londoa News.