Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/267

many Shintō, Buddhist, and Christian weekly and monthly periodicals, which are published primarily for the edification of the believers.

"Of making many books there is no end" in Japan. Composition is apparently such an easy task, and publishing is so cheap, that every person inspired with an idea is tempted to rush into print. And those who are not so fortunate as to be rich in "original" ideas, have an inexhaustible field in the translation of books from English and other Occidental languages; indeed, a fair living may be made in that way.

Japanese taste in reading is illustrated by a table accompanying a recent official report from the Imperial Library at Tōkyō. During a period of 24 days covered by the report, the readers numbered 7,770, and the books called for were classified as follows:—

The table will interest American readers as showing how large is the number of European works included. It may be added that the Japanese are decidedly a reading people. Even the "jinrikisha man," waiting on the street-corner for a customer,