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great cities, such as Yedo (Tokyo), Osaka, and Kyoto. People not fortunate enough to inhabit these cities had to wait for their news until their friends could send the sheet to them. There was in existence a system of distribution of mails, which could work most expeditiously when there was urgent public need. By means of relays of fleet-footed carriers stationed at short intervals, mail-bags were frequently sent over 200 miles in twenty-four hours.

In Japan the art of printing was known some five centuries before the Restoration, and at that time there were thousands of books which had been printed from movable type. There were many imperfections in these movable types, and the results offended the artistic feelings of the people, and prevented them from becoming too popular.

Besides the Yomiuri publications, which were private publications, the feudal Government of Tokugawa published a gazette called the Gosata-Juki, copies of which were supplied to officials and a few privileged persons. It was a daily publication, excepting holidays, and was in this respect more like a modern newspaper than was the Yomiuri. But it contained only official appointments, notifications, and Court news. Exactly when it was started it is impossible to say, but it was generally believed to have been nearly as old as the dynasty itself under which it prospered. It was the progenitor of the Dajo Kwan Nissi, published immediately after the restoration of political power to the Imperial Court thirty-five years ago, and later still of the Official Gazette of the present day.

After the country was opened for foreign intercourse, during the latter days of the Shogunate Government, about thirty newspapers or periodicals were started in Yedo and Yokohama, a few of them being founded by Japanese in co-operation with foreign residents, but the majority of them were under Japanese management.

Thirty-five years ago the first newspaper worthy of the name, known as the Chugai Shimbun, was started in Tokyo. This was during the first year of the present reign. It was a weekly production, printed at first from wooden blocks, and subsequently from movable types. This paper was edited by Shunzo Yanagawa, a well-known scholar of the day, and he was assisted by a few writers of distinction, including the late Baron Kanda. Unlike the Yomiuri, it was not content with the self-effacing rôle of simply publishing news; it was ambitious enough to print editorial comments on current topics. The contents of its ten pages were very commonplace compared with the newspapers now circulating in Japan.

The business departments of early Japanese newspapers were