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x After all, there is no great difference between Tōkiō and Tōkyō; kaisha and kwaisha; Iyeyasu and Ieyasu; Kyūshiu, Kiūshiu, Kyūshū, and Kiūshū. There is more divergency between Ryūkyū, Riūkiū, Liukiu, Luchu, and Loo Choo; but all are in such general use that it would be unwise, in a book like this, to try to settle a question belonging to specialists. The fittest will, in time, survive. We have, however, drawn the line on "Yeddo," "Jeddo," and similar archaisms and barbarisms, for which there is neither jot nor tittle of reason. But it is hoped that the varieties of transliteration in this book are too few to confuse.

The author is under special obligations to Professor J. H. Wigmore, formerly a teacher in Tōkyō, and now Dean of the Northwestern Law School, Chicago, for kind criticisms and suggestions; to Mr. Frederick W. Gookin, the art critic, of Chicago, for similar assistance, and for the chapter on "Æsthetic Japan," which is entirely his composition; and also under general obligations for the varied assistance of many friends, too numerous to mention, in Japan and America. He has endeavored to be accurate, but doubts not that he has made mistakes. He only asks that the book be judged merely for what it claims to be,—a Handbook of Modern Japan.