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A great variety of rubber ware is made in Japan, but much of
it is of the cheaper grades. The principal manufactures are
pneumatic tyres and tubes for motor vehicles, bicycles and rickshaws
 ; boots and shoes; soles and heels; soles for * tabi *’*; toys;
electrical ware; hose, belting and mechanical goods in general.
There are about 460 factories, mostly working on a small scale.
Only one factory employs more than 1,000 workpeople. The
total number of workers in the industry is between 25.000 and
30,000.
Labour and power are comparatively cheap in Japan, and the
market has almost unlimited scope both for meeting the demand
in the Japanese Empire and for building up an export trade with
neighbouring markets in the Far East.
Few Japanese concerns manufacture motor tyres. The only
firm producing them on a large scale is the Dunlop Rubber Company
 (Far Hast) at Kobe.

106. The home market is almost entirely supplied from the
local factories. Imports, in which motor tyres are the most important
 item reach a value of some £350,000 a year. It is
estimated that 30 per cent. of the motor tyres in Japan come
from the United States. The firms that supply them are Goodrich,
 Goodyear, United States Rubber Company and Firestone.
Michelin, Bergougnan and Pirelli tyres are also imported. Details
 of the imports of tyres into Japan are not available.
The following are some of the principal classes of rubber manufactures
 apart from tyres imported into Japan :—

Class of Goods.
Boots and Shoe
Rubber Belting
Rubber Hose
Rubber Thread
Rubber Packing .

Approximate Yearly
Imports.
170,000 pairs.
140,000 Ibs.
360,000 Ibs.
160,000 lbs.
230.000 lbs.

Imports.

Some 1,200,000 pounds of scrap and old rubber is imported
annually into Japan for making cheap quality boots and shoes
and ‘‘ tabi >’ soles. It is imported mostly from the United States
and China.

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107. The annual returns of trade of Japan classify rubber manufactured
 goods in only three headings, namely :—rubber tyres;
* The “ tabi *’ is a thick sock originally made with a coarse canvas sole. Though
originally the national form of footwear, it has been partly replaced by shoes of
asther or Tubber.

Exports.