The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-09-28
JAPANESE PROGRESS.
A New Era Breaking Upon our Ant
pOdean .Neighbors.

A New Era Breaking Upon our Anti
podean .Neighbors.
The Empire of Japan, says the Chi
cago Journal, seems to have been visit
ed by mystic spirit OF progress. Her
hands and brain, so long clogged by
superstition and imprisoned in the dun
geon of heathenism, appear to have been
unfettered at last, and have suddenly
become eager to grasp of the good
things of civilization. Japanese minds
are now cleaning the world for it's MOD
ern requirements Japanese students are
entering the schools of America
and Europe, seeking for the compiled
knowledge of the progressive ages
Japanese soldiers are studying the tao
tics of the strong estarmed nation, and
Japanese mechanics and artisans are
peering into the mechanism of every
great work of engineering and every
valuable invention of the Caucasian in
tellect. These are steps of progress, all
surprising to the dominant race, but
there are others chasing upon the heels
of these which are calculated not only
to surprise, but astonish the thinkers of
the times. They are the steps which in
dictate that the Japanese people are be-
coming disenthralled from their slavish
bigotry of the past ages, and tearing
down the hoary temples within which
their ideas have been so narrowly con-
fined that not until now have they ap-
preciated what real liberty or progress
| is. We get but glimpse of this move
ment, but it is sufficient to make us mar
vel and to CRAFTY us that people who
| have so long been "behind the age" can
thus, under a sudden reactionary i'm
pulse, throw off the shackles of supersti-
ton and effete conservatism which have
from time immemorial made them
strangers to progress and civilization.
This impulse of modern progress
marks Japanese social life as well as its
general tendencies. For example, o GUS
tom of the Japanese and Chinese popu-
lations, regardless of sex, is to wear the
hair in long braid, with portions of the
head shaved-a custom which originated
hundreds of years ago, during a season
of wars and religious agitation, and be-
came law, operating so strictly as to
cause any violator thereof to fall under
the ban of the whole people, usually at
the sacrifice of the offending head. This
custom still prevails, but it is a signif-
cant fact that the Japanese authorities
have boldly announced their determine
ton to discourage the wearing of the
"pig- tails among the male population,
if necessary by official edict. The Japan
ese costume, which has been the same
for centuries, is also to undergo an in
novation of style. Like the queue
wearing fashion for the hair, the Japan
ese wardrobe is cut after q pattern set
by remote ancestry, who were sup
posed to be not many removes from the
gods themselves, and yet the present day
will see it torn to shreds, an order hav-
ing already been promulgated requiring
the officials of the Japanese Government
to don the dress adopted by the civilized
nations-G la mode FrencY, English,
American, etc. Another step of Japan,
which seems almost direct concession
to another religion than the national one
which is Buddhism-is the legaliza-
ton of Sunday as day of rest. This
has been done by the Japanese Govern
ment, and adds anew to the extreme
wonder which possesses the psYcholo-
gist when viewing the sudden enliven-
ment of that hitherto dormant nation.
4 new era is certainly breaking upon
this people, and the finger of the
Almighty is resting upon New Man
in the slowly solving problem of human
destiny. Io