The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-02-05
Interesting Facts as to the Habits Of
the Japanese.

THE recently adopted regulation of
the State Department requiring Consul
lar officials abroad to report upon the
trade, manufactures and varied indus
tries of the places to which they are ac-
credited has resulted in the compilation
of some interesting information. The
following paragraphs are from the re-
port on Japan:
1t is now nearly quarter of century
since Perry opened the sealed gateways
of Japan to the commerce and travel of
the world. The unique civilization of an
island empire, with an area of 100000
square miles and more than 35,000,000
of people, was then first presented to
modern times for study and investiga-
ton. Since that time libraries of books
and pamphlets and volumes of letters
have been written upon every phase of
that civilization, except the status and
condition of the laborer. Of the import
ance and power of 100000 of people
as added factors in the products of the
world there can be no question.
All buildings, or nearly all, are one
story and, compared to those of Ameri-
ca and Europe, small. But the reader
must bear in mind that the requirements
of this Oriental civilization are less than
with us. A laborer's house here will at
most have no more than four little
rooms. Generally there is one main
room, which serves as a sitting, dining
and sleeping room, and in addition a
small nook for cooking and another for
bathing. That the uses of one room for
the purposes of eating, sitting and
sleeping may be understood, it should
be explained that the rooms are covered
with clean soft mats, upon which no
boot or shoe ever treads. When meals
are served small tables not more than
one foot high are used, and the family
sit on the floor like tailors on their
benches. When the meal is finished
the table is removed and the room is
ready for a sitting room, the mats serv-
ing as seats. At night cotton comfort
ers are brought from small clothes
press and spread on the mats, and 10!
sleeping chamber. Thus, much of the
room required by laborer of our West
ern civilization is saved. A Japanese
laborer's house with three rooms can be
built for from % to 200 yen. And the
furniture, including mating and sliding
partitions, will not exceed so yen. A
yen is about equal to our dollar. The
house, by reason of non-use by the
people of boots and shoes, is neat and
clean. The bath, found in almost every
laborer's house, is in daily use, and cheap
and small as the house is it is comforta-
BILE. None of the houses are built with
a view to ventilation or warmth, the
partitions and sides being of paper, pro-
tected in cold weather or storms by
strong wooden shutters. The vast ma
jority of the houses are matched, and
therefore stove pipes and chimneys are
impossible. In fact, there are no stoves
or CRATES in Japan. In villages and
towns the house is warmed, if at all, by
a small fre-box filled with charcoal, but
more generally by square zinc or cop
per-lined fireplace, sunk in the middle
of the floor, in which wood is burned,
the smoke from which arises and escapes
through hole in the roof. But little
heat is generated in this way, and much
discomfort from the smoke is expert
enced, and diseases of the eye are preva-
lent. AS rule the principal protection
from cold is by additional padded cloth.
ing. The laborer, however, suffers in
the three winter months, when, although
in many parts of the Empire the Their
mometer does not mark very low, the
cold storms of snow and rain are exceed
ingly uncomfortable. The drainage
from sinks and cess-pools in the vicinity
of tenements is as a rule extremely de-
fective, and is doubtless a powerful
agent in producing epidemic diseases.
The houses of cities seem to be less
crowded than those of the poorer rural
districts. All labor on the farm is, to
the present time, mere handiwork. A
pillow is seldom seen. Sometimes in the
lowland rice-fields an implement five
feet in length, with wooden cross-piece
and depending iron teeth twenty inches
in length set four or five inches apart, is
used with a horse as pulverizer of the
soil, after the latter has been thorough
ly dug up and worked over with mat
took. Ninety-nine per cent, however,
of all labor is still manual. In 1878 the
number OF farmers out of population
of 35,00O,000 was something over 49,
100000, of which over 100000 were
women; but as large number of these
latter, including the old and young, are
engaged in household duties, spinning,
weaving, making clothing, etc., there
were probably not more than 100000
or 100000 women employed in field
work. The area of land in actual cult
walton in the whole empire in 1875 was
about 100000 acres, so that to the
actual farming population there were
only three-quarters of an acre per head.
The tillage is of the most thorough
order. The crops are invariably raised
each year, so that the producing capaci-
ty of the area cultivated is double that
of the number of acres named. The
wages of an bodied farm hand are
about $35 per year with board, and
without board $50. Per day, with
board, it will not average more than
fifteen TO twenty cents. Female labor
is much cheaper. To do work in a
house or on o farm, stout, healthy
women are employed at from So to $40
year with food, and without food from
1926 to $50, and by the day at from ten
to fifteen cents day. The number of
hours of labor will not average more
than nine, and probably not more than
eight. - Washington Cor. Cleveland