The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-02-10
A Bit of Japan.

visit to the Immigration Depot just at
present gives one quite good idea of what
Japanese life is like in some of the more
crowded towns in that country.
The buildings within that enclosure are
filed with arrivals by the City of Toxic, and
as there are men, women and children from
various provinces there, there is probably
even more varieties in the costumes worn
than would be seen by visitor to any one
town in Japan. About the first thing that
attracts the attention of the visitor to the
depot is the fairness of the skins of the i'm
migrants. There are those, of course, who
are quite dark, but there is no duskiness
noticeable. Many of them, the women es-
pecially, actually white, and they are
all very clean. Nor is this cleanliness con-
fined to their persons. The bedclothing
that is hanging on the lines to air looks
clean and comfortable. 1t is almost all
quilted, but no wooden is to be..seen.
The dress of the people varies very much.
There is the simple, unadorned 'Malo,"
that protects without really concealing the
form. The next addition to this primitive
costume, is a loose, cloak-like garment
thrown over the shoulders, more as pro-
lection from the sun, apparently, than any
thing else.
To go a step further, the Japs. mount
themselves on pieces of wood cut rudely
into the semblance of a shoe sole, and fast
ening ON these some slips of wood under
meath, so as to raise themselves up some two
inches more above the ground, they thrust
the big toes within loop attached to the
sole, and go shutting about, shedding the
sandals whenever a house is entered. To
give the big toes chance to hook on to the
sandals, the stockings are bifurcated and
their upper part is hid under close fitting
pantaloons. These garments are in long
strips, which are wound around the lower
limbs and secured at the waist by sash
wound around the waist. The females wear
the ''breeks'' as well as the men, and those
that were seen making their toilets did so
''like men," Some were being shaved, and
it made ones blood run cold to see the bar
Der scrape the whole face, nose and all, with
not very sharp razor without first mollify-
ing the stubborness of the beard with little
lather.
Cooking was going on, the food being in
vessels of quaint and pretty shape and de-
sign placed over fires kindled in holes dug
in the soft sand. These people eat no meat,
their diet consisting almost entirely of
fish, with which they are abundantly sup
piled. Rice is with them an important ar
ticle of food, and they like all kinds Of vege-
tables. They cook in messes, and there is
the usual amount of hustle about the nu-
merous fires, that is inseparab,e from the
preparing of food the world over.
The children are happy, contented look
ing little old men and women. They are to
be seen playing at keeping house, or making
gardens, finding the sands of Hawaii as
well adapted to their purpose as those OF
Japan. There is but little noise within the
enclosure, everybody seeming to be con
tented and happy. They battle, dress, cal
and sleep in quiet, and everything seems to
show that they will rapidly become domes-
ticated here.