The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-04-10
RoMANlzATloN IN JAPAN.
japanese Adopting the Roman Alphabet
"A Society of Reform Organized.


japanese Adopting the Roman Alphabet
"A Society of Reform Organized.
New Orleans Times-Democrat.l
Japan offers perhaps the only historical
instance Of a nation voluntarily abandon
ing its manners, customs, beliefs and
learning. within the short space of a gen
GRAFTON, in order to adopt foreign civil
ZatiOn, of which il recognizes the over
whelming superiority "Old Japan -
the Japan Of the eighteenth century-has
ceased to exist except in fragments
of its antique arts and in such
legends as we have charming ex
amples of in Milford's collection.
The new Japan is a land of nineteenth
century civilization, Illuminated by cleo
tricity, traversed by railways, speaking
through telephones, guarded by repeating
rifles and breech- loading cannon and tur-
reted navies of steel The med.csl science
of Paris and of Berlin is fam ,ar to the
students of Yokohama the perfected
press prints daily editions Of japanese pa
pers; chemistry and dynamics boast
scholars in Yeddo. At our own exposition
we had some admirable proofs of the
high status Of education in Japan; and
none who viewed the exhibits in charge
of IchiZo Hattori, left the main building
without feeling of profound respect for
the intelligence and learning of our Orien-
tai brethren.
Since then Japan has made another
great stride in progress; she has adopted
the Roman alphabet. The old Geographic
characters have been a serious obstacle to
study. even since their adaptation to cast
type, fine specimens of such printing be-
ing on exhibition here As each new
word required new signs, and as the
number of these were enormously in
creased by the expansion of learning in
Japan. the strain entailed upon the
students memory became something in
describable. An ordinary public school
student was obliged to commence his task
by loading his memory with at least 4, 900
Geographic characters. But if he wished
to graduate in a higher college, he had to
learn not 1000, but at the very least 8, 900
characters, to familiarize himself with
which required six years of constant APP
plication.
The reform has begun-not so rapidly,
perhaps, as could be wished; but upon a
very solid bases. A society has been
formed called the Society of Eomaniza-
ton. with a membership of more than
], 200 persons, many of whom are princes
and government officials committee
consisting of two Europeans and four ma
tives, was appointed to establish the rules
for the transcription of Japanese words
into Roman characters: and their work
was very satisfactorily accomplished
Now the society is at work upon Jap
anese dictionary arranged upon this prin
ciple; and a special journal is to be
founded in support of the undertaking
The government warmly supports this
reform
1t is true that in the transcription of
various Oriental alphabets, special charac-
ters have to be used as in the system for
Persian. Arabic and Sanscrit pronuncia-
ton adopted by Max Muller But these
characters are simply Roman letters es-
pecially accentuated, so as to render
sounds peculiar to the tongue transliter-
ated Leon de Rosny, the eminent Japan
csc scholar, showed long ago in his trans
Iteration of the Si-Ka-ZenYo that the
japanese language could be well adapted
as whole to the English alphabet