Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-10-13
JOURNALISM IN JAPAN.
Its Methods, Its Men. ITS Secrets and
lss Pr0spects.


| AN KNsLIsHMAN WITH JAPANESE IDEAS
From THE srAR's Travelling Commissioner
TOKYO, August Is, 1888.
The watch dogs Of civilization sleep with one
eye open In Japan, as well as in Northumberland
street or Park Row, and It Is fast becoming true
| that 'there's not a foot where man may dwell"
but the interviewer dwells there, too Four inter-
viewers for the vernacular press called upon me
before had been forty-eight hours on japanese
soil, and when succumbed, after vainly pleading
privilege, 1t was to find that the alert-minded ia
panese has simply taken the American system Of
interviewing and reduced It to It's simplest terms
not 10 say ad dbsurdtnn. With him interviewing
is strict business from the start, like pulling a
tooth or boringa hole, and he wastes no time like
his transPacifc archetype over pleasant introduce
tory remarks about the weather or your voyage
The operation is as follows: You receive card
bearing series OF cabalistic marks, and uncertain
whether your visitor is a minister Of state or
guide In want OF job, you go downstairs and dis
cover dapper little gentleman, in appearance
ABOUT nineteen, dressed In faultless foreign fash
lon, tennis shoes, flannel trowsers, white waist
coat, blue coat. flowing necktie, spectacles, and
pith helmet, and speaking English with the accu-
racy and impressiveness OF a copy-bOok. ''Good
morning. Are you Mr.. Blank9" "Good morning.
1 am" ~ am the reporter Of the So-and-So
newspaper Of Tokyo VIII you permit me to In
tervleW your" "Wtth pleasure"
HOW 1T Is DONE
The interviewer then takes a seat, produces o
notebook and pencil and begins with the direct
ness of a census-taker. show old are you, and
where were you born?" And when I tell him 1
was born OF poor but respectable parents" In the
year year one let US say. he grayely commits tne
stay?-hOw long since you started?-where have
you been?-what is the circulation OF your paper
how do you like Japan?-what do they think OF
| MISUNDERSTANDING is eXneCte0
become OF KOrea?-will there be war between
England and Russia7-win President Cleveland be
reelected?-wfll Ireland get home rule?"-these
were all among the questions he pressed upon me
with the relentless persistence OF pile-driver.
AT last when had been cOmpelledto draw liber-
ally upon my Imagination for my facts and the
| notebook oil the enemy OF travelling mankind was
| full, 1 supposed that the interview was over.
Nothing could be further from the interviewer
idea lie settled himself in his chair, resharpened
| his pencil, produced a new notebook, and said,
| ''If anything OF interest has ever befallen you
nation now" This was too much, and when l
said to him as he was going. III you do me the
tanning this interview, viii you be kind enough
| to put mark upon 1t so may know which is the
| right way upwards" thought a twinkle in his
eye showed II was dawning upon him at last that
TO cross-Questlon solitary and il-informed indi-
vfdual upon the policies or all nations and the de-
tails Of his own obscure life, was really a huge
when, sure enough, l received an extraordinary
| looking newspaper with top" solemnly written on
| one side OF II.
RUSH OF JOURNALISM.
| japanese interviewing however, like interview
| ing elsewhere frequently renders service to the
community. for ministers OF state, even, and many
less important personageS, not averse to m *
| ing their views known on occasion In this way.
But Journalism has come with a rush in Japan,
and there are at the present time too many news
papers for any one OF them to have the circulation
and therefore the means to become as influential
and enterprising as the great journals OF Europe
and America. In the whole Of Japan there are no
fewer than 500 newspapers and periodicals. and In
dailies with a combined monthly circulation OF
3O6,OOO, and 116 periodicals circulating together
495.OOO copies. With such competition circula-
lions are OF course very small, the largest
| In Tokyo, whichever newspaper has 1t, being
probably not much over 10000 copies hall
in the villages around and other towns.
| Japanese newspaper Is q very different thing
from what we are accustomed to lind on our break
last tables Our last page Is its first; Its columns
only run half the length or the page; 1t has no
such thing as head lines or '.scare heads" and its
titles run from top bottom Instead across; IL
has but few rough Illustrations; 1t prints few ad-
verisements, but those are paid for at a compare
lively high rate: Its price Is low, ranging from
month; and it knows nothing yet Of SENSATIONAL
| advertisements or flaming posters or deeds OF
journalistic .derring do" In general, its scale is
the woodworking monsters OF London and New
York. The only evidence OF It that one sees In the
| streets Is the newsman, either a lank and lean
middle-aged man or else a boy, clad in meager cot
ton clOtnes trOtting along with bundle OF neatly
folded papers under his arm and announcing his
Passage by the fncessant tinkng OF little brass
DELL tied TO his waistband behind.
IN THE COMPOSING ROOM.
The internal organization OF a newspaper ONCE
is sad spectacle OF daily struggle with difculties
unknown elsewhere and really unnecessary here.
The japanese written and printed character con-
siss OF the Chinese ideOgraphs, those complicated
square figures made up OF an apparent tumble Of
Ztg-zags and crosses and ticks and triangles and
tails, and OF the original japanese sylabary called
kama. OF the former there are 10000 In all, OF
which, perhaps, $4,000 constitute the scholars
vocabulary, and no fewer than 1000 are in COM
mon daily use; while the 4! simple character OF
kama are known to everybody. Therefore the
japanese compositor has TO be prepared to place
In his stick any one Of over 1000 different types
| truly an appalling task. From the nature OF the
problem several consequences naturally follow.
First, he must be good deal Of a scholar himself
TO recognize all these Instantly and accurately;
secondly, his eye-sight suffers fearfuly and he
generally wears huge pair OF magnfying goggles;
and third as It Is PHI sically impossible Tor any
one man 10 reach 1000 types, totally different
method Ut case arrangement has TO be devised.
The "typo," therefore, OF whom there are only
one end Of a large room, with the case Containing
his AZ kama syllables before him. From end to
end Of the room tall cases OF type are arranged
3 feet wide being left between each two The
compOsitOr receives his "copy" In large pieces.
which he cuts into little takes" and hands each
OF these to one OF half dozen boys who assist him
The boy takes this and proceeds 70 walk about
among the cases till he has collected each Of the
ideographs, or square Chinese picture-words omit
ting ali the kama syllables which connect them
While these boys are thus running to and fro
they keep up continual chant,
SINGING THE NAME OF THE CHARACTER
they are looking for, as they cannot recognize 1t
till they hear its sound, the ordinary lower-class
japanese not understanding his daily paper un-
less he reads 1t aloud. When a boy has collected
all the square characters Of his stake" he laws
Hvya otAn
sets them up In proper order in his composing
stick, adding the connecting kama from the case
before him. Then proof is pulled as with us and
taken TO TWO prOOf-readers, OF whom sings the
'copy" aloud TO the other. A japanese composing
room Is thus scene OF hustle and noise and
laughter and weird noises, the only serious inquire
being the iong-haired typo" seated afar on BY
letters like some Old entOm0l0gist with a new
beetle under his microscope. (Of the Romatt Kai,
or attempt TO substitute the Western alphabet for
the Chinese and japanese characters, shall tell
when Describing the japanese educational aystem
and It's practical results In literature and dress
is like that Of Old-fashioned Offices at home and
the paper u printed upon nat presses fed by hand
tn. YMPLoYKa
The total number OF persons employed ON typ-
ical japanese newspaper, says the Ntchi Nichi
Shibun, is as follows: One political director one
chief editor ve assistant editors four proof read
ers one shorthand writer, twelve reporters or news
gatherers, three or four c0mpOstOrs each with
several assistants, twelve men In the press-room
and minor employees. including distributors max
Ing Total or LOO persons the reporters are the
weak point for the editor frankly tells you IhaT III
Sney cannot md news they are compelled to bring