Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-08-30
Funny Ways OF Hotels In Japan.
(Netp York GrapAlcl


There is no general dining room and
no set hour for meals at a Japanese inn.
The guest claps his hands and orders
his food at any hour of the day or night,
and it is brought to his room on a
lacquer tray and set on the floor before
him, or, at most, elevated on table or
oven, about four inches high. In a
small room opening from the office and
entrance room of the tea house, two,
girls were sorting the landlords new
tea, just brought in from the country.
They sat before large table, raised
only few inches from the floor, and
from heap of tea at one end scattered
| little handfuls of tea leaves out thinly
over the lacquer top. With their deft
| fingers they slid off to one side the
smallest and finest leaves from the tips
of the new shoots of the tea plant; and
the larger and coarser leaves were
slipped to the other side into box by
themselves. They did it SO quickly and
with such sure, quick touch that it was
pleasure to watch them, and to judge
by the coy giggling and conscious litter.
ing it was pleasure to the two pretty
maids to be watched so attentively. In
another corner of the vestibule place
| two other little maids were at work al
what corresponds to putting on clean
pillow cases in other countries. The
Japanese pillow is wooden box with a
little padded roll on top, and at inns
the pad is covered with fresh bit OF
soft, white mulberry paper each day
The bathroom Of Japanese inn is as
public and open to the world as the
kitchen, generally without any door
and with glass walls or screens at the
most. In passing through to the rooms
back or going up stairs one always has
| the bath in view; often a large tank,
where three or four can socially dir
together. From the late afternoon un,
til midnight or later there is always q
splashlng in the bath room and steam
issuing from the open door as the ma.
tives stand immersion in boiling water
with the greatest glee, and always have
it at geyser temperature. Often the tut
is small one, and then several people
take turns in the same bath water.
Foreigners being known to be queer on
| the subject of bathing, preferring to
battle alone and unseen, and to have
| fresh water each time, are generally
invited in first.
The master, as they call the masculine
head of our party, was invited to the
bath room at Mishima at five O'Clock
the first afternoon. He found it 8
doorless, glass-sided apartment, but the
landlord quoted him by bringing in a
folding screen about three feet high and
setting it between the tub and the
general view of the office, corridor, gar.
den and main street A too vigorous
sweep of the bather's arm knocked the
screen down. and the foreigner had to
drop to his chin in the water and cal
for help. The two girls who were
sorting tea ran in and set the screen up
as coolly and as much without thought
as a home servant would go in to put
up the blower ON the parlor crate.
There are narrowing stories still handed
down of the experiences of early travel
ers in the interior, who had the whole
tea house and town crowd to the bath
room of an inn, and filled the air with
their admiration of the beautiful white
skin of the foreign bather.
In the old times the bath tub used
quite as often to be beside the doorstep,
and he who travelled the country roads
might see the inhabitants in the act OF
nearing godliness as he rode by at sun
down, and the people lost nothing that
passed by.