Omaha daily bee., 1888-10-28

y6d8K the Biographies OF twenty
years ago. Now it is the
:. E. !. :. T. I. !. ! !. !. !: !: : !: ! !. !" !: !: "a: : ! /: !. ! !. !"
~" capital Of the Japanese
NMknlG\ empire and its old name
MRSSsYaE.A of Yeddo is forgotten.
MlS.CI- sKlAsMl The tow which for years
MT3k,N SSsM was the city Of the sho-
GSt gun, the commander in
W., --ssHsHX1 chief of the Japanese
tSSTyTGgIGssSSNt -feudal army, has become
~ "-~tbe home of the mikado
and the center of New
Japan. In it may be seen better than
any place else, how this most progressive
of the oriental nations is putting off its
eastern clothes for those Of the west, and it
forms the center of the struggle OF the Mon
golian and the christian civilizations. Just
midway between the old and the new, the
aristocrat IN his European clothes rides in
his iinriksha, pulled by a bare-leggcd brother
with a shaved head, and it is the comment of
the social world that the empress has lately
thrown of her comfortable, airy, loose Jap
anese gown for the tight stays and the hustle
Of Mr.. Worth, of Paris. The crowd
UPON THE STREETS
is n strange conglomeration Of the east and
the west. One Japanese has on an American
hat and beside him walks another, his head is
covered with q wheel of straw as big as q
boys hoop, and fastened around his chin with
a straw braid. Both have on Japanese
gowns which are open at the chest and tied
around the hips with a girdle, but the man
with the American hat may have his feet
stuck into wooden Sits or japanese sandals
while the shoes Of the other are undoubtedly
made in q European workshop. japanese
husbands neatly clad in the latest Broadway
or Bond street styles are followed by their
wives elegantly dressed in rich soft clothes
Of the old civilization, ard the whole is u
strange, delightful conglomeration of the
picturesque, bordering often upon the bcauti-
full and now verglng upon the ridiculous.
The queer japanese signs over the stores,
great square white boards with black tea box
characters upon them, or black signs painted
in white have in some instances English
translations to catch the European eye. Here
is one Offering: CONDENSED MilK' for sale,
and another offers Cocks Eggs of q Super
Tor Quality Here is a liquorssign stating
that the store has for sale wine, Beer and
Other,'' and upon the gina there stood for a
long time a sign which read Foreign Mon
kew Jackets for Japanese Gentlemen" This
was laughed at so much, however, that 1T
was taken down.
TOXIC.
Toxic is a big city. 1t covers more ground
than New York, and it is nine miles long and
eight miles wide. Over it are scattered
watch towers for the discovery Of fires, and
q view from one of these shows an immense
plain of one and two-story low tiled houses
cut up by unpaved streets and intersecsted
with a network of wide canals. 1t makes
one think Of Amsterdam and the over
hanging caves Of the houses, the iunl
boats sailing through the city and men act
ing as beasts Of burden carry out the idea o
Holland. The wind-mills are absent, how
ever, but the Bay of Yeddo stretches away
in the distance and the country has that re
markabie green verdure which makes thu
Dutch land so beautiful. In the center o
the city may be noted specially fine buildings
Some of them are of modern architecture,
and others are rambling Japanese palaces
They are surrounded by high embankment'
on which the trees grow. and these are facet
with massive walls of stone. Around tn
whole runs q wide moat and this is known a
the castle. 1t was the seat of the feuda
government and in it is now located the new
palace Of the mikado. The immense plail
stretching away on every side is filled wit
houses and there are a quarter Of a million
homes lying below you. Toxic has a million
inhabitants, and a guide book of the tow
states that it was nothing before the yea
1900. 1t is the youngest great city OF tn
eastern world and it will probably gro,
under the new regime.
DOMESTIC SCENES.
A curious city it is. The streets look NOR
like the bazaars of a fair than the blocks of
city, and their low-ridged roofs rarely cove
more than two stories. The floors are tw
feet above the ground, and caves of the roof
overhang so that fully three feet of groun
is sheltered before the floor begins. TIL
houses are made of pieces or slides, and dun
ing the day time the whole front ofthe lowe
story slides back, and you can see all that
gong on within. The Japanese have no falls
modesty, and all the operations of the famil
are visible as you pass along the street. Phi
ture here an almond eyed maiden with a ski
of that rich color shown by the cream Of th
Jersey cow, sits fiat on the floor before a Ii
tie round mirror. Her dress is pulled dow
to her waist and her upper half is n bar
as that of the Venus De Medici. ST
primps and powders and paints her lips re
as look on behind my fan and wonder. an
at last thoroughly shocked, l turn my eye
across the street l see a mother sittir
nearly as bare, on the floor OF the house o.
posite, giving q meal to a naked three-yea
old boy, who stands up and tugs away like
lamb. / start from the neighborhood b'
the anne sights greet my eyes in every qua
ter. In one house sprawled at full leng'
upon the floor ! see the father Of a fami
lying upon his stomach ana kicking up h
bare legs. About him play half-naked chill
rem and on the canals fullgrown men scu
great boats in the clothes that Man Frid,
wore before he was dressed by Robins,
Crosoe. In another house l see the FAM
cooking going on and in another a party
squatted down at dinner. There is with
oil but little dirt and the anatomical displi
rs on the whole is not unpleasant.
STORE ROOMS.
The stores and the private houses q
mixed together and the rich and poor to
large extent, live side by side. There a
= certain portions OF the capital populated
the working classes only. but Toxic has
siuns, good order is everywhere. The sto
keepers, as a rule, live in their own house
and their box like shops contain the goo
they sell piled up around them. The sm'
merchant, as he sits. on his heels or cross