Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-11-22
CIVILIZATION In JAPAN.
Yankees of Asia Far Ahead of Their
Neighb0rs.
They Have Pest Offices and g. System of
Telegraphic Communication.
Schools in Which the Young Ideas are
Taught to Shoot.

ToKIo.-Japan is OF Asia and still not
Asia. Five thousand miles and fourteen
| days from San Francisco. It is $4,000
| miles by ship from Liverpool through the
Suez Canal. It is five days from Yoke
hama to Hong Kong, and yet some parts
| of Japan are so near the Asiatic CONT
| nent that You can cross in q few hours in
| canoe. Two days sail will bring you
| into Coree, and Kamschatka is within a
few hours journey Of the northern Dor
ders of Japan. 1t is q land of islands
and the chain which constitutes it ex-
tends, says one authority, distance of
1000 miles. Most of these islands are
small, but the country all told has enough
territory for big nation. and several of
Its islands are larger than many of our
American States. The island of Hondo,
which is the main part of the country,
and the one IN which the big cities are
located, has 25,OOO,00O population, and
the area CT Japan all told is bigger than
Italy, and you could lose Prussia inside
of it. ALI the territory Of Great Britain
and Ireland are not equal to Japan, and
the state of New York is only one-third
Its size. The country has to-day more
people than we had in 1870, and its popu-
Britain and Ireland.
These lands run like a crescent,
the horns of which are pointed toward
Asia. There are $500 Of them and the
topmost horn is formed by the island of
YeZo. Yezo is the Alaska OF Japan. It
contains one-ffth of the whole territory,
and it is peopied by savages who are
hardly more advanced in civilization than
fhn Al.
who are supposed by come to be the
primitive Japanese. There are only
1900 Of them. They live in huts, wear
long hair and boards, and have an entire
" different civilization from the rest of
the country. They are small like the
Japanese, but broader shouldered, and
they are as dirty as the Japanese are
clean. The ugliest sex of the Amos is
the women, who tattoo their upper lips,
and think that frowsy hair is sign of
beauty. With the modern Japan Yezo
and the Amos have little TO do. They are
governed ~ the Mikado, and he appoints
a ruler for their island. They furnish
much Of the lumber for Japan, and their
rocky island is said to be full of minerals.
AS political factor, however, they are
nothing.
The big cities of Japan are in the island
of Hondo, which lies south of the Yezo
and which is several hundreds of miles
long and at places 200 miles wide. Here
are the chief agricultural regions, the
manufacturing districts and, in short,
Japan. Toxic itself has million in
haoitants, and it lies in the center of the
empire. It's distances are more magnif-
cent than those of Washington and it's
&loz L ls
hundred miles west of Toxic is Osaka,
which has about as many inhabitants as
Chicago, and a very few miles off from
this is Kiota, which was formerly the
capital Of the empire, and which boasts
Of as many people as Washington, Kansas
City or Cleveland. Osaka is now the New
York of japan, and Kiota with its temples
may be called the Mecca of the empire.
Nagoya and KanaZaWa are cities each
having over 100000 population, and
there are dozen other cities in Japan,
each OF which contains from 10000 to
$4,000 people. There are countless villages
and many small cities, and the land Of
Japan has been g semi civilized country
for centuries.
Japan is land of mountains and val
legs, and it has as many different climates
as the United States. You may find
your Minnesota in Yezo, your Florida
about Nagasaki, and over all you will fiEd
the green of old Ireland. Surrounded by
the sea, the air is ever full of moisture,
and even in winter the land is green. 1t
is a land of flowers. I saw camellia
hedges like trees near Yokohama. There
are acres and quarter sections of water
about Toxic covered with lotus flowers as
big as a round 1ve-cent loaf of American
bread and surrounded by green discs,
each Of which is as big as paimleaf fan.
The wisteria here grows wild and Japan
is the land OF the chry santhemum. This
flower forms the crest OF the Mikado, aud
the poetic nature of the Japanese people
is shown in their love for flowers. They
have their flower shows three times q
month and when the trees blossom the
whole nation goes wild. Flower peddlers
are everywhere and Toxic is a city of
gardens.
The biggest mountain IN Japan is
Fugiyama, an extinct volcano whose
summit is over 10000 feet above the sea.
It's snowy peak looks down upon me as I
write this letter, and the story of the vol
cano at Bandisan is still new. There are
-
Dormant volcanoes in Japan, and the land
is one of earthquakes. Some persons
state that Toxic has an earthquake every
day of the year, but if SO they are i'm
perceptible, for have been here month
and have noticed but one, which was
only slight shiver of the earth which
passed away in minute. The Japanese
of olden times believed that the earth
quakes came from gigantic fish, which,
living in the sea, bumped its nose or
struck its tail against the coast in its
anger. This shook the earth and caused
il to crack and tremble.
The old Japan divided the population
into five classes. At the top was the
Mikado, who was supposed to be descend
ed from the gods, and who ruled supreme.
Under him came the shotgun or COM
mender-in- chief of the imperial army,
who for generations before the revolution
had usurped the power of the Mikado
and who held his court here at Toxic
while he kept the Mikado, as figure
head 300 miles away at Kioto. Under
the shotgun served the army which was
made up of Daimios and amurai. The
Daimios were dukes and the Samurai
their retainers. They lived lin fine style
here at Toxic and in the country, and
had low one and two-story palaces with
black and white checker-b board walled
houses with heavy roofs raining around