The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-02-15
A JAPANESE EDITOR.
He VIII Write on the Dark Side
of American Life.
THE POOR MANS PARADISE.
A Man Can Live sumptuously on $500
Year in Japan-rhe Country
and It's Customs.

l Morley McI1uIDilU, tic tindIidH Gum
poser, of st. John, \. b., who IS In the CITY
on visit to J. o. Y. Seeiy, tells OF some
interesting conversations he had with I.
Zanjaniki, japanese author and one OF
the editors of the Japan Herald, whom he
met on his trip across the continent, ana
who has been collecting material for a
book on this country. Mr.. Ian aniki's
object "a To show the darker side of life in
America and thereby discourage the emf
grafton of the Japanese. Last year he
made n tour through China and wrote
book on that country. He returns to this
country in August, on his way to Europe,
where he will collect material for similar
work. and next year he goes to Russia.
Mr. Mclaughlin said OF him:
He visited the iails. insane asylums and peni-
tentiaries and other public Institutions in this
country and witnessed electrocGtion in New
York state He was greatly impressed with the
enormous size OF the buildings in the cities and
with the vastuess and resources OF the country.
! He was painfully impressed with the poverty
prevailing in the cities and the crowdilg OF the
poor into tenements; also with the number OF
| beggars.
In Japan he says everything is so cheap that
| everybody gets enough 10 eat They have fine
| buildings, but they are only two stories high
| on account OF the frequency of earthquakes. A
| ROOu-SlScu mouse with lueanuesCeut llEDt can
be rented for $40 year aud man can live and
| keep horse on $50 q year. shave costs 9
| cents, street car ride cents, newspapers l
| cent and less, cab for an hour cents and for
whole day 50 cents. In fact, cabs are so cheap
that nobody carries an umbrella; when it rains
the people hire cabs. Beef costs cents pound
and one cent will buy enough potatoes TO mako
dinner for whole family. The better class
OF japanese use an entirely different kind Of tea
from that used in this country. They cover the
trees, which grow in their gar lens with silk,
let the leaves grow through IL and pick them by
hand. This tea costs $50 pound, but one tea
spoonful Will serve whole family for = meal,
so that IL really costs more than the cheaper
grades, which exported. None of this tea is
exported, because there is no demand for it, the
tea VIC get here Is the common grade which
grows in the fields.
silk is ridicuiously cheap, selling at rs cents
yard. and everybody wears it. Mr.. Zanjaniki
was using fine silk handkerehiefs, which he
threw away when they got dirty, as they were
too cheap 20 be worth the expense OF washing.
bought seven dozen of them from him for s..
Naturally, the cost of living in this country i'm
pressed him next after the poverty, when COM
pared with such cheapness, both OF necessaries
and Injuries
die thought very highly of the American
newspapers ard intends to introduce many OF
their good features in his paper He thinks the
japanese papers very good, though they are not
| nearly as large as the American. Still they get
| the Associated Press reports.
He says the japanese have no religion now,
| having given up Buddhism and Sintoism, their
| old religions. 4hey have sold their images all
| through America and Europe, and have no be-
| lief in a God. He says that as they able to
| punish wrong doors, they have no necessity to
| teach the doctrine of future punishment. He
| says the Protestant missionaries make no con-
verts, and don't work among the poor as is rep
resented, but simply preach TO the
| Europeans, doing u little quiet work
among the Japanese. The Presbyterans
have one of the finest buildings in Yokohama.
| He says the Catholic missionaries are far more
| respected they go around on foot among the
| poor and work constantly and make some con-
verts, but not many
The custom OF men giving up their seats in
| cars to women struck him peculiar. In Japan
| the men sit and the women stand. A man is
| never seen on the street with his wife. Women
are not made TO work, as is supposed, but are
| not treated as equals man rarely has more
| than three children; If he has, he is regarded
| with contempt Child marriage and compulsory
marriage have been abolished, and the men
marry at about . and the women at about 90 as
| in this country. Ballots have been entirely
! prohibited i'll the japanese theaters, and no.
| thing in the nature of leg show is seen.
The railroad cars have seats along the sides
| with wide aisle down the middle, and the
I
dows.
The Japanese don't like the building of houses
In the American style by Americans. They
also making gardens with flower beds. the same
as in this county. The Japanese build up
miniature mountain. make lake and waterfall
and plant dwarf apple, pear and cherry trees
| The people are very friendly TO Americans and
English people and are adopting their customs
and inventions, but they don't like the Chinese
and are cautious OF Russia account OF her
advance eastward. English is spoken almost
| universally in Yokahama, even by the poorest,
aud the newspapers are printed in English. The
navy is making great progress and is commanded
by native officers who were trained by the En-
giish employed formerly for the purpose. They
R.so build their own ironclads
Emigration is discouraged by law which for
bids a man 10 leave the country unless some one
gives bends to provide money for his return.
The popularity about their houses IS that the
most money Is spent the inside adjournment
while here the greatest expenditure is on the
outside. They have the interior walls inlaid
with all kinds of polished wood. Every house
has a bath occupying an entire room and every
body takes bath three times day.
one peculiar fact is that they have adopted
the observance of sunday as day of rest aad
they Susp end business from noon on Saturday
till Monday morning. This observance is not
based on religion, but is simply social
| custom adopted few years ago. The
first three days OF the year are
also observ Cd as holidays and on those days no
man is arrested for drunkenness. The news
| papers are published on sundays the same as
other Gays. The games of the children are very
different from those OF this country. They go
/ IN for kite dying and kite racing and float illu-
minated balloons on the rivers. At great cele-
bEatious the rivers are covered with them
! They have natural gas through half the coun-
/ try. TGey put bamboo stick in the ground
through the Kitchen floor and the gas flows
through H. They do their cooking on ton OF
this bamboo and ppt stopper in The end when
they are not using IT, All the country roads are
/ lighted with il.
Mr.. Ianjaniki bought great number of
American books and read yoraciously to
prepare for his work. He also took 4 great
mass OF literature home with him.