Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-09-03
AT'THE A%NTIPODES.
THE JAPANESE AS SEEN BY A CLOSE
OBSERVER.
Quaint Habits Our Mental and
Physical opposites-A Nation Undergo
ing n Mighty Chango-Naroh of Progress
In the Orient-WomoD and Children.
fsneoial Corre.pondenee.l

M the present time will find himself in the
nresence Of c~ontending systems Of civ
ilization-one that has come down from the
middle ages and is surrounded By al the
relies of feudalism; the other new, progress
i've and aiming at all the attachments OK
modern life.
IL may be said Of the Japanese that in 20
wears they have achieved more in the way
Of penuine progress thar has been accom-
plished by any nation on the globe in half
that number Of centuries. When COmmo-
dore Perry arrived here in 1854 Us the rep
resentative OF the United States, be met
with .%Japan's stubborn refusal to recog-
nize In any way the outside world. Since
that time treaties with the other nations
of Christendom have followed, old things
have given place to new, and the country Is
in process Of regeneration on western lines
IN all OF her institutions, aims and ideas.
Many things precious 10 the lover OF art
and antiquity have persisted by reason OF
this forcible opening OF che oyster, but
there are still pearls without price TO be
found that will always be attractive to the
tourist.
.Japan is n study-a revelation. From the
moment you enter your hotel, which, blythe
way. il European in les methods-for the
japanese cuisine Is mrely satisfactory TO
the stranger-you are brought in contact
with the thoroughly businessiike charac-
t~eristics Of the people. You have scarcely
written your name in the register before n
score Of merchants with their attractive
bric-a-brac, embroidery, silks, porcelain
and other pottery have tapped on your
chamber door, and card in hand are solicit
ing trade.
Going out on the street, low proved and
looking very much out at its elbows, for
the little houses are almost all incense
u~uential from our western point of view,
you are impressed with the deferential po-
likeness that il bestowed upon you, and cs-
pecially by the pretty manners OF the Jap
ancse women, with their gentle voices. 50
quiet are they in demeanor that the or
binary gesticulations Of Il European fill
them with amazemont If not contempt, Gdg-
citing Of every kind being foreign to their
nature. Even the little children arc dainty
in their ways and old fashioned in appear
ance, 50 well hammered indeed that some
one has written, They ARE so good a. to
make Japan a paradise for adults" Moth
ing makes the streets more picturesque
than the quaint custom which obtains
among the lower classes Of %strapping the
babies to the backs of their older brothers
and sisters, and the complacency with
which the infants enjoy their shaking up
while the juveniles arc at play.
But another popularity strikes the
stranger. Almost everything here is done
hind side before or upside down. The
people seem to go round and round by the
rule Of contraries." a Toxic lady asked
the writer why foreigners did so many
things topsy turyy instead Of doing them
naturally, after themOnner Of her own peo-
pie. At that very moment she was reading
a book the end Of which was where we put
the title page. When they write q news
paper paragraph, the full stop is placed at
the beginning Of the sentence. They take
their wine and have their jolliication be-
fore, not after dinner. Their keys turn in
instead of out. The carpenters run their
planes end saws toward and not away from
them. The japanese mounts his horse OF
the right side, and when the animal is
brought home his head is placed where his
tail ought to be, and he is fed from a tub
at the stable door. The best rooms Of a
house are at the back, and in the building
Of a house the roof is constructed first. In
his politeness the japanese removes his foot
gear before he does his hat, and in making
up accounts he writes down his figures iir-C.
The husband always precedes the wife.
In matters OF dress the picturesque, aris-
t~ocratic native garb is gradually giving
way TO that of the European, 4 change for
which the government is mainly response
bic, but notwithstanding the taste inherent
in the people in their endeayor TO copy
foreign fashions they make q sorry failure
in endeayoring TO replace the exquisite
robes that make the japanese man and
woman appear 50 graceful on promenade.
japanese wome are wOmeuly, kind,
gentle and pretty, yet their lot may be
summed up in what are termed the three
Observation-Disclosures while yet uumar-
ried. to Il father; obedience, when married,
TO a husband and that husband parents,
and, finally, obedience, when widowed, to
son. japanese women, however, are in a
fair way 10 be emancipated from their con-
dition of subsection, western influences and
the literature OF their own country having
already exerted n strong influence in this
direction.
In their quiet, administrative way the
japanese are thoroughly ho6pitable. IL is
the custom to set food before a guest at
whatever time Of day he may call, but as Il
rule their dishes fail to satisfy European
cravings. Although clean, free from grease
and pretty to look at, you can't live ontheir
pabulum rs a permanency.
Speaking Of Europeans, there are many
foreign employees in this country, and hav-
ing beeIehere since the country was opened
in lS54-their influence has been more or
less potent. In fact, it may be said that the
foreign employee is the creator Of new
Japan. One has taken the navy in hand and
transformed the junk into the modern man
of-war; another has established minis and
produced a uniform coinage equal TO any in
the world; the reform in the educational
system is the work Of a handful of Ameri-
cans; a Frenchman codihed the Japanese
law; Germans have directed the medical
instruction Of the country; the posts, tele-
graphs, railways, the army, mining meth
DDS, chemical laboratories, watcrworks,
Larborworks, cotton and paper mills-all
these are the creation of the foreign m
ployees of the japanese government. Yet
the native pupils have been apt, and the
time is not far distant when they may rival
their teachers, as they now Guido the rest
OF the world In the production Of works Of
art which the European has been able
To initiate.
You cannot go very far in any Of these
japanese capital cities without being i'm
pressed that you are among u thoroughly
progressive people. Europe and America,
with their railways, telegraphs, gigantic
commerce, Grmies and navies, are to the
japanese 4 wonder world, and gradually
they are surrendering themselves and their
past to the changes that have been enforced.
But, after all, to the tourist who has reveled
among scenes hallowed by centuries it
seems a sacrilege that the commonplace
European ways shall be substituted for the
glittering attractions of picturesque orien-
talism. q. w. c.
A Bill For Finding Water.
A large landowner living not much more
than a mile from Doylestown decided not
long ago that there was not enough water