The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-06-27
HESTERFIELDIAN
JAPANESE ARE sTlckLERs ron ETl-
cuETTE AND CEREMONY.

Each Other. but Not TO Forcigpcrs-Thc,
Are Not slow TO Take Advantage of Vrncl
SANS Subjects.
A schoolboy viii tell yon lint Jaral
is not exactly our antiYotles. but tt
our notions everything is almost the op
posite Of what we are accustomed to
Flowers are scentless; fruit trees ar,
cultivated not for the fruit they yield
but for the blossoms they bear; whaI
little native fruit there is is tasteless
Stately forest trees are dwarfed, o tina
the garden of q few square yards may
have its pond, bridge and full grown
oak. Nature is stunted and oppressed,
yet at the same time aided and assisted
so that the result may be pleasing tt
the eye, and therein lies the secret oil
the Japanese character. q
Real sterling worth is nothing com.
pared to etiquette; ceremony is every.
thing. Observe those two common sail.
ors meeting in the street. Regardless
Of passersby and of any vehicle that may
interrupt their greeting, they>uncoyer,
bow deeply, heaving a deep drawn sigh
as q token of being overwhelmed al
the honor. And now the salutation%
no abrupt ''Hello!'' or How are you?''
but Your servant is rejniced to see
your honorable countenance.
In the early days, say 90 or % years
ago-that is, the time when W. Z.
Griffis wrote 1.-THE Mikado's Empire
we foreigners were treated in the
same manner, and we have only our
selves to blame for the dislike with
which we are regarded at present.
Those of us who tried TO learn the Ian
guage, being accustomed TO the terse
and more n less abrupt Anglo-Saxon,
had very little patience with this n
tinuous flow of ceremonial. Many is the
time that O hearty ''baka da ne, 4 the
very worst expression a Japanese can
utter and which can only be translated
by our emphatic 1.-THE id fool. y was
hurled at the back of the unconscious
foreigner. He had offended against the
supreme law, the code of ethics, by dis
regarding ceremonial forms which the
native considers indispensable in all
intercourse. Here isa Japanese bargain
ing for a jinriksha. He makes an offer,
and the cody, bareheaded, with q pro-
found salaam, says, THAT Is honorably
SO, but may it please your honor to be-
stow" etc. A foreigner bargains with
the same cody a few hours later. He
is asked twice or three times the fare
which a Japanese would pay, and IL he
offers that the cody says simply, Mo-
(this is the extent Of his knowledge of
our tongue), and with q ssbaka da me-
returns to his stand.
Go into a native store accompanied by
a Japanese gentleman. The storekeeper,
squatted behind his hibachi charcoal
brazierb bows profoundly to your friend
and favors you with a stare. Would his
politeness not be thrown away upon
such a boor as You, being q foreigner,
are supposed to be? You are welcome
to buy, and he will squeeze you all he
can, but as TO wasting his civility upon
you-bahl
There is no use in mincing matters.
Japan has been described time and again
by ephemeral visitors who saw every
thing as through rose colored glasses.
The consequence is that Japan and the
Japanese have been misrepresented,
both In the United States and elsewhere,
and they have not been slow to take adj
vantage Of the high regard in which
they are held. But this is neither o
rae NOR a nation that requires petting,
O is it necessary to go into ecstasies
e them. On the contrary, this people
of over 40, 600, 900 has o wonderful VIZ
tality and o national vigor that will
make themselves felt i'm the worlds
history.
But I'm describing conditions as they
actually are there il no intention TO cast
all the odium upon the Japanese. re has
been stated before that we foreigners
are chiefly to blame. TO explain this
more fully it ID only necessary 20 look
into the matter of business intercourse
as between foreigner and native.
In early days--in some firms-this
custom still prevails The bargaining
with the natives was intrustad to the
.compradore, usually q Chinaman, who
spoke the Yokohama kotoba dialect of
the Japanese. Now a Chinaman consid-
ers himself as at least the equal il not
the superior Of as, but is decidedly ar
rogant toward a japanese, who in his
turn regards his Monaghan neighbor
with the contempt of o Californian.
Under these circumstances a Japa-
nese gentleman ON business intent would
come to Yokohama. Instead of meeting
with the courtesy TO which, In his own
country at least, he certainly is entitled,
he would be detained by the Chinaman
or perhaps meet some supercilious junior
clerk fresh from the mother country
and consequently not o little impressed
with his superiority over any ma
tive asking him, What do you want?''
and then refer him 70 the Chinaman.
Is 1t not natural that this Japanese
should shake the dust Of this house and
make o solemn vow not TO cross the
again?
To be sure. most firms have suppressed
cd the Chinese cornpradore by native
salesmen or interpreters, but these be-
long TO the lower Glass O. Japanese, with
whom q gentleman VIII not associate