Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-26

The japanese Il Ksns, ~ Seen BY . Close
Observer.

relics OF feudallsm; the other new. progress
I'VE and aiming at all the attainments OF
modern lifn-
1t may be said of the Japanese that in &C
years they have achieved more in the way
of genuine progress than has been accom-
plished by any nation on the globe in halt
that number of centuries. When Commo-
dore Perry arrived here in 1884 as the rep
resentative Of the United States he 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 to the lover of art
and antiquity have persisted by reason OF
this forcible opening OF the oyster, bat
there are still pearls without price to be
found that will always be attractive to the
tourist.
Japan is a study-a revelation. From toe
moment you enter your hotel, which. y the
way, is European in its methods-for the
japanese cuisine is rarely satisfactory to
the stranger---you are brought in contact
with the thoroughly businesslike charac
teristics of the people. You have scarcely
written your name in the register before a
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 ont On the street. low browed and
looking very much out at its elbows, foi
the little houses are almost all incense
quential from our western point of view,
you are impressed with the deferential po'
likeness that is bestowed upon you, and es.
pecially by the pretty manners of TIE dap
anese women, with their gentle voices. SC
quiet are they in demeanor that the or
binary ges.iculatioIis of a European FIJI
them with anIazement fnot contempt, fidg
citing of every kind being foreign to theii
nature. Even the little children are dainty
in their way and, old fashioned in appear
ance, so we! mannered indeed that some
one has written, 'They are so good as to
make Japan Il 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 |; re at play.
But another popularity strikes t..
stranger Almost everything here is done
hind side before" Or upside down. The
people seem ID go round and round by the
rule of contraries." A Toxic lady asked
the writer why foreigners did so many
things topsy turvy instead of doing them
naturally after the manner of her own PEG
pie. At that very moment she was reading
a book the ED Of which was where we put,
the title PAGE. When they write news
paper paragraph, the full stop is placed at
the beginning of the sentence. They take
their wine AID have their Notification be
fore not aftCr dinner Their keys turn in
instead of out. The carpenters run thelI
planes end SAWS toward and not away from
them Tho japanese mounts his horse On
the right Size, and when the animal is
brought hoIIe his head is placed w here his
tail ought to be, and he is fed from IL tux
at the stable door, The best rooms of 3
house are ut the back, and in the building
of IL house tie roof is constructed first. IN
his poiteness the japanese removes his foot
gear before te does his hat, and in making
up accounts Xc writes downfhis figures first
The husbanf always precedes the wife.
In matters of dress the picturesque, ar;s
tocratic nltire garb is gradually giving
way to that If the European, change fol
which the government is mainly responSi
bic, but not outstanding the taste inherent
II the people in their endeavor to coy
foreign fashions they make sorry failur,
in cndeayoI;ng to replace the eXqus't.
robes that make the japanese man and
wo,nan APPEAR SO graceful ON promenade.
japanese women are woman,y, kiru
gentle ar1 ;,rctty, yet their lot mas be
summed up IN what are termed the tine,
obediences" obedience. while yet unmai
RED to & fai her; obedience, when marritIl
to u husband and that husbands pareu.s
and, finally, obedience, when widowed, tt
a son. japanese women, however, are liz =
fair way to be emancipated from their con
dition of sIbj lection, western influences and
the literature of their own country having
already cxprted strong influence in this
direction.
In their quiet, undemo- strative way the
japanese are thoroughly hYspitable. IL is
the custora to set food before guest al
whatever time of day he may call. but rs :
rule their dishes fail to satisfy European
cravings Although clean, free from grease
and pretty to look at, you can't live on thrii
pabulum as Il permanency.
Speaking: of Europeans, there are many
foreign employees III this country, and hay
ing been here since the country was opened
in lS54-their influence has been more Oh
less potent. In fact, it may be said that The
foreign employee is the creator of new
Japan. One has taken the navy in b ana and
transformed the junk into the mode, IN man.
of-war; another has established IN !nts and
produced "a uniform coinage equal to any in
the world; tue reform in the educational
system is the work of a handful of Anerj
cans; a Frenchman codified the japanese
law; Germans have directed the medical
instruction of the country; the posts, tele-
graphs, railways, the army, mining meth
DDS, chemical laboratories, waterworks,
Larborworhs, cotton and paper mills--all
these are the creation of the foreign EN-.
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 never 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 a thoroughly
progressive people. Europe and America,
with their railways, telegraphs, gigantic
commerce, armies and naves. are to the
Japanese wonder world, and gradually
i, -.