The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-06-16
CHESTERFIELDIAN.
JAPANESE ARE STlCKLERs FOR sTr
QUETTE AND CEREMONY.

III Uncle
Il Snm's Subjects.
a schoolboy will tell you that Japan
us hoe exactly our antipodcs, but to
our notions everything is almost tho OPP
/ poslto OF what wo arc accustomed to.
FLOWERS are sccntlcss; fruit troes arc
cultivated not for tho fruit they Yield,
Out 1or tho blossoms they boar; what
nttlc native fruit there is is t,steless.
otateiy forest trees arc dwurfed, so that
the garden of few square yards may
nave Its pond, bridge and full grown
oak. Nature is stuntcd and oppressed,
yet ut the Same time aided and assisted
so that tho result may be pleasing to
the eye, and therein lies tho secret Of
the Japanese character.
Real sterling worth is nothing COM
pared to etiquette; ceremony Is every
thing. Observe those two common sail
ors meeting i'll tho street Regardless
OF passcrsby and of any vehicle that may
interrupt their greeting, they uncover,
bow deeply, hcaving deep drawn sigh
as token of being overwhelmed at
tho honor. And now tho snlutations-
] no abrupt "Hcllo!' or GLOW are your"
but Your servant is rcjoicod to SEQ
your honorable countenanca
In tho carly days. say 90 or 20 years
ngo-that is, tho time when w f
Griflis wrote The NIikado's Empire"
we foreigners were treated in the
: same manner, and wo have only our
4 selves to blame for the dislike with
Z which we nre regarded at present.
Those of us who tried to learn the Ian
guage, being accustomed to tho tcrse
4 aud more or less abrupt Anglo-Saxon,
had very little patience with this CON
= tlnuous flow of ceremonial Many Is the
4 time that n hearty "baka da ne, ~" the
! very worst expression Il Japanese can
8uttcr and which can only be translated
by our emphatic "tho ID fool, was
8hurlcd ut the back of the unconscious
&forclgncr. He had offended against the
&suprcmc law, the code of ethics, by dis
+ rcgarding ceremonial forms which tho
&nativo considers indispensable i'll all
Hintcrcourso. Here is Il Japanese bargain
ding for Il jinriksha- He makes All offer,
#and the cody, barchcadcd, with a pro
&found sulaam. says, THAT Is honorably
#stow," etc A foreigner bargains with
sAthc same cody Il few hours later. He
His asked twice or three times the fare
(which Il Japanese would pay, and If he
&otfors that the cody says simply, NO
#(this is the extent of his knowledge of
3our tongue), and with "baka dl nc''
j. :eturns to his stand
a Go into native store accompanied by
8l Japanese gentleman Tho storelkccpcr,
$ sQuattcd behind his hibachi charcoal
Il orazicr) bows profoundly to your friend
Nind favOrs you with stare. Would his
q )olitcncSs not he thrown away upon
@iuch boor as you, being foreigner,
= ire supposed to be? You are welcome
y o buy, and he will squeeze you all he
s. an but KS to wasting his civility upon
= you-bahl
~ There Is no use i'll mincing matters.
#fapan has been described time and again
10y cphcmcral visitors who saw every
ri hing rs through rose colorcd glasses
5 The consequence is that Japan and the
S Japanese have been miSrcprcScntcd,
j! 10Th III the United States and elsewhere,
nd they have not been slow to take adj
4 antagc of the high regard in which
= hey are held But this is neither {;
IS ACE nor nation that requires pctting,
s or is it necessary TO go into ccstasics
liver them. On the contrary, this people
3f over 40, 600, 600 has n wonderful Vi
Plity and Il national vigor that will
s. make themselves felt in the worlds
II istory.
But i'll describing conditions rs they
81 ctually are there is no intention to cast
s II the odium upon the Japanese. 1t has
q cen stated before that we foreigners
81 re chiefly TO blame. To explain this
81 .orc fully it is only necessary to look
aH ITO the matter of business intercourse
between foreigner and native.
Fl In early days-in somo nr1nS-this
d aston still prevails The bargaining
So nth the natives was intrustod to the
Pmpradorc, usually Chinamnn, who
81 poke the Yokohama kotoba dialect of
So Pc Japanese Now IL Chinaman consid-
HIS himself rs Mt least the equal if not
- Pc superior of us, but is decidedly ar
81 bgant toward n Japanese, who in his
S hrn regards his Mongolim ncighbor
- nth the contempt of Californian.
Ell Under these circumstances u Japa-
I'll Use gentleman OH business intent would
# Rmo to Yokohama Instead of meeting
&4fith tho courtesy to which, in his own
IS buntry at least, he certainly is entitled,
lib would be detained by the Chinaman
8 perhaps meet some supcrcilious Junior
5crk fresh from the mother country
Isl hd consequently not Il little impressed
81 f&h his own superiority over any IA
asking him, "What dc you want?'
Hid then refer him to the Chinaman
|22g it not natural that this Japanese
Oh 6 xlx., l..