Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-06-22
CHESTERFIELDIAN.
JAPANESE ARE STlckLERS FOR ETH
QUETTE AND CEREMONY.

Each Other, but Not to Foreigners-They
Are Not Slow to Take Advantage of Uncle
San's Subjects.
A schoolboy will toll You that Japan
is not exactly our antipodes, but to
our notions everything is almost the op-
posite of what we arc accustomed to.
Flowers are scentless; fruit trees are
cultivated not for tho fruit they yield,
but for tho blossoms they bear; what
little native fruit there is is tasteless.
Stately forest trees are dwarfed, so that
the garden of few square yards may
have its pond, bridge and full grown
oak. Nature is stuntcd and oppressed,
yet at tho same time aided and assisted
so that tho result may DO 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 in the street. Regardless
of passersby and of any vehicle that may
interrupt their greeting, they uncover,
bow deeply, heaving II deep drawn sigh
as token of being overwhelmed at
the honor And now the salutations-
no abrupt "IIello!' or How are your
but Your servant is rejoiced to see
your honorable countenance.
In the early days, say 90 or 20 years
ago-that is, the time when w. E.
Griffis wrote Tho 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 moro or less abrupt Anglo-Saxon,
had very little patience with this con-
tinuous flow of ceremonial. Many is the
time that hearty ''baka da ne, y the
very worst expression Japanese can
utter and which can only be translated
by our emphatic 1.-THE ID fool, 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 is q Japanese bargain
ing for jinriksha. He makes an offer,
and tho cody, bareheaded, with n pro-
found salaam, says, THAT is honorably
SO, but may it please your honor to be-
stow" etc. A foreigner bargains with
the samo cody n few hours later He
is asked twice or three times the fare
which Japanese would pay. and if he
offers that the cody says simply, mo"
(this is the extent of his knowledge of
our tongue), and with 'baka ia me-
returns to his stand.
Go into a native store accompanied by
a Japanese gentleman. The storekeeper,
squatted behind his hibachi charcoal
brazierL bows profoundly to your friend
and favors you with stare Would his
politeness not bc thrown away upon
such u boor rs you, being % 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-bahi
There is no use in mincing matters.
Japan has been described time and again
by ephemeral visitors who saw every
thing as through rose colorcd glasses.
The consequence is that Japan and the
Japanese have been nisroprcscntea,
both i'll the United States and elsewhere,
and they have not been slow to take ad-
vantage of the high regard i'll which
they arc held But this is neither
race nor Il nation that requires pCtting,
nor is 1T necessary to go into ccstasieS
over them. On the contrary, this people
of over 10, 900, 900 has Il wonderful vi
tally and national vigor that viii
make themselves felt in the worlds
history.
But in describing conditions as they
are there is no intention to cast
all the odium upon the Japanese. 1t has
been stated before that we foreigners
are chiefly to blame. To explain this
more fully it is only necessary to look
into the matter of business intercourse
as between foreigner and native.
In early days-M somo tirms-this
custom still prevails. The bargaining
with tho natives was intrusted to tho
usually Chinaman, who
spoke the Yokohama kotoba (dialccG of
the Japanese. Now q Chinaman consid-
ers himself as at least the equal if not
the superior of u.s. but is decidedly ar
rogant toward o Japanese, who in his
turn regards his Monaghan ncighbor |
with the contempt of a Californian.
Under these circumstances II Japa- |
nese gentleman ON business intent would |
come to Yokohama Instead of meeting |
with the courtesy to which, in his own |
at least, he certainly is entitled |
ne would be detained by the Chinalnan |
or perhaps meet some supercilious Junior |
,lerk fresh from the mother country |
and consequently not little impressed |
with his own superiority over any ma
i've, asking him. What do you want?'
md then refer HIM to the Chinaman.
Is it not natural that this Japanese
should shake the dust Of this house and |
make solemn vow not to cross the
threshold again?
To be sure most films have suppressed |
ID tho Chinese compradore by native
alesmen or interpreters, but these be-
ong to the lower class of Japanese, with
whom gentleman will not associate.
Hence misunderstanding and i'll feeling
prevail.
Japanese Of the better class give Yol1o-
lama a wide berth. To them this city
s an anomaly, fungus upon tho sacred
oil Of Dali Nippon, and somo foreign
rs, thoughtlessly perhaps, do much to
trengthen this feeling. - Yokohama
>or. New York World
NVN~A ox> rp,n,,r1,< |