Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-01-09
JAPANESE ODDITIES.
Stranger than those of the Celcs-
tial Empire.
CHARACTERISTIC DISTINCTIONS.
They Reverse the Order Of Things as
Practiced by Other Nations-An
Ideal Japanese Belle.


says writer in the 'Revue des Re-
vues." nevertheless kept intact host
of oddities which, In a CERTAIN respecA
are stranger still than those of tho
Celestial Empire. The following are
some Of them:
While we write from the left to the
right, the Japanese write from right to
left. In writing, we form horizontal
lines, while the Japanese make perpen-
dicular ones. A japanese book begins
where ours ends, and, consequently,
when we read book we turn the
leaves from right to left; but the
japanese are forced to turn them from
left to right. We make our references
at the bottom Of tho page; the Japan
ese place them at the top.
The Japanese women are odder than
their books. European women show
their necks and arms, while Japanese
woman carefully covers the upper part
Of her body and shows only her feet.
A Japanese female is richly clothed up
to the age Of sixteen or seventeen, but
French female does not begin to dress
in style until after reaching this age.
A Japanese belle is small, very
slender woman lost in large piece Of
fabric, which permits of glimpse of
nothing but pair Of wild eyes in deep
orbits and vague, indescribable smile.
A fair complexion is repugnant to her,
aud plumpness frightens her. A Japan
ese Venus would provoke smile from
an Aryan. while European Venus
would doubtless be considered in Japan
as type of vulgar woman.
Among us it is the chaste women
who usually shine by their intelligence,
but in Japan intelligence appears to be
the appanage Of women who lead a
more or less frivolous life.
We wear black as a sign Of mourn
ing. while the japanese wear white
clothing under the same circumstances.
AT our receptions, women always
play the first role; they are served first
and the best places are assigned to
them. In Japan. things are entirely
otherwise. The women remain stand
ing while the men are eating. This
ceremonial does not apply at soirees,
for the simple reason that women in
this case are conspicuous by their alb
sence. Woman is the inevitable orna-
ment at our feet, but in Japan she is
treated as an obstacle that works injury
to the splendor of the occasion. So
woman is dispensed with, to the great
satisfaction of all present.
We eat around tables of some size.
but the Japsne 10 are ss.ved at small
tables placed near the wall, and which
afford hospitality to but one person.
Our servants hand the dishes to us from
behind; in Japan they are presented
from the front.
We always put the prenomen before
the family name, while the Japanese
do just the contrary.
We carry children in the arms;
Japanese women carry them on the
back.
In meeting person, we turn to the
right; but the Japanese turn to the left
With us, women of different social
classes are somewhat distinguished by
their toilet; but in Japan every woman,
beginning with the wife Of the Mlkado
and ending with the simple work
woman, wears the same style of dress,
which differs only in the quality Of the
material.
A European woman may paint her
lips, use beauty spots, pencil her eye
brows, powder her face, or employ
rouge; but if she does she will carefully
try to conceal the fact. A japanese
woman does all this, and perhaps a
little more, but she shows herself very
proud of it and endeavors to make
it appear that her beauty is the product
of her art And yet such art is not her
own.
With us, it is usually the duty Of
the maid to embellish her mistress;
but in Japan this task is relegated to
the hair dresser, and while the massag-
lists of women must always be blind,
the hair dresser must have his eyes wide
open in order to worthily respond to
his title of painter of the living" to
use the Japanese expression.
And there is another difference, too,
and one that does honor to the pretty
japanese women. Women in all
European countries exhibit special
prediction for some foreign language.
French women speak English. and
English women speak French, Russian,
etc. A Japanese woman speaks moth
ing but Japanese. 1t is to her, more
over, that the japanese language owes
all the progress that it has made in the
last century. She was Of old forbidden
to study the Chinese language, which
was considered as the exclusive monop-
oily Of men. The japanese women took
hold of their native tongue, and are
present at the head Of the literary
movement of their country. Madam