Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-12
DIVORCES IN JAPAN.
They Are Secured With Great Facility
About Mixed Marriages.

They Are Secured With Great Facility
About Mixed Marriages.
John A. Cockerill in n. Y. Herald.
One great drawback to womea in Japan is
the facility with which divorces are Sc
cured, and against this immemorial custom
the efforts of the reform women of the
country must be directed. Both marriage
and divorce are easy here. In an essay
written long ago by the celebrated moral
list kaibara it is laid down that there are
seven reasons for divorce that is, seven
shortcomings for which a woman may be
pvt aside A woman may be divorced if
she disobeys her father-in-law or mother
in-law if she fails to bear children. for
lewdness, jealousy or leprosy, or for steal
ing or talking overmuch and prattling dis
respectfully.
Once divorced a woman is covered with
shame, even though she enter into a sec
end union with a man of position and
wealth. When a man wishes to be di-
vorced from his wife he simply writes q
letter to her advising her to return to her
parents. He may write a letter to her ia
Their, if he be living, or to her brother, to
the same effect, and then he goes to the
registrars office and reports himself di-
vorced man.
A woman may quit her husband with no
more ceremony, b.lt she suffers great st:g-
ma in divorcing herself When families
break up in this free, Offhand manner the
children, if there he any, disposed of
by agreement or the. arbitration CT a mu-
tual friend. Divorces are not frequent
among the upper classes. but they are
abundant among the lahorerS and the peas
antry. In the year lS!Ei there We're .,IS $50
marriages in Japan ard 1878 registered
divorces Only about | per cent of these
divorces originated with women. Husbands
and wives use no terms of el5ea rment, and
there are TO such things OSCILLATION and
caresses. Tho woman's duty is to obey in
all things and be thankful that she has a
home, be it humble or otherwise.
While touching the topic of women in
Japan it may not be ari;ss to refer to the
subject of mixed marriages. Many for
eigners coming here rs clerks and en-
tachments with Japanese girls which
eventuate in marriage3 There are scores of
foreigners married to Japanese women, and
some of them seem quite contentcd and
happy. The women make true and obedi-
ent wives. and the offspring of these mar
riages are usually handsome and bright
looking. / have seen some really beauti-
full half-breed children, but racially the
Japanese and the Caucasans do not ANAL
gamate advantageously.
The children may not be lacking in phys
iqGe. but intellectually they seem to dwarf
There is TO account of a half-breed Japan
csc amounting to even the proverbial row
of pins--th1t is to say, a Eurasian. The
Japanese AMI the Chinese intermarry con-
sderably, and the result is improve
mens on both races The worst thing
about the marriage of white foreigners to
japanese women IS that socially there is n
loss all around. Being d proud people. the
Japanese do not show respect to their wo-
men who marry foreigners.
The husband, if he advances in position
and wealth, ultimately finds that his wife
has little or no status in white society. and
this beSels much bitterness and vain regret
The home life OF some of these people, 1
have reason to believe. is very often happy.
/ have visited homes in which the Japanese
wife seemed to lie respected. and where the
olivc-faced children were caressed and
loved, but majority of these alliances are
unfortunate and ofttimes disastrous.