Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-06-14
THE JAPS ARE HAPPY
THEIR GREAT KloTo EXPOSITION is
A DISTINCT SUCCESS.

the Great National Fair How They
View Foreigners-The Great American
Trolley In the Gland of the Rising SUM-"
BY all odds the most interesting and fas-
oinating city in Japan is the ancient CAPT
tai, Kioto. 1t is absolutely the heart of
Japan, if not the soul "What Rome is to
Europe Kioto is to Japan, " says the guide,
who is "a learned man. The foreigner is
not much seen here, and his impress is
rarely felt. The two semiforeign hotels
are under japanese management, and there
are not ten fin de steele structures in the
whole city. Kioto's people arc sharply diff
ferent from those of the treaty ports-hand-
somor types are seen, and the politencss is
most genuine. The location is simply SUI
pCrb the environments ever attractive
With its horseshoe dome of vordant noun
tains its broad reaching river Kamo in it's
center, its well paved, clean Streets it's
wonderful temples, its ancient castle and
palace and its grimy ages of tradition, XII
OTTO is indeed q spot well worth visiting.
Wayfarors are all delighted with it, and
the universal spontaneous expression of
foreigners is that Kioto should be today
the capital Of the empire. Tokyo is vast
in arca-a city of dust and distance. Ev-
erybody apparently lives five miles from
everybody else. Time is lost in visiting
places of interest. The great modern gov
ernmcnt buildings give the city's center a
most incongruous appearancc-the squal-
id acres of ancient frame structures i'm
pinging upon the triumphs of architec-
tural art as the toe Of the peasant" might
"gall the COurticr's kibc." On the other
hand Kioto, sitting compactly upon Il level
plain at the feet of her mountains, is ac-
cessiblc, natural, clean, and, from an old
japanese standpoint, n perfect city.
Always n beehive of industry, Kioto to-
day is buster than ever. Her national ex-
position is making her $50, 600 people I'M
usually happy. This she calls this year
the "Heiansento KinclyBai," the celebra-
ton of the eleven hundredth annivcr-
sary Of tho setting up of the capital
by the flftieth emperor, Kwanmu. The
city, rs the French would say, is today
"tout pavose." Every house has its iris
ing sun" flag, uniform in size and setting
and each has in its front a protuberant
and plethoric lantern. By day one moves
along miles and miles of streets almost
archcd with banners, and at night the col
orcd lights fill the city with radiance.
Great crowds of ruralists flock to the
wondrous show, wearing the garb fash
ioncd thousand years ago and studying
everything with the curiosity of children.
To all such foreigners are q rarity. For q
party of Europeans to stop in front of a
shop is to draw q crowd of staring adults
and happy faced children. T$Esy stare and
SMILE but there is never any rudcncss.
| One feels that he is giving much enjoy
ment, and he forgivcs all intrusion. Stop
| ping yesterday in front of bamboo shop,
/ soon had IN audience of as quaint look
ing beings as ever my eyes rested on. The
early Jap, with his inverted bread bowl
hat, his leggings and his straw sandals,
was there, likewise the half naked cody,
the little child with still smaller child
strapped on his back, grinning girls, half
| blind old people and the ever happy, bound
ing, big eyed boys They gdzcd and CAB
bled and smiled and watched with pro-
found interest the deal with the youthful
bamboo worker. Having. been subjected
to much of this sort of thing in Japan, l
enjoyed the inspection greatly. l studied
the faces around me with interest.
The one thing here which attracts uni
versal attention is the trolley railway line
extending from the Central railway station
to the exposition grounds. Its, of course,
an American institution, and it is well
constructed. Every car is packed from
morning till night and crowds Of people
| line the track to see the cars go by. The
mysterious working of the electricity seems
| to fill the ruralists with awe. and one can
well imagine here the significance of the
slang term "yap," as applied to our west
ern town visitors touched with timothy
and filled with ineXpcrience. This little
railway will be immensely profitable 1t
! shows what the future of the trolley will
be in the denscly populated cities of ia
pan, which are fairly yearning for it, Alas
for the patient, tireless, trotting jinrikisha
mani
Viewed from our standpoint the cXposi-
ton is neither great nor gorgeous, but it
is full of interest from first to last. 1t,
too, is Japan. The buildings are large,
airy and clean, and the grounds through
out are perfect. All is orderly. With the
exception of few war panoramas on the
outskirts there are no flaring diversions
no disgusting Midway plaisance shows.
In fabrics the exposition eXCcls. The cereal
department shows the wonderful resources
Of Japan agriculturally. In machinery
the initiative faculty of the people is thor
oughly demonstrated. l saw nothing new
or suggestive, but from clothes wringer to
printing press and dynamo l saw the UNI
erring evidence of their skill and determi-
nation to achieve.
The value of this exposition is that it
shows the steady and the marvellous adj
vancemcnt of Japan. 1t is new Japan in
decd. Those who saw its national fair Is
years ago are astoundcd by the develop
ment and are busy wondering what the
next 10 or 20 years will show. Another
value is the educational one. The admis-
sion price is only sen. Everybody can
| 60 On the two days that l was there
saw hundreds of companies of happy faced
uniformed schoolboys going through the
various departments, each with notebook
and pencil in hand, making careful men,
Oranda of al that they saw These young
gentlemen will write essays on these won
derful things. The notebook seemed to be
very popular with all classes. l saw no
end of elderly gentlemen going about max
ing notes in the impressive manner of the
country newspaper reporter. Their CLEANED
| knowledge will no doubt be disseminated.
john \. Cockerill in New York Herald.
|
Black Roses.
A gardener in the Rhincland has sue