The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-02-20
japanese Oddities.

| has, says writer IN inc HetHc ueS
Rcrucs, nevertheless kept intact host
of oddities Which, in certain respect
arc stranger still than those of the
Celestial Empire. The following arc
some of them:
While We write from the left to the
right, the japanese write from right
to left. In writing, we form horizon
tai lines, 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 referen-
ccs at the bottom of the page /; the
japanese place them at the top.
Tue japanese women are odder
than their books. European women
show their necks and arms, while a
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 a small, very
slender woman lost in large piece OF
fabric, which permits Of glimpse of
nothing but a pair Of wild eyes in
deep orbits and vague, indescribable
smile. A fair complexion is repug-
nant to her, and plumpness frightens
her. A Japanese Venus would pro-
woke smile from an Aryan, while a
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 intelli-
gence but in Japan intelligence
appears to be the appanage of wo-
men who lead a more or less frivol-
Gus life.
We wear black as a sign Of mourn
ing, while the japanese wear white
clothing under the same circumstan-
ces.
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 entire
ly otherwise. The women remain
standing while the men are eating
This ceremonial does not apply at
soirees, for the simple reason that in
this case women are conspicuous by
their absence. Woman is the newt
able ornament at our fetes, but in ia
pan she is treated as an obstacle that
works injury to the splcndor Of the
occasion. So woman is dispensed
With, to the great satisfaction Of all
present.
We eat around tables Of some size,
but the Japanese are served 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 pre-
sented 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 the
japanese women carry them on the
back.
In meeting a 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 wo-
man, beginning with the wife Of the
Mikado and ending with the simple
workwoman, wears the same style of
dress, which differs only in the quail
ty 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 care
fully try to conceal the fact. A Ja-
panese woman does all this, and per-
haps little more, but she shows her
self very proud Of it and cndeavors 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 massa-
gists Of women must always be blind,
the hair dresser must have his eyes
wide open in order to worthily re-
spond to his title Of ''painter of the
living" to use the japanese express
sion.
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, Rus
sian, etc. A japanese woman speaks
nothing but japanese. It is to her,
moreover, that the japanese Ian
guage 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 monopoly of men. The ia
pancse women took hold of their ma