The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-09-06
LIFE IN YOKOHAMA
Scenes in the Busy City
at ALI Hours.
English Signs on Shops are Much
in EVidenCe-Japanes Build
ing Ideas
Especial Correspondence
Yokohama, August II, Is!

EDITOR z. G. A.:-There has been
a sudden and unusual change in the
weather The day of our arrival had
been excessively hot. The next day an
easterly wind dashed the waves over
the breakwater and chilled the air
down to SO deg. 1t moderated some
what the next day, but it was chilly,
and the sky was overcast, as if storm
were brewing.
There is a Union Church, Rev. DR..
G.. Il. Meacham, pastor, supported by
the foreign residents. Bishop Bickes-
teth Of the Anglican Church has had
his residence in Tokyo, but news has
just come of his death. The pastor was
absent, and Rev. Mr.. Worden, a resi-
dent clergyman, officiated in his place
The congregation was scanty. Our pas
sengers by the Doric made about one
third of the audience. The church is
English Gothic, squat rather than per-
pendicular, and near the gate is
queer little lodge for the Japanese jan
itor. We met here, after the service,
some friends, resident in Yokohama;
and were importuned outside of the
gate by an impecunious sailor, who had
been left on the beach and wanted help
to buy sake or some such beverage,
of which his breath was redolent.
Our first day was devoted to shop
ping, but after supplying ourselves
with few necessaries, we searched
long and often vainly for some char
acteristic Japanese wares that would
be sufficiently artistic to be pleasant
reminders of Japanese travel. All jap
anese porcelain ware or cloiSonnee is
not a wonder of delight The patterns
and the colors are not always pleasing.
Once in great while something is
seen of different style from what is now
common in Japanese stores in the
States, or is of special artistic excel
lence. Kuhn & Komor and Arthur &
Bond have large stores near the Grand
Hotel, like those in Boston, that deal
in art goods. But the stores of the
japanese dealers are low. small, and
if there is an upper story, the stairs
are steep and narrow, the boards about
inches wide and the risers 10 inches
high The beams of the upper floor
are of implanted wood very substan-
tfaI. about inches wide and 10 inches
deep.
Some new buildings were going up. |
The staging was of bamboo sticks, tied |
together. The frame of the building |
was of solid timber, doubly braced. |
The carpenters were planning boards, |
sitting in front of an easel and drawing |
their planes towards them across the |
grain, not lengthwise of the boards as |
with us We saw one ruin of a ware |
house that had been burned, the walls |
still standing and propped up by BAN
boo poles. Our jinrikisha men found it |
hard pulling when we came to street
that had been newly gravelled with |
small beach pebbles. Many of the Jap
anese men wore blue frocks, the backs |
and skirts broadly marked with distin-
gushing stripes and squares, and cir
cles of white.
The busy life of the city begins about |
6 o'clock with the footing of the little |
steam tugs coming out of the canal |
with lines of lighters in tow. White |
sails of fishing smackS fieck the sur
face of the bay, and as they stand out |
on the edge of the horizon, give it the |
ridged appearance of the roofs of earth
en- tiles. Some of the lighters do not |
have the aid of steam. The two men |
that manage them push them with long |
poles. The huge rudder inserted in a |
cleft in the stern, is lifted out of the |
water, and the tiller is tied with ropes |
to keep the rudder up. The cabin is |
taken down as the night passes away, |
the mats that form the roof piled up |
on the side the boards that form the |
sides and the poles that supported the |
mats are united and slowed away till |
night again brings the need of shelter. |
AS we have passed through the |
streets where the retail stores are, it |
is very noticeable how many of the |
signs are in English. German or |
French signs appear only on the Of |
fees of people of those nationalities. |
Our jinrikisha men know sufficient |
English to understand where we want |
ed to go. If they did not know the To- |
cality, other jinrikisha men were very |
ready to help them in finding the street |
and number. The streets are very or
DERBY, no rushing at breakneck speed |
regardless of other people. A warning |
cry not loud, is given in turning the |
corner of the narrow streets. We no
tice that 90 per cent of the sugar is
imported, the Japanese people having
learned to prefer the clean white i'm
ported article to the dirty black sugar
of native manufacture. They have
glutinous rice, as well as an upland
rice on sale Articles of foreign manu-
facture are much in evidence. But it
is feared that with the expiration of the
old rigidly severe treaties with Japan,
some Is months hence, the Japanese
will be ready with new legislation
that will gradually force every for
eign resident out Of business and leave
the commerce of the country entirely
in the hands of the Japanese. H.