The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-09-07
LIFE IN YOKOHAMA.
Scenes in the Busy City at All
Hours.
Yokohama, August IT, 1897.

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 a storm
were brewing.
There is a Union Church, Rev. DR..
G. B. 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, 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 a 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 a 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
4 inches wide and the risers 10 inches |
high The beams of the upper floor |
are of implanted wood, very substan-
tial about 4 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 bam
boo poles Our jinrikisha men found it
hard pulling when we came to a street
that had been newly gravelled with
small beach pebbles. Many of the Jap
lnese men wore blue frocks, the backs
and skirts broadly marked with distin-
stripes and squares, and cir
cles of white.
The busy life of the city begins about
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 fleck the sur
face of the bay, and as they stand out
IN the edge of the horizon, give it the
'idged appearance Of the roofs of earth
N tiles. Some of the lighters do not
nave the aid of steam The two men
hat manage them push them with long
poles. The huge rudder inserted in a
left in the stern, is lifted out of the
water, and the tiller is tied with ropes
o keep the rudder up. The cabin is
aiken down as the night passes away,
he mats that form the roof piled up
IN the side, the boards that form the
iides and the poles that supported the
mats are united and slowed away till
light again brings the need of shelter
As we have passed through the
treets where the retail stores are, it :
S very noticeable how many of the
signs are in English. German or
french signs appear only on the Of
ices of people of those nationalities. .
Dur jinrikisha men know sufficient
English to understand where we want
ID to go. If they did not know the To-
'ality, other jinrikisha men were very
eady to help them in finding the street
Ind number The streets are very or
lerly, no rushing at breakneck speed
egardless of other people. A warning
Try, not loud, is given in turning the
corner of the narrow streets. We no.
ice that 95 per cent of the sugar is
imported, the Japanese people having
earned to prefer the clean white i'm
ported article to the dirty black sugar
If native manufacture They have
slutinous rice, as well as an upland
ice on sale. Articles Of foreign manu-
acture are much in evidence. But it
S feared that with the expiration of the
I'D rigidly severe treaties with japan.
some IS months hence, the Japanese
will be ready with new legislation
hat will gradually force every for
ign resident out of business and leave
he commerce of the country entirely
n the hands of the japanese. H.