Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-07-03
BUSINESS IN JAPAN.
THE NEW TREATIES OPENING
 THE WHOLE COUNTRY.
Courtesy of shopkeepers-Native Meth ods Not Expeditions Enough for Euro
 peans or Americans The Native stock Exchange Queer Place. v

When the new treaties go into effect aext July opening the whole of Japan to trade with foreigners they will bring about sweeping and radical changes in the life of the people who have been called "the Yankees of the east says the New York Tribune. Except in the six ports now permitted to trade with foreign nations-Yoko- hama, Kobe, Cor Hiogo), Osaka, Ma gasaki, Hakodate and Niigata-and in thirteen other less important ones. where foreign commerce is allowed under severe restrictions, the empire of Japan is at present closed to outsiders so far as traffic with them is con- cerned. Practically the whole of the Interior is debarred from business in- tercourse with people of other nations, and the result of this is, of course. total unfamiliarity on the part of the majority of Japanese with the trade customs of the rest of the world.
 1 Now that the whole country is to be thrown open, however, there is sud- den curiosity and eagerness on the part of it's inhabitants to know how these strangers propose to carry on their commercial relations, and while It will be necessary, naturally, for for eigners to conform in some measure to Japanese ways, it is more necessary still that the Japanese be instructed in the more practical and less cere- monious business methods and man. ners of Europeans and Americans. For this purpose treaty operation com tnittees are being formed in all parts of the empire to explain to the Japa- nese merchants and the people gener- ally the most important points of diff ference between their OVID and foreign ideas For the guidance of the for eigners translations of the more con- mon Japanese laws are also being pre- pared. Many tourist in former years would have been grateful for this piece of work if it had been performed sooner, for it would have kept him from various unintentional ofenses against Japanese ideas of correct be- havior
 Above all things, the subjects of the
 mikado are polite people, polite with B patience and persistence which know no limit. and the best efforts of for eigner to equal them cannot fail to 4eem almost like rudeness in compari- son. No European-and certainly no American-could bow, for example, as does the Japanese gentleman who meets a business friend in the street.
 His inclination is a yeritable eastern salaam. and it is to be feared that he
 will stare with gentle reproach at the
 ierky little nod which his hurrying
 foreign acquaintance is likely to give
 him in return. His ceremonious in- quiries regarding the honorable health of the exalted friend and his illustrious family" are often destined, it is to be feared, to be disposed of all
 too briefly for Japanese notions of such things. The idea of haste and of
 business pure and simple, shorn of so- cial ceremonies, will come as bar barism to the native mind. but it is
 bound to be manifested wherever the
 foreigners obtain a considerable foot
 hold in trade Many of the Japanese ], cities, too, will probably see striking changes in their appearance after the foreign traders have become well es- tablished in them. At present most oi the towns of the empire are still like
 wildernesses of flimsy little buildings scarcely better than wooden sheds picturesque, it is true. but frail. The 7 business portion is small and compact if Avrt sc hardly anything to distinguish it from the rest of the city. There are no big
 warehouses, no busy factories with their whirling machinery, no heavy : traffic in the streets, no hustle. nc
 noise. Even in Tokyo this state oi : affairs is to be found. There are some
 horse cars, which charge the modest
 sum of sen (half cent 8 ride, and
 there is one electric street railway
 Other electric lines are either in proc
 ess of building or in contemplation but there is much opposition to them among the Japanese.
 Our cities are very pretty" said g well-educated Americanized Japanese ! in this city the other day, and the people in them think the cars dis. 6gurement I can't help sympathizine
 with that feeling to some extent. Oi , course, the electric cars would be z great convenience in many ways, but
 they do seem cut of harmony with the Japanese surroundings, and, seo'ly. tht
 iinrikisha, which everybody uses-for-
 eigners as much as any one else-i: not at all a bad vehicle. It is com . fortable, and the coolies who carry il are quick runners" The jinrikishas also have the advantage of being :heap, the usual charge being 10 ser 6 cents) for a two-mile trip. Ont may also hire them for different