Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-06-17

When the new treaties go into effect next 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 ethe 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- eerned. Practically the whole of the Interior is debarred from business 1n- tercourse with people of other nations, and the result of this is, of course. a total unfamiliarity on the part of the majority of Japanese with the trade customs of the rest of the world.
 Now that the whole country is to be thrown open, however, there is a 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 1t 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 eere- monious business methods and man ners of Europeans and Americans. For this purpose treaty operation com mittees 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 own and foreign ideas. For the guidance of the for eigners translations of the more com 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 1t would have kept him
 from various unintentional offenses against Japanese ideas of correct be- havior
 Above all things, the subjects of the mikado are a polite people, polite with a patience and persistence which know no limit, and the best efforts of a for eigner to equal them cannot fail to seem 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 veritable eastern salaam, and it is to be feared that he will stare with gentle reproach at the jerky little nod which bis hurrying foreign acquaintance is likely to give him in return. His ceremonious in- quiries regarding the honorable health of the exalted friend and his lllustriotis family" are often destined, 1t 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 of the towns of the empire are still like wi1dernesses of f1imsy little buildings, scarcely better than wooden sheds picturesque, it is true, but frail. The business portion Is small and compact in one place, but even here there Is 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. no noise. Even in Tokyo this state of affairs is to be found. There are some horse cars, which charge the modest sum of i sen (half cent 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 well-educated, Americanized Japanese in this city the other day, land the people in them think the cars dis dgurement I can't help sympathizing with that feeling to some extent. Of course, the electric cars would be a great convenience In many ways, but they do seem out of harmony with the Japanese surroundings, and, yea7ly, the jinrikisha, which everybody uses-for- eigners as much as any one else-is not at all bad vehicle. It is com