Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-06-15

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 "the Yankees of the
 east" says the New York Tribune.
 Except in the six ports now permitted
 to trade with foreign nations-Yo 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. 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 1t had been performed sooner, for it would have kept him from various unintentional offenses against Japanese ideas of correct be- havor
 Above all things, the subjects of the mikado are a polite people, polite with 3 patience and persistence which know DO limit. and the best efforts of q for eigner to equal them cannot fail to seem almost like rudeness in compari- son. No European-and certainly no Ameriean-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 reproaeh at the jerky 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, 1t is to be feared. to be disposed of all l 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 a bar barism to the native mind. but 1t 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 we'll es- tablished in them. At present most of the towns of the empire are still like of fiimsy 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 .l5 big 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 ears, which charge the modest sum of 1 sen (half a cenD a 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 a well-educated, Americanized Japanese In this city the other day, and the people in them think the cars a dis igurement. 1 can't help sympathizing with that feeling to some extent. Of course, the electric cars would be great convenience in many ways, but hey do seem out of harmony with the Japanese surroundings, and, ly, the inrikisha, which everybody uses-for- eigners as much as any one else-is lot at all bad vehicle. It is com ortable. and the eoolies who. carry it ire quick runners" The jinrikishas llso have the advantage of being heap, the usual charge being 10 sen 5 eents) for a two-mile trip. One nay also hire them for different engths of time. at the rate of 10 sen In hour, 75 sen CITE cents) a day, or