The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-07
VIEW OF STUDENT
LIFE IN JAPAN.
COLLEGES AIM TO TEACH Pa
THENCE AND HOPE RATHER
THAN SERIOUSNESS.
An Interesting DescriDttcn Sf HIS
Native Land by = JapAnese stu-
: dent ut Leland stanford, Jry !,
Univessitv.


n APANEsE students are not serious.
III because they, are not required g %
W so; they are happy, because they nave
hope in the future, hope In their Nuoaess
hope In the blue sky. hope In the cnerry
blossoms-hope In everything. For haS
the Japanese nation not made. ana - sno
not now making progress such as the MS
tory of the past speaks nowhere OFT Were
not many of the ministers ana hien cm-
GERS of the government, many Of the men
in the great industries. and OF the party
leaders in and out OF parliament, OF hum
BILE stock, once poor students? In the DEM
ocratic Japan OF today the man with wider
knowledge and better ability has always
the chance To mako himself prominent,
and this the student knows. The amoi-
tious student In Europe or America 10 NOT
more ambitious than the japanese stu
dent. The student In Japan II born with
ambition and dies with ambition. He -
usually a hard worker and studies IN per-
feet faith and with Dtdo-like sincerity.
Read an hundred times over. and mean
ing win be itself clear" Is q popular pro-
verb among the students. and It simply
teaches patience and study.
II you viii 60 to Kanda or Hougo. the
students districts Of Tokyo. At evening
and look up at the paper windows OF the
boarding houses, you will zee on the paper
black shadows, now stopping and now mt
ing. This means that the owners Of these
shadows are studying for to1n0rrcw's les
sons. Know the existence OF to-day, but
never think of tomorrow" their pFover0
says This means that they .uaust nnish
up their studies today. not iet tnem g
until tomorrow. Progress Is the Idea OF
every student and nothing Ii allowed TO
hinder that progress
The teacher is regarded, by the Japanese
student as second parent, ana the relA-
ton between them II very close and warm.
Besides the class room work. the teacher
Is often consulted by the student about his
personal matters To the question OF IN.
portance he answers with sympathy, and
to the Question OF lighter nature with
smile. The student goes to him without
scruple, and with all manner Of questions.
Harmony in every way exists between
them. .4gh Z. ,B WI
The student is generally well treated
throughout the country-is even regarded
as belonging to a privileged class. Every
government ofi1cial, professor. man OF I'M
dustry, and. In truth. every man belonging
to the better class of society thinks II
an honorable thing to have two or three
students in his, house. and TO help them In
their education: very often he buys thetF
books. pays their tuition, and gives Them
board and room, not treating them ~ help
know a lawyer In Tokyo who has fourteen
students In his house. helping each Of them
in every possible way. His home itself 10
very much like boarding school. The
students in Germany are much respected.
and 1t is said well treated, but surely not
so we'll as in the flower land. In the
houses, before the shops, on the streets,
even in the chop houses, the student getA
the best. This Is because the people are
interested In the makers Of the next Gdn-
Grafton anxious to have the coming Japan
greater than the Japan of today.
The German student uses . peculiat
lamp, called In this country the student
lamp" In Japan, not the lamp only. but
clothing. shoes, hats. pipes, almost every
thing used by the student, IL different from
that used by other classes. One thing
which attracts attention Of foreigners u
the badge worn on the hat, each school
having its distinctive one The students Of
the government schools are In uniforms
and the uniforms again diner among the
different schools.
Curious things with the Japanese stu
dents are the Ginshi. the recital Of poems.
and the Kenbu, the sword dance. The
poems sung are usually the patriotic ones.
the dances performed the enthusiastic
ones In the iobhies Of the schools very
often, while the students are waiting for
the next recitation, one will chance TO sing
an excitable poem; whereupon the whole
mass joins In at the chorus, swhile others
of them leap upon the benches and dance
the Kenbu. They lean much toward In
tellectual contests. and the annual debate
between the six great law schools Of Tokyo
IL q most exciting thing in student circles,
In the hall Of one OF the law schools, amid
the applause Of thousands, young Ciccros
and Demostheneses with black hair and
almond eyes. deliver senator-like orations.
Tctto w hos ofsu a mr.