The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-04-23

]
| and Customs Of the Yankees of the
orient-Hovv the Visitor Il Recciv-
ed-ChiIdrcu DffiEent in studies.
| According to a gentleman who has re-
turned TO Washington after having spent
| several years in Japan studying ChaTaC-
! teristics and traits of the lands and sub
! jeCts of the AfikadO, that powerful little
/ empire is rapidly throwing off the shack
/ fes of superstition and opening its eyes
/ to the great truths Of civilization. only
| a little while ago" this gentleman says,
the japanese people regarded their SOW
ereign as sacred The AIikado was consid-
/ sidered Just much the Son of Heaven
! as the Chinese Emperor Is by his benight-
ed people. Since superStitions Of this kind,
which are received by inheritance and
rooted IN the minds of the common peo-
pie. are most difficult TO eradicate, it Is
greatly to Japan's credit that she has
thrown off the shackIes of such prehis-
toric ideas and practically adopted in a
few years the present-day attitude of the
West toward royalty.
| Still. it is natural that the Emperor of
Japan should still be regarded with the
! greatest reverence by his subjects 1t is
only recently that they have been allowed
| to see his face Up to the time of the res
| toration. in 1865. if he ever went outside
| of his palace grounds in Kioto he was car
ried in a closed cart drawn by a bull.
/ Even the throne was surrounded by cur
| tains To within q few years ago nobody
was allowed To look out of the upper win
| dow Of a house while the Emperor passed
| because it was not meet that one of the
! EmperOr's subjects should be above his
| lord"
| The latter statement recalls that when
| the Dowager Empress was buried in Kioto
| the same regulation held good The fu-
eraI procession was long and impressive
the body being borne on a cart which was
| built to give forth a melancholy and
weird, almost unearthly. squeak as the
| wheels TeVOlVed- The -'COrtege-' passed
! through kioto at night and was viewed
| in absolute silence from the streets and
| lower windows, deep obeisances being
made TO the bier and the royal mOurneTS
SO low Is the obeisance which is still re-
| CURED at the passing OF an emperor that
! It Is weii-uigh impossible even today to
get view OF the royal cOuntenGnce while
| passing Inc Japanese bow. under al cir
cUnStdnceS. Is very much Of bow. in
deed II Is noJ merely nod Of the head.
sometimes OF the shoulders but a deem
bend from the waist head and an the
eyes being cast down at the same time.
W neH the japanese Emperor goes any
where on the railroad on his special train
as lev months ago. when he Travelled
from Tokyo 10 Kobe to be present at The
naval maneuVreS the way is almost en-
tiTely lined with soldiers police school
children MARSHALL by their teachers.
and thTOngs Of the common people Army
officers of ali ranks appear =TeSpIsndent in
their CecOrationS-sBd il must be said tina (
few japanese of any consequence ere with
out one or moTe-aGG the long ranks OF
spruce looking soldiers and police make a
fine showing
! Up TO a year or two ago when the En-
( perGr's train was on the road nc other
trains were allowed 10 run till 1t had pass
/ ed. Il was considered disrespectful for
( another tram 10 pass the imperial one
/ Lately this rule has been done away with
and Trains are supposed to run on SEIZED
/ uIe time Just the same As a matter OF
fact. the imperial train has the right of
| way every where. and since the tine of its
going and coming i arbitrary and may be
1 changed at any time 20 suit the caprice
! OF the sovereign travel Is apt TO be pre-
caTiOUS when the Emperor Is on the road.
This uncertainty as TO the time that the
imperial train II due at any given place
Inconvenience for they are obliged 10 be
on hand from the earliest hour when
the passing OF the tram IS pos
sible- ana no difference IS made for rain
or storm. The troops may stand at at
tentiCn for hours in a drilling rain, and
the poor school children must often wish
that they were safely back IA their
SChoOirOomS. for the occasion Is far from
being holiday Y hen the train finally
/ sweeps by or stops the civilians are all
Obliged 10 bow and stay bowed. while the
royal parsonage IS in sight. SO few Of
| them have any opportunity to see his
face.
The doing away with many Of the alb
SuTd customs founded on long. established
precedent is due 10 the Emperor himself
| He IL was who first decided that he would
eat 9TH the Empress and treat her as an
equal On many occasions he has taken
pains to show that his ideas are more
democratic than those Of most Of his sub
! JeCts- or course precedent still means a
| great deal and always viii, for Japan is
an Oriental country. and everything that
! the Emperor does on all occasions is cut
and dried for him beforehand At 4 To-
cent review while he was seated on horse
! back, surrounded by his generals and
those detailed TO wait tyersOnalIv on their
sovereign. ne suddenly gaIloped AWAY TO
another position. ana stood there. laugh
ing at his aStonished and shocked retfu1Ie
At the imperial garden party and other
court functions on foreign lines their ma
/ Jesties are most gracious and simple in
their reception both Of the foreign dipIo-
mats and their families. and of the JaTaD-
csc OF high rank Little Ella bora Re af}
quette Is observed.
| The small schoolboy in Japan generally
DehaVeS himself better and studies hard
/ ct than do the Caucasian schooJb0vs At tbe
other SIDE of the world. While the school
| system in Japan has gradually become
more and more Ike ours. the conditions Of
life in Japan are 50 dissimiIar that it is
| carried out in a different way and an
/ American boy would open his eyes wide if
! ne paid visit to japanese public school
| Most OF the buildings Of the element ~
and fliddle schools are Of native s.rchita,.
| lure tnaJ L. built very lightly Of wood
| and plaster, with often nothing thicker
than paper fOE window panes No Ian
! aneSe house Il more than TWO stories b gh
and the schOOlTOOmS are on both floors the
second floor being reached bv an exceed
! ingiy steep and slippery flight Of wooden
stairs running from the lower hall 10 The
| upper one side quite open to the air in
the daytime and closed with wooden mar
els al night In the lower hail are wooden
shelves. and on these are neatly placed
rows Of wooden clogs, or ''geta-' which is
the japanese shoe for street wear In the
house they simply wear their little white
or blue ia BIZ or '-miJten socks so called
because they have 4 place for the big toe
| Just a. mitten does for the thumb These
! have double sole. Some of the nave no
/ socks at AL and when they leave their
| geta' below 90 about school barefoot.
| but Their feeL are always clean
| The temperature Of japanese school
/ rooms in cold weather would cause West
! ern boys real hardship, though the jap
/ aUeSc boys do 20 mind il at all because
/ they have the same thing in their own
/ homes Some people ina CINE that Japan
| Is warm all the year around. As a mat
| ter OF TACT the cold in winter though the
| thermometer never goes very low is
/ harder to bear than IN climates which
! nave the reputation OF being much more
! severe There Il always a great deal Of
moisture ia the air. and this makes tho
/ cold extremely penetrating Yet in mid
! winter few Of these public schools have
| any artificial heat except such a faint Do
| gree Of warmth as may ema nate from a
! small bronze braZieT in the centre Of the
/ room containing two or three tinv sticks