Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-09
ABOUT THE JAPANESE
/
FIST FIGHT GENERALLY $REFACEs
DEATH STRUGGLE.
Japan in winter-Colder In Houses OF
the Rich rn"" in d F. Sunshine
A Spartan People.
m \ Reniamin in Ainslee's Mafazine.

l suppose that the American people and
the Russians are the only western races
that really keep warm In winter; still those
who dwell in other countrieS admit that
they have the same ideal by their ineff-
cient effort to attain to It. The japanese
winter is most trying on account of it's con-
tinual dampness, but the Japanese are con-
tent to remain cold. They make almost no
effort to overcome it. The old "Rushido''
(chivalrous) idea Of the "samuraf' (Snights)
was that it was effeminate to feel cold, and
such is their severe training that they do
not really feel it as we do. The wearing of
some extra ''kimonos'' and the of a
"hibachi' or brazier in which are a few
tiny sticks of lighted charcoal are the only
concessions to winter weather With the
'hibachi" they never pretend to heat more
than their finger tips, which they hold over
the Goals; it is used when the house is
tirely open. The houses, as every one
knows, are built of thin, light wood, and
the sliding panels which serve for doors
and windows have paper panes They are
as apt to be open as closed during the
day. When l took my hrst 'jinrikisha"
ride through the streets of NagaSaki for
got my own sufferingS in my sympathy for
this unhappy nation, which, as surely as
the cold came endured such misery from it.
The coolies wear thin blue cotton clothes
and are always padding through the mud.
The storekeepers sit out in their open
booths, and the women go bareheaded
about the streets. In the houses of the
rich the still cold behind the closed panels
Is often more intense than that outside in
the sunshine, where the air is stirring.
The schools and public buildings are equal
ly frigid. 1t seemed to me that the only
warm things in Japan were the babies
who looked like bundles of gayly colored
crepe, their round heads covered by knit
caps. They slumber peacefully tucked down
their mothers backs. The attempt to keep
" -iv,fa 30 o< j~11,-
Improvement" though it goes with west
ern civilization. The Coreans do it very
thoroughly, the Chinese to certain extent
The Japanese. as a race, continue to scorn
1t as they always have done; and this is
merely one of hundred examples which
prove that the Japanese are still true to
their traditions in their daily life and as
yet little affected in the ordering of their
homes by the ideas adopted from the west
No Wife-Bentins.
In spite of these qualities Of easily
aroused antagonism, of pride and Spartan
ideals, the Japanese are an essentially gen.
tie race-more than the Anglo Saxons
Broils in which one man hits another are
of rare occurrence; blows are generally the
preface of a death struggle. The women
may often suffer from the prevailing ideals
OF morality, which are yet much lower
than ours, but there are few heaters
and the home atmosphere Is almost always
true poiteness on the part of the foreigner
goes long way, and almost invariably
meets with warm recOgnitien you rarely
appeal to the Japanese in vain. They are
as quick to respond to an act of real kind
ness as they are to resent an act which
has a tlnge of arrogance Our government
allowed several transports with returning
volunteers to stop at Yokohama and so
hundreds of American soldiers visited that
city and Toxic One of them hired bicy-
Gle and taking a ride about the streets
of Yokohama when he ran down an elderly
japanese man. The solder rang his bell
several times. but the Japane&e apparently
paid no attention to it. Ind fhe American
found himself promptly arrested and taken
to court where he was fined ten yen five
dollars). He protested that he had done
everything possible to avert the accident
and asked why the man made no attempt
to get out of the way. The policeman
then told him that the man was blind.
The soldier looked dazed fota minute, then
dollar bill. 'Here." he said. ITS the last
I've got but he can have IT, and he truned
it over to the blind man. The Japanese
were deeply touched. and that same day a
delegation of policemen hunted up the SOL
der and gave him back his fine.
Japanese Curiosity.
A characteristic which has been potent
in the undermining of Japan is that Of in
satiable curiosity an intense desire to see
and understand anything new. While the
present day Chinese attitude Is that Of
contempt for any beings or institutions not
evolved in China the Japanese are eager
to know of everything connected with our
form of civilization, and to adopt 1t If 1t
is good Sometimes their great receptive
ness and power of imitation and adoption
lead them to adopt innovations which they
afterward find 1t wiser to discard. Hence |
the accusation of fickleness A peruSal of
japanese history shows that the people |
have ever progressed by impulses. by &C
ton and reaction. and that in the end good
judgment seems to become supreme. The |
foreigner travelling in Japan is soon made !
aware of the quality Of curiosity. On every |
railroad platform he is surrounded by a |
crowd of people who. with their mouths as
wide open as their eyes in their effort to |
lose detail of interest, regard him |
slowly from head to foot. and comment |
upon him among themselves the while. |
These people may have seen hundreds of !
foreigners-they may have seen them every |
day-but they continue to act as if they |
had never seen one before. visited some |
Americans in Toxic who had lived in the |
same house with the same Japanese neigh |
bors for about year. Yet each time that |
we went out to drive the people in the lit |
tie Japanese house near by would rush to |
their windows and stand there watching |
as eagerly a small Yankee at the circus. |
This happened every day. 1t is always pos |
sible to tell whether a foreigner happens |
to be in his garden, for a good-szed crowd |
of japanese gathered about the gate an |
nounces the important fact. l gave several |
talks and lectures to school children and |
young men and women in Japan. They |
were interpreted, I. of course, speaking in |
English. so that half of the address was |
understood by only a few. Yet l have |
never seen audiences more absolutely at |
tentive Not a word was lost and the |
same concentration was shown while 1 was |
speaking as when the Interpreter was turn |
ing it into Japanese. Little school children |
boys and girls-sat drinking everything |
in. with their eyes popping out Of their |
heads until I had finished. l never fiat
tered myself that this was due to the fas-
cination of my discourse. but merely to |
the great curiosity of my audience. their |
power of concentration and their receptiv |
ty. |
Their Endurance.
I have said that the Japanese are |
Spartan race. Many things besides their |
resistance to cold prove it. The most Of |
them live in simplicity. They can go a |
long time without food. The coolies per-
form marvellous feats Of strength and en-
durance; they draw 'jfnrikfsha'' all day |
or carry travellers over the steepest noun |
tains- Every summer colony Of foreign |
ers go to Mt. Hei-eizan near ,Kioto. Their |
camp is several miles up the steep noun |