New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-07-23
AMERICAN AND JAPANESE GIRLS
CONTRAST AS DRAWN BY A VISITOR FROM
THE FAR EAST
The waist Is in


Human beings IN the more complex grades OF
living feel natural interest IN what others think
OF them. SefCentred this may be, but Il Is human
Next to seeing ourselves our contemporaries see
Is the view oc outsiders OF other nationalities.
Such IS the attraction Of Professor Munsterbergs
American Traits" Of the lecture talks by the
| Spanish woman who has been cr!tc!sing Ameri-
OF late. And there some suggestive points
| in the comparison of Japanese with American girls
| made by q woman newly come 10 this country from
the Far East.
1T is very natural for any person who sets foot
on foreign land" says this Japanese visitor TO
compare everything with that OF his own country.
Though my experiences here are not great yet the
thing which I cannot help seeing is the marked
contrast between the American and Japanese girls.
The first thing which cannot be passed unnoticed
| by US not TO mention the American girls superb
ority in bodily height is the difference IN their
movements. The American girls. generally speak
ing are more active and lively. don't mean that
our girls are lazy loiterers, but that their move
| ments are slower and careful.
The way the girls here talk rather strikes me
| with sense of establishment. Oh. how loudly they
! speak and how freely they laugh! II young girls
in our country should ever such things, people
would at them with such reproachfui looks
/ that they would not dare TO do so any more
AS for manners. the American girls seem not
| TO nav so much attention TO them as our girls do
The girls here Tot so greatly restricted nor
governed by the sentence. Behave womaniy. Be
sides this, the things which our girls never
| never do are that they do not lounge on the
ground and that they do not eat while walking or
| playing However much they may be tired they
dare not stretch their bodies out before oLhers.
The utmost they do is to sit on the grass or uhoer
some trees However much might try 10 have
them eat cakes on the streets in the cars they
would not.
What I admire in the American girls is their
skill in entertaining guests They do il so beautl-
fully and so naturally. They are. moreover. easy
TO become friends Once they meet they seem to
! feel if they are acquaintances Of long time
Our girls very much inferior in this point
Though they not ignorant of how TO entertain
they are not used to it. They have not much
trouble in receiving their intimate friends. but
| they find it rather a painful work to entertain
those with whom they are not well acquainted;
! The best they do Is to bow and greet, and
! carry tea or cakes to them. They themselves
/ know their defect and sincerely wish that they
/ could treat guests more entertainingly
Next comes the question of character. This Is
more difficult compare than the outward manners.
! / shall take only those traits which remark
/ able The japanese girls are more precocious When
they are over seventeen eighteen years old they
! not allow them 10 behave like young girls Iney
leave their playthings and turn their minds toward
/ think are Unlike those here But much more con-
| ness Of our girls Though they feel as much
much. Cries Of JOY. outstretched hands and rush
ing forth are seen seldom IN our 9w a1 nd
loving words. All that tends TO self-forgetful ac-
from a noted Japanese novel is characteristic of
people: IL describes how a mother separates
| from her son and daughter: Who feels 1t not hard
! the separation of husbands and wives, the sepa-
! ration Of parents and children? Yet how can we
! help il in this world of where separation al
WAYS follows after meeting and sorrow after Ii
! while her eyes were filled with secret tears her
/ bow remained in silence, and her daughter
/ I'm summing up, it may be said that the Ameri-
ways are active. free, easy ana natural, Wnlle
our ways are quieter, more reserved more re-
stricted. and in some respects little unnatural
! What to the chief causes Of these dll-
ferences are the Dress and the oq custom ilsetl
Our dress. though II Is confortable Is not rlsfls
! for the brisk agement of bodies Our way OF
dressing the hair and our high wooden shoes are
not convenient for work. As Tor the other dlIier-
! ences. II | describe a japanese woman or thirty
| years ago. il will Ice sufficient explanation. A
! woman then did not receive any high education
for Il was thought that intellectual development
harmful her good moral qualities. No
! friendship with boys was allowed Japanese girl
sometimes. after her tenth or eleventh year. She
never allowed TO go TO any party without
( pOrtant requirement for her was TO be gentle
sweet obedlent, not 10 speak much. but rather be
I mat any time the difficulties might come she
/ might be able 10 bear them without even shedding
tear. Thus brought up her business after she
band She had nothing TO do with the world. Her
homo her world.
but now conditions have changed very much.
Old customs and Ideas Of morality partly
crushed. and new tendencies are slowly but
are a problem OF the day Though the right sort
is not yet invented. manv changes have been made.
particularly In schoogirls dress. The sleeves are
done in European ways. and foreign shoes are en-
couragcd. Athletic exercises are considered an
schools TO give girls hugh education are started.
clubs for them are opened The sphere OF work Is
widened every year 70 make our womens position
higher and our civilization finer