Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-24
M AIDENS OF JAPAN
AMERICAN GIRLS AND THOSE OF
CHERRY-BLossoM LAND.
Contrast Between Them as Drawn by
Visitor From the Far
East.
From the New York Tribune.

r rom the New YORK Tribune.
Human beings In the more complex grades
of living feel a natural interest in what
others think of them. Self-centered this
may be. but it Is human. Next to seeing
ourselves as our contemporaries see US is
the view of outsiders Of other nationalities.
Such is the attraction Of Prof Munster
berg's american Traits of the lecture
talks by the Spanish woman who has been
criticising Americans of late. And there
are some suggestive points in the COMPARE
son Of Japanese with American girls made
by woman newly come to this country
from the far east.
1T is very natural for any person who
sets foot on a foreign land" says this
Japanese visitor, ito compare everything
with that of his own country. Though
my experiences here are not great, yet the
thing which / cannot help seeing is the
marked contrast between the American and
Japanese girls. The first thing which can
not be passed unnoticel by us, not to men,
ton the American girls superiority in bod
lily height, is the difference in their move
ments. The American girls, generally
speaking are more active and lively. I
don't mean that our girls are lazy loiterers,
but that their movements are slower and
more careful.
Loud Talking.
The way the girls here talk rather
strikes me with a sense of establishment.
Oh, how loudly they speak and how freely
they laugh! If young girls in our country
should ever do such things, people would
stare at them with such reprOachful looks
that they would not dare to do so any more.
AS for manners, the American girls seem
not to pay so much attention to them
girls do. The girls here are not so
greatly restricted. nor governed by the SEN
tence, Behave womanly.' Besides this, the
two 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 be-
fore others. The utmost they do Is to sit
on the grass or under some trees. How
ever much one might try to have them eat
cakes on the streets or in the cars, they
would not.
Good to Guests.
What I admire in the American girls is
their skill in entertaining guests. They do
it so beautifully and so naturally. They
are, moreover. easy to become friends.
Once they meet, they seem to feel as if
they are acquaintance of long time. Our
girls are not ignorant Of how to entertain.
they are very much inferior in this point
Though they are not ignorant Of how to en-
terrain they are not used to 1t. They have
not much trouble in receiving their intimate
friends, but they find 1t rather painful
work to entertain those with whom they
are not well acquainted. The best they can
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.
Precocious Japs.
Next comes the question Of character.
This is more difficult to compare than the
outward manners ! shall take only those
traits which are very remarkable. The
Japanese girls are more precocious When
they are over seventeen or eighteen years
old they think themselves quite grown up,
be cause parents do not allow them to be-
have like young girls. They leave their
piaythings and turn their minds toward
things which will be useful when they get
| married. 80 the ways they talk. the ways
they think. are unlike those here But
much more conspicuous than this preco-
ciousness IL the reservedness Of our girls
Though they feel as much as American
girls, they do not show their feelings much.