Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-11
TRAITS OF JAPANESE
AS A NATION THEY ARE CLEANLY
AND INDUSTRIOUS.
Atmosphere Of the Island Empire
Purest in the Orient-East-
ern Civilization.

Yokohama Correspondence Boston Transcript.
To one who comes out of India and China.
Japan is a paradise. To one who has ex-
pertenced for four months all the fell evils
of an Indian fever, Japans atmosphere is
the very breath of life. To one who has
learned to know the dirt and filth of India.
its monotony. its dishonesty, its lack of en-
terprfse. the cleanliness of Japan. its eager
advance In the ways Of civilization. its jol-
Hty. its carefulness. it's industry are reve-
latiOns of delight. The people are good
natured. Woodworking, and they take
things as they come with winning smile.
They have worked wonders since the revo-
luton of 1868 put the mikado upon the
throne and in supreme power. They have
shown a marvellous selective faculty as to
what they should do themselves and what
they should get white men to do for them
For Instance, they are building in their
own dock yards the smaller ships of their
navy, but they have not yet attempted t"
build for themselves a cruiser or a battle
ship. They have an infinite faculty for
imitation, but very little, If any, inventive
or creative genius.
A week before the naval review at Kobe,
which began on April 10. the railway at
Toxic or Yokohama refused to sell any
more tickets. as all places in the railway
carriages had already been booked. When
remonstrance was made and the sugges-
ton proffered that more carriages should
be put on, or extra trains run, the railway
officials gasped. No such condition had
ever arisen before and they did not know
how to solve the problem. 1t was not that
they were bound by precedent or custom.
It was simply that they did not know how
to act under the strange conditions. They
began their upward road to civilization by
taking France for their model. Frenchmen
built their first railway. But today the
only things of France that survive are the
,,,,tT - H. ,~ols kI,a
constitution. 1t is no secret that the latter
will have to be materially changed, and IL
all things else the United States seems 20
be in the ascendant. From the land of the
stars and stripes the Jap gets his engines,
his machinery. his tobacco, his trolley cars
and his civil and mechanical engineers.
Progress in Thirty Years.
When one considers the vast stride IN
diligently and deliberately taken by japan
during the last thirtyfive years. you can
not but have the greatest respect and ad-
miration for the people. There is SINH
lar instance in history. 1t is a romance Of
a great nation. And looked at from this
point of view, there is nothing so absorb
ingly interesting in the world today. The
bronze and lacquer work are real and great
art judged by whatever standard you wish.
But when these things have been said,
conceive that the tale Of legitimate praise
is ended both for the country and the pcO-
pie. and it is time to turn to the other side
of the shield.
Every one has heard of the dishonesty of
the Japanese. Personally, l have received
the best of fair dealing from shopkeepers
and innkeepers. But I have asked men,
Englishmen and Americans, who have been
in business In Japan all the way from
thirty to seven years, and the verdict is
unanimous The largest percentage of hon
eSty among Japanese merchants, manufac-
turers and business men that any one has
yet ventured Is 10 per cent My informants
say that the higher political officers are
honest and spotless. but all of the lower
ones are open to brides. Such statements,
based, of course, upon opinion and not upon
statistics, may be very misleading and
usually are so. But when there is such
consensus of opinion among white men
one must accept 1t as substantially true
until he is able to get better evidence.
Japanese Scenery.
So much has been written about the ex-
traordinary and extravagant beauties of the
scenery that 1t seems like voice crying
in the wilderness to try to write of it in
other terms. The inland sea is pretty.
nothing more 1 should say that the coast
of Maine, almost anywhere, could give 1t
liberal discount, and am sure that neither
Eggemoggtn Reach nor Fox Island thor
oughfare ought to be mentioned in the
same month with 1t, so vastly do they sur
pass it. The mountain districts of Miyano-
shita and Hakone. whence one views Full
san Alright, are attractive, with a mild and
inoffensfve ruggedness that does not ap-
proach to grandeur. Fuji-san itself is well
worthy of worship. In all it's beauty and
peacefulness 1t raises it's snow capped head
from the sea level with the proud grace of
a noble woman. 1t is as fortunate in its
situation as in its contour. But even it has
not the inspiration of grandeur, beautiful
though 1t Is. Kipling has said that one
who knows and understands Fuji-san will
know and understand Japan. That, of
course is not true. But I think that 1t is
true to say that one who does not see how
the Japanese have come to hold their noun
tain sacred will never have admiration for
or sympathy with them. Again at Nikko
the traveller is disappointed. The far
famed temples there are outdone by those
at Toxic, about which little has been writ
ten. But no praise can be too great for
the wonderful scenery round about Nikko
and Lake Chuzenji.