The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-15

to the indomitable spirit and strong in
tellectuality of the men.
The idea of Womanhood in Japan
generation ago was the oriental one:
"Obey first your parents, then your
husband. Your mission in life is to
please man and take care of children.
Be submissive sweet tempered, and
lively when man wants you to be live
ly, silent when he does not. But, above
all, be submissive" This the old wo-
man of Japan was. She had an imper-
turbably good temper which differen-
tiated her from the shri1 voiced, hys-
terical female of China. The old Japa-
uese woman was also far more intellec-
tual than the Chinese woman, though
until recently she had little opportunity
for intellectual culture.
The japanese woman of the lower
class worked as a common laborer both
In the fields and in the cities. This Gus
tom prevails still. Today the Japanese
woman of the caste of the laborer
works as a coal HEAVIER and freight
handler side by side with men, and
many a time some of her male COM
panions give out before she does. 1t is
undoubtedly owing partly to these
centuries of outdoor manual labor on
the part of it's women that the physique
of the japanese race is so superior.
Physically there is certainly no race
| today equal to the Japs in spite of
their small stature. It is to be remem-
bered, too, that japanese mothers have
never been incased in corsets. Their
national kimono is merely a loose
dressing gown, and they usually wear
underneath it only one garment, equally
loose.
Such was Japan's old woman, igno-
rant, laborious. submissive, yet imbued
with the national japanese good tenn
per and brains. Her ideal seemed to
/ be that of loving service. The ideal of
loving service prevails still. but now
the love would offer intelligent, educat-
ed service.
Japan has a new woman. There are
not very many of the class as yet, but
they are increasing rapidly. To give
credit where it belongs, the new woman
idea of Japan is chiefly due to the men
They visited western nations. They OBJ
! served the advanced position of woman,
so far as it has advanced, particularly
in the United States. They seem to
have a sixth sense, these little people,
which tells them what to adopt and
what to leave out among the ways Of
western countries. They saw that the
emancipation of woman was good; at
least the more enlightened among them
did.
They went home and preached the
new doctrine of the higher education OF
woman, and the little women of their
race were not slow to catch up the
new doctrine.
The first thing for the aspiring Jap
girls to do was to come to the western
world and go to school. This they did
by the thousand. Once, a few years ago,
on ship coming to San Francisco
from the orient, I saw a young japanese
lady of high rank. belonging, in fact,
to the caste of the nobility of her coun-
/ try. She was a student in a university
in California, and she was coming to
I join her class. She was refined and ev-
identity somebody uncommon at home,
yet this noble lady was travelling sec
ond cabin in order to reduce her ex-
penses and enable her to take the uni
versity course. How many American
girls of even the moderately well to do
class would travel second cabin on the
sea to save money for schooling2
In the rush to gain western knowl-
edge young japanese noblemen and stu
dents came to America and hired them