The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-25
THE DIET OF THE JAPS.

While the main part of the city is
imposing. there are thousands of the
curious little houses you have always
thought of as characteristic OF Toxic.
There are miles of streets where only
such houses are seen: houses fourteen
or fifteen feet wide. and one story
high. Then a house thirty feet wide
The streets are always narrow in the
section where the curio houses are
found Many of these houses have
porches that I am certain are not more
than four feet wide and fifteen. feet
long. Toxic, of course, is mainly
composed of these little wooden houses
built after a quaint fashion; the inner
and modern district is not large, ana
this is city of nearly two million
people: it is one Of the great cities OF
the world. ranking fifth, or sixth or
seventh, I have forgotten which
There are so many of these narrow
crooked streets, lined with the little
wooden houses, that an American
might become lost in them, and never
be able to find his way out. In front
of every little house, there IS shop; ;
a fish shop, a meat shop, a confecuOn-
cry shop, and hundreds Of other
varieties: some of the varieties so
During my long ramble today, did
not see a single bakery: the people do
not eat bread; they live mainly on
rice and fish, and incidentally 1 may
say the fish are delicious. In room
behind or over every shop, the pro-
prietor's family lives. There is no
room for the children, so they play IN
the streets: there are as many chill
dren here as may be seen in the 1tai-
ian section of New York, ana Inal Is
-HaaTaH IGHu
our rickashaw men trOtted along they
were constantly crying out to chlldren
TO get out of the way. The r1chashaW
me seem to have rights; when. they
say Til hill" people pay attention.
and step out of the way. There are no
sidewalks in the narrow streets; the
streets are not more than twenty rect
wide-nO room for sidewalks, so peo-
pie walk in the streets
Toxic is located on an arm of the
sea, but big ships can not enter It's
harbOr, owing to shallow water. There
is now a movement on foot to expend
a million dollars in dredging. The
location of the main part of Toxic IS
fiat, although back OF the city are the
ever-present mountains. Through the
city run canals which are alive with
boats. and at other places are rapidly
running streams of water; apparently
streams from the neighboring noun
tains-
Toxic has a European section. Thirty
five years ago the government said to
the people: 1T is desired that the Jap
anese become more progressive The
government will build a lot of modern
European houses as object lessons" So
along a certain street for distance Of
ten or twelve blocks, houses of brick
and stone were built; houses that were
modern thirty-f1Ve years ago, in Paris
or London. This section Of Toxic is
now almost as quaint as the section OF
little wooden houses.
AS the houses of Toxic are built main
~ of wood, there is always great dan
ger of fire, so occasionally a hreproOf
house is encountered along the narrow
streets. 1t is no larger than the houses
around it, but is built Of the lava rock
for which the country is famous. You
have, of course, seen fre-proOf safes
standing open in business houses. The
little fre-prOOf houses in Toxic have
but one upper window, and this is pro-
tected by fire-prOOf shutters; when the
shutters are open, the house looks like
a big fire-prOof safe standing open for
the days business The little fire-prOof
houses soon attract your attention.
There is another thing that will soon
attract your attention in Toxic: When a
man stops and ties his horse, he ties it's
front legs. The horses have become &C
customed to the ptactice, and it is eff
fective; an American horse would go
crazy and break its fool neck if treat
ed that way.
could wander along the canals in
Toxic and find amusement for a month.
Sailing boats which go out to sea are
pushed along these canals by means of
poles. Once out Of the canals, the boats
put up masts and sails and go to
strange places; for Japan is composed
of four thousand islands. On one of
these boats today I saw woman as
sisting her husband in prOpelling the
boat by means Of a pole; the husband
on one side and the wife on the other,
with q baby on her back. The baby
was cooling and playing while its mother
worked. The crew of the little boat
consisted of husband and wife; there
was a tiny little cabin at the stern
where they have probably lived all their
married life; certainly the baby was
born in the tiny little cabin.
I see many Japanese people here who
look like people at home. Today, in a
street car, we saw a pretty girl wh6
looked like some one we knew. We
couldn't think who il was until after we
left the car; Theodore Intfen's little girl
Imagine a man dressed in japanese
clothes and looking exactly like Charley
Linley: that is another sight we saw to-
day.
Although the japanese are quit,
small, occasionally you run across {
big one. A large man here is as notabl,
as a little man at home
Today we visited a department store
We went in at one door and out a
another after wandering about in {