Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-02
ALI Japan Evidenced Cordial
ity Toward Taft Party.
NOTABLE INCIDENTS
DESCRIPTION OF THE MOST I'M
PoRTANT OF THE FESTIVITIES.
Deep-Rooted Social Customs Temper
arily Set Aside In Difference to
Distinguished Americans.
Special Correspondence of The Star.

| Special Correspondence Of The Star
| NAGASAKI, Japan, August 1. 1905.
| The departure OF the Taft party from
this port for Manila closed what Is in many
| respects an event unprecedented in the his
tory Of Japanese intercourse with other
| nations. The reception Of the Taft party
| in Japan was kept strictly within the lines
| of a social courtesy from nation to
| another, without being given a political
| color or without the intersection into the
| round of social festivities of any interna-
| tional politics whatever on the part of the
| Japanese who have in this respect con-
| formed strictly to the wishes expressed by
| the government at Washington in its &C
| ceptance Of the invitation to an official re-
| ception when this party should pass
! through Japan.
| markable round of entertainments in To-
| kyo, and then the trip across the country
! and the final demonstrations in this out-of-
| the-way and untypical port of Japanese
| foreign trade, NagaSakl, We're a scale
| that was totally unexpected by the members
| of the Taft party before it's arrival in ia
| pan. Not alone in the Iavishness of detail
| was the reception notable but in many lit
tie ways which have constituted it an affair
| unprecedented in Japan Only the recep-
| ton to Gen. Grant could be compared with
| IT, bul tNlS Is 4 party or over eighty men,
| bers, official and unofficial and upon the
| more than fifty members of Secretary
Tafts staff and the members of Congress
and their wives, who constitute the party
| proper, attentions were Showered of a sort
and in way never before known in this
| country.
Arrival of the Manchuria.
Though the Manchuria arrived in Yoko-
hama harbor one day ahead Of schedule,
| hGr presence in the hav heipo
during the night, she was met off quaran-
tine early in the morning by representatives
| OF the Japanese government and at the
| wharf by representatives of the commercial
| interests of Yokohama and Tokyo, and sew
eral hundred Japanese women, the dele
gates from various educational and char
| table organizations, including the Red
| cross of Japan. The presence of Japanese
women In public celebration was in itself
| an extraordinary feature.
A special train took the party jmmo-
diately to Tokyo, where Secretary Taft and
| MS star were made the guests of the en-
peror in the Shiba detached palace, a
rather simple editice in itself, but mag
| nlncently furnished and in the midst of a
beautiful summer garden overlooking To-
| kyo bay. Miss Roosevelt was among the
| ohcial guests taken to the American lega-
,lon by Minister Griscom, and all the mem
| berS of Congress and their wives were
| quartered at japanese houses. in some cases
| the homes of the Japanese nobility or mem
bers Of the imperial household, besides
| those VINO were put up at the American and
| German legations.
| The activity of the German minister
count Arco de Valley, in entertaining
| American guests on this occasion was
| much commented on. He gave his CON
| gressional guests three set dinners and
| devoted himself to them during their
| stay sending them off enthusiastic with
praises for German hospitality. The Brit
| ish embassy did not figure to any extent
| in the round of festivities and in general
| II was notable throughout that in all the
iraternizing between japanese and Amer
| leans the other branch of "the Anglo
| saxon race did not figure largely
In the Imperial Palace.
The cable dispatches have transmitted
| Information of the official round of cere-
| monies, but they have given only a brief
| account or the completeness of every de-
tail in the Japanese arrangements and Of
! the sumptuousness of some of these af-.
| fairs. The most notable event was. of
! course, the audience and luncheon given to
| the official members of the party by the
emperor in the imperial palace. Audiences
traordinary, though not SO common
| either while the reception by the en-
| peror OF so large list of guests is alto
gether unprecedented. But the luncheon
| in ways that could only indicate that the
Japanese had decided to make great al
| loWances for certain informality among
| Americans, and in some degree to copy
| American social customs.
The American minister himself who
had, of course, been In close touch with
an an the arangements for the, RECEPTION of
the I psTey' y va p9t prepared soe OF
sire show Se oeeas Gmpe was ve ds
sne"ia. and so regarded by the supreme
ruler of the country. The latter went
down the long lines of guests at the
\ hni ,}NI t~
| arately on this occasion, and reached out
| his hand to each person Afterward the
| party was taken into portions of the i'm
| perial gardens not known to have been
| opened to any guests whatever for years
| Souvenirs were presented to all the mem
| bers of the party, while the handsomest
OF presents were bestowed upon Secre-
tary Taft and his staff. and upon Miss
| Roosevelt and her friends, Misses Board
man and Mcmillan of Washington The.
empress, too. made gifts to Secretary
Taft and the members of his staff
In the round of smaller dinners that
were given by Japanese members of the
government and of the imperial house
hold there was further showering of
some of them being of a very handsome
sort. AT the American legation it was
stated that 1t had been very difficult to
keep down the list of these smaller social
engagements, dinners, etc, which promi-
nent Japanese desired to give the party
At It's departure from Tokyo some of
tEeSe men were pressing for another Of
fetal visit on the return from the Philip
pines.
Some Of the Festivities.
The cables have told about the great BAN
quet given to all members of the party to
Japanese noblemen and officials and their
wives, members Of the foreign diplomatic
and commercial colonies. ETC., in the Impe-
rial Hotel, Tokyo; of the japanese dinner
and sDecial program of DANCES nv tha hest
Japanese dramatic talent at the famous
Maple Club; of the dinner set for all the
party by Minister of War Teraoutsi In
the beautiful gardens of the Tokyo arsenal,
and of the large garden party given at the
American legation, where Princes FushimI
and Kanin and Processes Fushmi and Ma
shimoto received alongside of Miss Roose-
welt, the Secretary Of War and the Ameri-
can minister. They will have told of the
presence of members of the imperial house,
hold, as well as Of such men as Marquis
Ito and Admiral Ito, who ranks Togo al
the dinner given by Count Katsura. and of
NV hA lott