The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-11
GOSSIP ABOUT JAPAN.
PIAy Poker for GeiSha Glrls-Theatre Wayv
Rude western Tourists.

ANoJ \ SAO4 ~ Nb-- 'oS3
Rude western Tourists.
The game Of poker has become quite the
rage In Toxic. There arc many clever
dealers who play it with a kitty, and who
stake the indenture papers Of geisha (tea-
house, girls on a particularly good hand.
An Englishmaa living in Japan gossips
entertatningly in the East Of Asia magazine
about this and other ways Of the modern
Jap. He says that where an Englishman,
winning in such a game, would say Better
luck next time, old ohapl" the Toxic player
sets free the geisha he has won and to the
loser murnurs August pardon deign!'
He gives some odd signs which he had
come across, such as millionaire and Dress:
MAKER Ladies' Outfatter' and Fried
Souls
The theatres on the night Of a first per
Torrance charge half price only. The
actors allow a rebate for their raj OF COM
pletenees on this night, the slow movemen
their dialogues. At the end Of the play
the proprietor and the entire troupe Of actors
kneel before the audience, praying the
house "augustly to pardon the shortcomings
Of their play" n promising a better per-
Torrance on the morrow.
II any one going to a Japanese theatre Is
foolish enough to hand his tickets over to
bogus collector he lie compelled by law to
pay again, 80 let him beware and stick 10
his tickets. Your hotel or tea house doss
all the business in this matter. they purchase
the tickets (Which you never even, see;
procure your chair; your comforts In the
eating and drinking line; choose your com-
pany; introduce you to the actors, and suo-
round you with a thousand other charms,
which are charged in your bill when you
~"honorably depart
In Kamakura there Is a temple on whose
inner walls foreign travellers have scrawled
scurrilous--and worse-sentenoes apropos
Of themselves and Of the place. When now
this shrine, the priest presents him and her
with a slip, printed in Japanese and English,
which reads something like this:
Stranger, whosoever thou art, and from
that thou standest on ground hallowed
through centuries Of veneration by the
worship Of holy pilgrims and the prayers
of venerable priests Of Buddha. Respect
this temple as thou wouldst yenerate thine
A party Of ladies and gentlemen, resident
and we'll acquainted with the language
and customs OF Japan, got belated in a
mountain excursion on q rainy evening.
They told their rickshaw men to take them
after many protestations of the ~lateness
Of the our and the inclemency of the
weather, at last agreed to do.
After circumnavigating half a dozen
mountains, wei, anu III u very uuCeI ldll
temper, they at last came to a house, which
looked respectable enough for anybody.
The smiling master led the party to his
best guest room, where his wife and daugh-
tiers did all they could to make them COM
Portable.
Yet, somehow, nothing seemed to please;
the rice was cold, the fretonS were damp
and the mosquito curtains smelled musty.
In the morning breakfast was served.
their vehicles mustered at the front door.
and nothing. now remained but to settle
their little bill.
The foremost lady Of the party, a dame
Of great local repute and the wife Of a man
admixture Of condescension and hauteur
inquired aLkurdP' CHow muchO Then
the mar Of the house spoke English, and
what he said was this:
Ladies' and gentlemen, you have done
me a great honor by staying over night
sons. are in Toxic, where they are serving
in the Mikado's household. l, my wife
and my daughters have failed in our en-
beavers to make you comfortable: accept,
therefore, our united excuses, My name
is Count M, and l do not know how to
keep an inn, horde keep one. The pleasure
Of entertaining such a distinguished COM
pany of foreigners quite compensates us
for any expenses incurred, and as a me-
mento Of my wretched hospitality there he
concluded in Japanese, which these people
understood thoroughly. WE'LL deign to
accept these irises, which my daughters
have juft plucked for YOU in the garden
Confusion! Cards exchanged Exit
partly
These episodes happen-often, and will
occur again and again until the foreign
element begins to fathom the depths Of the
Soul Of Nippon