Morris tribune., 1906-07-14

| the passenger nsG; Une HrsU Omcer
apologies for the delinquents and
you are told that you have been in
pected.
We landed next morning and went
| to the Oriental Hotel. The principal
things in Kobe are the famous Kobe
beef which we relished exceedingly
after the meats of the tropics, and
the buckwheat cakes of which we or
dered two portions each day. Of
course there are temples and shops
and gardens and waterfalls but these
took their proper subordinate place
in our affections. Kobe is great COM
mercial center but it is not noted for
| its scenic Or historic treasures. We
did see however temple festival pro-
cession in honor of the boys univer-
sal birthday. To understand this ex-
preston you must know that in Japan
the birthday of every boy is celebrat-
ed on May 9Th while that of the girls
is observed on March 3rd. AS we
went about the streets we saw huge
paper or silken fish flying at the top
of the houses and we were informed
that these signifed the presence of a
boy in the household. The fish repre-
sented carp which are celebrated for
their power to swim against the cur
rent. So the boy is expected to be
able to stem the tide of human affairs.
Boys in Japan are generally named
for some animal famed for it's strength
or cleverness. Our guides name
means "bear." The procession in
question consisted largely of confusion
and noise. Several floats with gor-
geous decorations and colorings were
borne about on the shoulders of about
seventy five men while upon the
floats were young imps who pounded
on native drums, danced to a fantas-
tic hornpipe and made the day hideous
with catcalls.
In Japan the shop keepers do not
wait for the customer to come to
them; they bring their wares to your
door. We seldom left our room with
out finding a "kimonoed" oriental,
bowling and scraping and expressing a
desire to show Us his wares. Of course
we need not buy-they are so polite
in telling you that-but you do buy
and you pay the foreigners price,
even after you have beaten him down.
An Illustration of this fact we noted in
Kyoto a little later when we went in
to the Japanese department OF store
to see some native silk. The price
was plainly written in Japanese but it
took the clerk from the "foreign de-
partment" some minutes to compute
on his abacus (the oriental mathema-
teal instrument) the price which we
must pay. In this connection let me
tell of a custom in Japan which is
practically universal. Nearly every
traveller takes native guide and IN
some respects he is necessity, out
he has his drawbacks. For the fact
is that every store of note has to pay
your guide from ten to twenty per
cent on the value Of your purchase,
besides being compelled to give the
rickisha man who brings you, good
percentage. Naturally you pay the
freight as we'll as the guides good
wage. It does no good to leave the
guide at the hotel-they have system
of mental telegraphy which causes in
formation to travel faster than the
rickisha. An interesting story OF this
custom is told abouta leading Japanese
writer who married an American girl.
One day with his wife and her friend
he went shopping. AS he entered
the store he allowed the ladies to go
first (the Japanese custom is inVarl-
ably for the man to go first. The
shop keeper instantly came to the con-
clusion that the man was guide. He
approached him and asked if the ladies
were we'll TODD, able to pay the ''tlx-
ed'' price Or must he give them re-
duction. In flash the 'guide" took
in the situation and decided to play
the game. He told the shopman that
the ladies were not wealthy; that ne
better give them a fair price. The
shoppers priced various articles and
the merchant with polite bow, which
is an integral part of every japanese,
gave them his ''last" price. The
"guide" at last spoke up and asked in
Japanese for the best price and was
given better figure. He therefore
told the merchant that he would take
the articles at that price, for the lady
was his wife. From business men
and commercial travellers we here
much about the dishonesty of the
Japanese merchant. They tell you
that it is almost impossible to do bust |
ness with them according to straight |
M 9TH Tho WAGON for +bic ic not I