Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-11-14
SIMPLE LIFE IN JAPAN
College Professor and Wife
Live on $3.50 a Year.
NO TABLE LINEN USED
This Even Keeps the Wife in To-
bacco-A Learned Mans Home in
Kioto- One Servant Possible on
the Income Namcd-some Japan
ese Domestic Economies.

A land where a college professor
educated in America support
wife and save money on salary
Of $500 year may be said to have
achieved the simple life.
The house in which the professor
lived in Kioto is described by a wri-
ter in the Craftsman as a wooden
structure twenty-four feet by TWEEN
ty-iive. on a plot of land thirty feet
front and fifty feet deep. II was
shut In by an artistically made bam-
boo fence five feet high. The fence
was solid. so no prying eyes might
see in
Stepping down from the rickshaws
we passed through the gate to the
vestibule There, leaving my shoes,
aud my friend and the maid their
sandals, we entered the house in
stocking feet.
The first room. six mat one, was
nine by twelve feet. II was divided
by Sliding screens from the one next
tho garden, a corner room twelve
sect wide and at that time twenty
four feet long. Through the center
Of this large room we're the iron
grooves in the 6oor and overhead
for the sliding screens that at night
would divide 1T into two sleeping
rooms. but as the day was warm and
fair the screens had been lifted out
and stacked away, leaving an unbro-
ken space.
When formallties were over and
we were pleasantly chatting in walk
ed the husband and professor, just
back from college.
The little wife drew out her tiny
pipe and took her three puffs from
1t, while the professor smoked his
native cigarette as we talked.
II pay twenty yen ($10) a month
rent" said DR.. Magai "That is high
rent for professor, but we are so
near the college that can walk
back and forth, saving the cost of a
rickshaw and~s2f getting my lunch
con away. To build such a house as
this would cost about $500, and the
land is valued at $500
Our one servant does ali she
work. and we pay her thirty yen a
year. To be sure, my wife gives her
kimona now and again, but they
cost only yen apiece. she lived
with my wife's mother, and is train
ca 80 she can make up ripped gar
iatnts and do all necessary sewing
When my wife has guests she pre-
lares and serves the meal so we'll we
need only buy sweets"
Can she wash?D | asked.
Our wash Is so small she can cas-
lily do It." he replied. with you it
would be necessary to send your
clothes to a laundry, as do my for
eign garments
Then / remembered that in a Jap
anese household there are no table,
cloths. napkins. sheets, pillow cases
or curtains to be done up. for none
of these are used The meals are
served on individual lacquer trays.
and each person carries in his sleeves
n paper napkin that is destroyed
when soiled.
The bedding consisted of fulones,
heavy wadded comfortables. One
laid on the floor served as bed and
a second one furnished all the COW
ering necessary.
Pillows we're curved wooden
blocks or hard rolls OF rice husk.
and over these each night was tied a
sheet of fresh white paper. The Jap
anese take so many hot baths, two a
day being the usual number, that
their garments do not become soiled
MS do ours. When their kimonos are
dirty they either wash them intact
in tiny tubs before which they
crouch or rip them up and wash the
PIECES.
Their drying process takes the
! place of our ironing, for they never
use an iron. The ripped pieces. very
wet, are spread smooth and fat on
long boards.
These boards are then stood
against the sides of the house in the
sun and air. When dry the material
is carefully pulled off and viii be as
stiff and smooth as If 1t had beer
starched and ironed.
10 tell me WHAT AOuE OthEf cA'
/ penses are, ] asked.
Fuel" he answered. costs about
twenty-five yen year, light ten yen
and ten yen pay to e Government
for my house tax.
srhen there is the item of clothes
Mine are expensive, for I must have
both foreign and native, but my wife
was so we'll provided at our mar
rage that she has bought nothing
since. Last year spent fifty yen OF
! clothes
Our food costs US about a hun
bred yen. You know there Is neve
any waste in Japanese kitchen. an,
every morsel cooked is eaten.
-Four hundred and sixty-five yen
Yes, that is close to what we spen
last year, for my salary is 500 yen
year; and paid OF 200 yen of M
debt"
The hardest wood Is not ebony