Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1907-11-29
A Weekly Letter From the Orient
FURNISHED BY THE RECORDER sSpao-
IAL CORRESPONDENT, Who Is
MAKING A Tour OF THE EAST
BRN COUNTRIES.
Especial to Recorder.l

/
:, Especial to Recorder.l
n Yokohama, Japan, Aug. eth
u first impression one gets ia Yoke
hama is that all the old time "cat
bies" who formerly made life a bur
a den for the traveller in America
. cities, had come to Japan and wer
8 running 'rickshaws. A jinkrick
shaw is the japanese horseless car
riage. 1t is operated by one mar
power, and when you get through
with the custom officials you FIND
1 yourself in the midst Of the most
persistent mob of half naked men.
each trying to induce you to get
into his vehicle. The foreigner
who tries to walk through the
streets at any time is beset by a
mob Of these 'ricksbaw men, who
cannot understand that anyone
would want to walk for pleasure.
They have an idea that all Ameri-
cans are immensely wealthy, and
think that wealthy man should
never walk. Already | have been
compelled to hire 'richshaw man,
to pull his vehicle along behind
ME as walked the streets, so that
the others would rot bother me.
The 'richshaw runners are short
and lean, but of splendid muscular
development. They wear short
tights of blue cotton cloth, with
shirts of the same material, open at
the neck and with wide. floating
sleeves. Around their heads they
tie a strip of cotton, and wear hats
only when the sun is excessively
hot. Straw sandals protect the
'oles of their feet, and as the roads
are smooth and hard these rick
shaw men travel along at the rate
If five miles an hour, easily going
thirty m lies day on long distance
rips.
The jimrichsha resembles a large
'aby buggy, wit two wheels, a
'air of shafts and an oiled paper s
over. There is also an oiled pa r
Ter apron to protect The traveller 1
1hen il rains. This is the SORT of
arriage which conveyed me to the
otel and then to the bank where |
OF nv money changed. TO m. c
g light received premium en- +
" gold. Things over here are q
I'D at so many ven, or so many q
N or so many yen, according to Fl
le value. A yen is equal to half L
dollar, sen is equal to half
mt, and rim is one tenth of
n. The rim has a hole in the ;r
inter- and is usually carried on ii
ring. Foreigners call this coin &C
ash" and when you remember it al
kes thousand Of them to equal "A
value one of our gold American a
'llars, you will have an idea Of A
nat it means to have dollar A
anged SO you can give some A
ing to the num' rous beggars =,
40 besiege your path. A,
Everyone bows most abteniously Al
re, and | am beginning to find it Al
,st tiresome to be continually re. Al
onding to meaningless saluta- u
ms. The mayor called IN me n
d | was told it was etiquette to wi
down on my hands and knees an
receive him. he appear
at the door in a similar DC
'ition and crawled into the room,
III his head down as if he dared
look me in the face. Then he GO GO
sed his lead and began talking de,
we ducked our heads to listen. acl
len he finished my companion we
led his head and answered the no
mayor, who ducked his head. ~
is sort of dialogue was continu- ice
several minutes and then the she
yor backed out Of the room, still per
his hands and knees. II was une
acknowledging, but it was very NJ Ne
some, ore
is noticeable that everything ing
everyone here Is honorable ex. ure
t the one speaking. went m TO o.
shop and found that the pro. o. e.
tor was an adept at bowling, s
all his clerks kept up panto-
e chorus OF bows as long as we
, there. The shops are very