Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-01-31
A Weekly Letter From the Orient

|
IAL CORRESPONDENT, Who Is
MAKING A Tour OF THE EAST
ERIN COUNTRIES. 81
Especial to Recorder
Tokyo, Japan, September g.
shall leave Japan for Korea to-
morrow but before leaving | want
to tell of cereml NAL dinner OF
which | partook. It will give a
good idea of how the japanese eat
and what they haye. | ain sure
that many of my readers will feel
much as | did-that they would
rather have something different,
but must say that / was agree.
ably disappointed and found the
viands good and appetizing. When
dinner was announced we were
ushered into room whose only
ornament was a large blue VS."
filled with crysanthemums, On
the floor were arranged fiat, velvet
cushions, and We took our place on
them with more regard to comfort
than elegance of position. Japa-
anese from childhood, are trained
to sit on their heels, but this is an
accomplishment that an European
cannot emulate so we had, to sit
cross legged or with the feet to
one side. The attendants were six
native young women and thew
served the first course an lacquered
trays. 1t consisted of tea and
sweet cakes. We first drank to the
host end then rinsed the tiny cups
and drank to the guests in turn.
For the second course small tray
covered with paper was placed be-
fore each guest; on the tray was a
small round cake made of a sweet
bean covered with rice -four paste
and set in four sugar maple lea' es,
c,lored red to represent real leaves.
The cake was very sweet and the
leaves too pretty to eat. but the
japanese ale all to the last crumb.
Sake, the only intoxicating Ii
-uuor of Japan, was then served,
very hot, in small cups, and the
care of only of drinking to host
and each guest was again per-
formed. The fourth course WAS
soup made of sailed beans, served
in red lacquered bowls, sitting on
little lacquer stands six inches
high. The next course was COM
posed of three kinds Of fish, served
raw With a piquant sauce and
slices Of cucumber. While this
was being eaten the wall rolled
aside and and number of geisha
girls danced to strains of three
japanese instruments which made
soft music
The sixth course consisted OF
boiled chestnuts. fried eel, snipe, a
cake made ofeggs and sea weed
stewed plums boiled fish, garniched
with raw carp shredded very fine
It did not add to my enjoyment oil
the meal to see the carp FROM
which the shreds were taken swim.
ing about in tub of water. The
Japanese always cut them up alive
and sometimes it seems as il moth.
ing but head and backbone were
swimming about in the tub. The
seventh course looked like an iceG
fruit cake, but proved to be fish
with a covering of white lobster
meat. With this was served pre-
served grapes, a small potato ant
preserved ginger, This was served
while a beautiful Geisha girl wa
dancing q porturing dance.
For the eighth and last cours'
we were served with boiled ric'
with neither sugar nor salt t.
make it palatable, a Said, egi
plant, soup and more tea. lei
! was served four times during din
ner, each time from different tie
pot and different tea cups. VIM
the last couse was being eaten tn
third dance was performed, thi
time BY three geishas, being tn
rehearsal Of japanese love story
Tobacco smoking was an impor
tant feature of the dinner, as 1t
universally INDUCED in by bot