The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-05
JAPAN FROM An INSIDE
VIEW
Continued from Page One.)

NCOHLIHueQ from rage On0.j
that it has appealed to him strongly
| When he first went to Japan, the head
of the male Japanese was shaven in
the crown, and the women shaved their
eyebrows and blackened their teeth,
which did not add to their beauty.
Then there was the japanese nose, so
different from the American nose
When the japanese first saw American
noses, it was great surprise to them.
When Commodore Perry landed there,
the Japanese artists got busy, and one
of the funniest pictures was that show
ing these 20 barbarians' and the way
the Commodore could he picked out was
by the length of his nose, which the
artists made several inches long. DR..
DeForest said he was fortunate in get
ting view of this picture, rare thing
fer foreigner to see.
The Japanese seemed very funny to
the doctor when he arrived, but he dis
covered that the japanese also consid
cred him equally as funny. He laugh
ed for the first six months at what he
thought was funny, the features of the
Japanese, but then he found the Jap
anese were laughing at him and others
Of his type, and all were called tired
bearded barbarians, - and much to his
surprise the Japanese called them cred
bearded monkeys = He overhead a
jolly crowd of young Japanese making
fun at their expense and the term
monkeys was used From this the doe
tor said there is no good or common
basis for human intercourse of the West
and the East in that kind of judgment.
He found, however, that they were
imbued with some of the highest ethical
ideals. Take for instance, hari-kari,
which to the West seemed a relic of
barbarism But hari-kari has a pro-
found ethical significance The disem
boweling process is so repulsive that
the mind of the Western can hardly
endure the idea at all. But hari-kari
is at the foundation of the nation s
patriotism. The underlying self-sacri-
fee involved in the hari-kari, first in
the family, and then in its relation to
the law, and finally to the honor of
the nation, produced grand funda-
mental principle of righteousness. He
spoke of the forty-seven young men
who committed hari-kari a century
ago, the memory of which event may
never be forgotten. Hari-kari was
great moral advance which japan
made, which shows the magnificent
power of self sacrifice which lies at the
bottom of Japan S modern greatness.
Another custom, misunderstood by
the Christian nations, is their worship
of the dead and their worship OF
heroes, especially those who gave their
lives for the sake of their country. The
worship of the dead is one of the most
powerful moral forces in the making
of the nation Those of us who have
come to regard worship as only for the
Supreme Being miss the deeper mean
ing as the East knows it, for the wor-
ship of the dead in the East holds the
whole nation together as one family.
He spoke of an experience during
the Japanese Russo war, when he went
to the front with letters to the field
generals. and while he was at Lao
Yang 10000 wounded were brought to
the hospitals there from Mukden. He
attended a funeral of an officer as an
especial honor accorded him, and he
stood close to the altar, where there
were patriotic rites over the officer
ashes. and incense was burned.
'fI have no objection to the burning
of incense for the dead, and if it gives
the living any satisfaction, let them
do it said the doctor When he was
asked to offer tribute. he took a
small flag from his pocket and spread
it before the Japanese altar and ex-
pressed the sympathy ,of the people of
the West for the dead one who had
sacrificed his life for his country. This
act gave immense satisfaction and he
afterwards sent the flag to the family
of the officer.
Good" he said, chad raised this
people and nation step by step until
Japan is now great nation, nation
Of sacrifice, such sacrifice as we
know that Christ made for all man |
kind.
1T is from all these great moral in |
fuences that has arisen the spirit of |
Japan, the Bushida The Samurai of
old had three great rules of life, and
these were, IN their order, righteous |
ness, life and gold and silver, but gold