The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-15
THERE IS No KISSING
AMONG THE JAPANESE

Under the caption, "Why We Do Not
Kiss" the Hawaii Shinpo says in ex-
PLANTATION:
kissing, as an expression of affection,
is unknown among the Japanese. To
express affection in that way has, as
a matter of fact, never occurred to the
japanese any more than the custom of
rubbing noses as a manner of saluta-
ton has occurred to Europeans. Emo
tional as the japanese appear, any out
ward public expression of the love that
an individual of one sex may bear to-
wards an individual of the opposite sex
does not manifest itself. It is consid-
cred, in fact, decidedly improper and
not according to good taste.
In the japanese language there is
no verb "to kiss and no word that
signifies the action. After the advent
of Europeans into Japan and the intro
duction of the kissing bug, Chinese
character had to be used by the jap
anese in writing the word. 1t may be
that in having such character in their
written language the Chinese were in
the one respect ahead of us-who
knows? They had word "seppun, "
which is a combination of the two
words ''touch' and clips" and which
probably was coined by the Chinese at
its face value, without signifying any
thing intrinsically significant, such as
is conveyed in the English word
"kiss,' with it's rhyming bliss and
Miss.
kissing seems to be natural among
Westerners, who are by nature and tenn
permanent openly affectionate the one
sex to the other, demonstrating their
love in the sight of all. The reverse
holds true with US. Social ostracism
would follow any couple who openly
demonstrated love for each other and
although this trait is wearing away
somewhat in our contact with the West,
never, even in Honolulu, will a Japa>
nese man and woman walk arm-in-arm
in the public street. Still farther from
their thought would be any desire to
kiss each other.
Because the Japanese lack this de-.
monstrative affection, foreigners are apt
to misjudge US. They entertain the idea
that marriages are contracted among
the japanese without the foundation of
love and that love comes rarely to even
husband and wife. Such a conception
is wrong and does the japanese an in
10 + "a
heart of one of the Western nation is
experienced by the Japanese heart and
the flutter of love beats as steadily
beneath the kimono as beneath laces
and satins and broadcloth.
Japanese custom has been for so
many centuries against outward mani
festation of emotion, however, that it
seems now to be instinctively planted
in the japanese character and thought
to repress evidence of sex emotion.
Such has been since the teachings of
Confucius and Buddha were introduced
into Japan. Prior to that time, we read
in our histories, how freely love was
expressed.
We read, for instance, the account of
the pathetic parting between the great
Prince Yamato-dake and the beautiful
Princess Tachibana; how he, warrior
prince, in a voice rent with signs ex-
pressed his grief at leaving in a beauti-
full poem; how, returning from the bat
tlefeld, he wept in memory of his
beloved princess, who had sacrificed
her life that his might be saved.
COnfucianism and Buddhism moulded
into cold sroicism the natural DISPOSE
tion and temperament of the Japanese
as a race. But, be this as it may, we
feel that because of this, deep in our
hidden soul burns warmer the flame of
our affection
Japanese spectators would laugh at
affections freely manifested by actors
upon the stage, but they wills cry when
affection is suppressed, realizing that
the heart joy and pangs are there. Free
expression of affection seems to us to
make our affection sordid, common
place and vulgar. Is IT not more poetic
to suppress these outward manifesto.
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