St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-10-25
JAPAN OF TODAY.
G. H. Colby Tells Of Social and
Educational Customs Describes
Some Cities.

1OA44G &kGA%Ss
Of the social life of the japanese,
of their manners and customs, much
may be said. Their courtesy and
rigid adherence to the etiquette of
the country has caused them to be
called ''The French of the Orient. !"
Loyalty to their Emperor and coun-
try is the highest virtue, and filial
devotion and piety come next. Their
daily intercourse is marked by ex-
IRENE politeness; they bow low but
never shake hands at meeting or
parting; are ever merry and light
hearted, vivacious and happy though
poor. They are unselfish and gener-
Gus by nature, and childish in their
very simplicity. They worship ma
ture in all its forms. They can suf-
fer the severest torture without a
murmur.
Lafcadio Hearn says people who
smile naturally cannot wear the ex-
preston of the Japanese. A Japa-
nese can smile whenever he wants,
even in the jaws of death. 1t is a
law of etiquette elaborated and Gull
tivated for many centuries until it
has become silent language.
They smile in the face of sorrow and
suffering, paradoxical as this seems.
This smile says: 81 do not wish you
to suffer with me. / bear my sor-
row, suffering and trials alone"
The dress of both men and women
is simple, easy of adjustment and
pronounced by medical men most
conducive to the free action of the
body. A daily bath is regarded an
imperative duty by all Japanese,
and if cleanliness is next to godli-
ness, these people must live hap
by life. Death they meet with re-
joicing, especially if given for their
country or their Emperor. In the
early days the women blackened
their teeth, but today it is only seen
among the older natives. They have
a style of dressing their hair among
the females to indicate their age and
also to denote whether single or
married.
Their music whether vocal or in
strumental, is discordant to the for
eign ear, while their poetry seems
like blank verse. Their dancing
consists largely of rhythmic postum
ings, often of great beauty requiring
physical training and a high degree
of skill, but very few foreigners
ever learn to appreciate either their
dancing or their music, although
tourists take great pleasure in wit
Messing the dance of the Geisha
girls, which is not so suggestive as
the Hula dance of the Hawaiian Is
lands, though neither is conducive
to morality. The drama follows
closely that of the Chinese in stage
sittings and accessories, while their
plays are much shorter.
Training of Children.
Much attention is paid to the in
tellectua1, moral and patriotic train
ing of the children, and the memory
of Commodore Perry is early instill-
ed in the youthful mind, while an
almost sacred reverence is impaired
for the Emperor and the country.
In the schools English as well as
Japanese is taught almost univer-
sally. The schools are primary, ele-
mental, middle, normal and univer-
sity, and the school age is six to
fourteen years The kindergarten
method of instruction prevails in
the primary schools. The elementary
is divided into two periods of four
years each, known as the lower and
the higher elementary, while the
normal and university are similar
to, or differ little from, those of our
women, with colleges of law, medi-
and agriculture. There are techni-
cal schools, commercial, foreign
languages, fine arts, music and
schools for the blind, deaf and
dumb, as well as orphan asylums
and charity schools, and women
share alike with the men all these
educational advantages. In the
domain of science these people ex-
eel, and in original investigation
they are painstaking and enjoy an
. International reputation, especially
In medicine and surgery, in which no
nation can rival them.
A few libraries founded by the
Japanese as memorials exist. The
Imperial library at Toxic numbers
half a million volumes and over fifty
thousand of these are in European
languages. Japanese books read
from top to bottom and in lines run
ming from right to left, and are
printed on one side of the sheet only.
More than one thousand papers and
magazines are here published. Pa
pers in the native language sell for
twenty-five and fifty sen per month
of twenty-five numbers. Daily papers
in English issued at Yokohama,
Toxic, Kobe and Nagasaki, sell for
double the price of Japanese. Books
+. on scientific and mechanical sub
1ects are the most popular among
the natives The literature of Japan
is very rich in fairy tales, folk lore,
etc.
Interesting Cities.
There are many places of interest
E-1-s
with it's two million of people. Osa-
ka, at the head of the Inland sea, is
a city of nearly a million people,
Here may be seen one of the oldest
and most famous of the castles of
the empire. 1t was built in 1858.