The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-31
From the Japan Advertiser.

From the Japan Advertiser.
 NASSING and repassing through the N streets of Tokio are vendors of ! every description. Early in the morning ones slumber is disturbed by their plaintive cries, and should the win dow of the house look upon thorough rare, there may be seen through the sudari a countless procession of hawkers, Lut they do not need to be seen to be rec ognized, for their characteristic cries echo and re-echo fom morning until night.
 Take the ochini for instance, the stroll ling medicine vendor. Often he is musician with a tuneful accordion En- vious glances may be cast at his red and white epaulettes, his uniform and his cap. Many a youth might consider it the height of ambition to be able to go about the city in just the same manner and win smiles from all the young women
 in the streets through which he passes. But the oichini has all he can do to make his daily bread, and his lot is often hard indeed.
 The center for the distribution of this medicine is at the merchants house, which is situated on the little island off Tsukiji, Tsukijma. The applicant who wishes to become a travelling apothecary must pay yen as guarantee to be faithful to the master. The next day he is given d cap, suit of clothes and a pair of shoes. In addition, he receives medicine to the value of yen, and his fr,ey rrf his other meals he must shift for him self and eat them in whatever part of Tokio he finds himself when he becomes hungry.
 All the vendors must assemble at the masters house in the morning and be ready to start out by o'clock for the sos streets of Tokio. The oichini sings song which has for conclusion the ex- rression oichini of one, two, keeping step to the music of an accordion and walking stately and slowly. Whenever | the street gamns hear his song they run after the oichini, just as the rats ran after the mad piper at Elamelin.
 | His song is an advertisement of his | medicine It is difficult to learn and often
  master it. If he is not a success at singing the song he will be of no account as a vendor, for the secret of his popu- larity lies in his rendering of the pe- | culiar melody.
 When you hear the Ra-uya, or repairer | of bamboo pipes, in the neighborhood, it | seems as though miniature locomotive | was letting off steam, for one peculiarity | Of the Ra-uya's trade is a cart which has I In it a little furnace, steam vent over
 which the pipe is placed to clean it thor
 oughly on the inside and also through the | roof of the cart a steam whistle.
 | For the privilege of pushing his cart
 through the streets the Ra-uya must pay | 8 yen a year as tax. It takes long | apprenticeship to know all the tricks of | the trade, and no one who is not accus- toned to this kind of mending can be a .uccess. The number of Ra-uya is stead- ! fly on the decrease, perhaps because there are fewer and fewer old fashioned people now who use this kind of pipe.
 In the old Yedo days the trade was a brisk one. and, the Ra-uya ran through 1 the streets, two baskets slung at the ends | of a pole across his shoulders and his | cry was a most familiar one Now | he is minus the baskets and the cry, but | ti.e cart and the steam whistle have taken
 their place. Then, too, so many peo- ple today smoke cigars and cigarettes
 that ,the Pa-uya finds his old bamboo
 ,,ipes few and far between. According to
 statistics those who use the pipe nave
 fallen off considerably and the menders have decreased one-half in the past 10
 years. It is a sad commentary on the
 nassing of many old style people.
 Another parsonage among the street
 merchants is the Amazake-ya. His cry, l Amai Amai! Sweet, Sweet! is so sugges- i've of sweet things that the cry brings tl,e children from every quarter. The
 men who ply this trade are generally I ,ld They form Cone Of Tokio's pie ,uresque street elements with their two iargr red lacquered boxes on either end If shoulder pole. Amazake is sold to | tle street retailer from 13 wholesale mer-
 chants, wiio thus supply the trade.