The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-09-27

| would not fear saying that about
the first thing every foreigner notices in
Japan is the Jinriksha, the little two
wheeled cart pulled by a man. | have
not seen anyone that did not look at
them with curiosity and amusement.
They are the street cars, the hacks, the
carriages, and the vehicles general for
the people. We were at once beseiged
by numbr of the Jinriksha men bow
ing and offering their services; so we
took three OF the carts and they filed
out down the streets in a run. We ex-
hausted all our signs and gestures try
ing to give the idea that we did not
want to go anywhere especially, but
everywhere. The endurance, of these
men is remarkable. They can take
steady trot and not let up for hours.
For a very little pay they will be glad
to run out 10 miles into country with a
passenger and not show the least signs
of fatigue
After going about Yokohama we
took railway train and went to To-
kio the capital city. 1t is only 20 miles
away and the road to it lies through the
rice growing swamps On every side
were many peasants miring in the mud
setting out the rice plants. Except for
their human forms they gave the inn
preston of some kind of muir animals.
The great city of Toxic showed an
entirely new picture of Japanese life.
The city is beautiful and seems almost
without limits. 1t is said to cover
larger area than London. The buildings
are mostly one-story high and taken
separately are very artistic. But the
arrangement of the houses in groups
seems disorderly, and there seems to
be no general plan for the arrangement
of buildings on any street. The streets
are all paved and kept clean; but they
have no sidewalks. Everybody walks
in the middle of the street This is
made easy by the entire absence of all
horse vehicles in the city,
In Toxic we visited ali the places of
interest including the national Zoologi-
cal gardens. In regard to variety of an
imals think the Zoo is not inferior to
that of London. The government build
ings and the Mikado's palace are we'll UP
to the standard, set by Japanese nation
al pride. Everything there. has also its
strong military look. Ali their ports
are bristling with forts, and l believe
that no country could offer a stronger
resistance in case of attempted invas-
ion.
Out On a plaza we saw group Of
boys, aged eight to twelve, and they
were playing soldier. They had their
toy guns and sabers. One boy was act
ing captain and as we looked he put his
company through series of maneu-
vers skilful and scientific. Going south
from Toxic about one hundred and fif-
ty miles, we reached Kobe, large city
on the coast In this place we visited
several Shinto Temples, Shintoism be-
ing an old and we'll grounded religion
in the nation. To enter, one is required
to remove his shoes; for otherwise he
should commit a sacrilege in q place so
venerated. There is very little in the
temples except few relics of war or
some statuary commemorating some
sages of their national religion. In each
of the temples is an old priest, pale and
wan from his continued confinement.
In this city is an English College and
it furnishes high standard of education
according to American and European
standards. The teachers are mostly A
mericans or English. There is also a
strong mission post of several Protest
ant churches located in Kobe A hun
dred miles further west is Nagassaki.
We reached here about in morning,
having gone on our ocean steamer. This
is coaling station of all foreign yes
sels passing through japanese ports.
Here is contrast in the way of getting
work done in the East and the West
There are fifty or more coal flats laid
alongside our steamer, each flat hold
ing about twenty tons. This coal was
lifted by hand to the port holes and
hatchways of the ship. The only imple-
ments used to do all this were small
baskets the size of half-bushel meas
ure. To get this done in the few hours
in port required the service of hun
dreds of Japanese laborers, the most