The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-03-27
Confessions Of
a Tourist

dragged at such breakneck speed from
one point Of interest to another tina
one hasn't time to button ones shoes
The other half of the time one goe
nearly mad from enforced inactivity.
Our two weeks in Japan was on,
frenzied fash of sightseeing, at which
we worked twelve hours a day
Charles was obsessed with a grim de
termination to do" all that was to b.
done. At the end Of the third day
was perfectly willing to take fol
granted every other Shinto temple ant
cherry tree and stone lantern in Japan
Not until the ninth day did the
worm turn. had been trying to him
/ tactfully for some time that ~ hours
day of steady sightseeing was nc
more enjoyable than ~ hours a day
i of steady feasting, that one needed
time in between to assimilate impress
! sions; but my subtleties fell on deaf
| ears.
The eighth night we passed in a
/ Japanese sleeper, complicated form
; of torture not easily described. We
dragged ourselves out at $50 in the
| morning after a sleepless night of tor
ment, and began our weary round Of
sightseeing. 1t was at $50 that even
,, ing that the worm, which was I, turn
ed.
1 was hungry, tired, cold, wretched,
bedraggled, with every nerve crying
out for shelter; hot bath, clean
clothes and bed. The wind, which at
all times blows bleak and dust laden
in Japan, had been Juggling all day at
my hat and hair. When Charles said
we would now visit the Sacred Island
replied:
1--WE will do no such thing. We will
now go back to the hotel and have
dinner and go to bed"
And we did.
We are now on shipboard, five days
out from Yokohama, with the usual
contrast of nothing to do except criti-
else our fellow-pa ssengers.
Some time I am going to write a
realistic account OF Japan to Offset the
innumerable sentimental accounts
that are in circulation. The first reve-
lation I shall make is the fact, which
the Lafcadio Hearn enthusiasts all ig-
more or overlook, that 81 per cent of
the Japanese populace have colds In
their heads and sniff1e.
The usual sentimental gush, as you
know, is this: What wonderful lit
tie people the Japanese are! You
know, they don't heat their houses:
the battle all the year around in tho
open air, and they wear the same
clothes summer and winter!' w..
They do. And they all sniffle.
l will try to explain the Japanese
idea of physical comfort. You arrive
1T Japanese hotel for luncheon. The
smiling proprietor and his staff greet
you with a dozen bows apiece and in
drawing of their breaths You are
ushered into a frigid mausoleum.
which is the parlor. In half an hour
luncheon will be served. In the
meantime you pace up and down and,
wish you might discover a mirror or a
washstand or place to powder your
nose.
Is anything lacking to your honor
able comfort ard pleasure? All, it
shall be at once attended to! Suiting
the action to the word, the proprietor
tremendously bows himself out. Soon
a damsel in kimono and wooden SAN
dals shuflles into the room, knocks
her forehead three times on the floor.
draws in her breath and triumphantly
places a sprig of cherry blossoms in
a yellow vase!
The chief difference between home
and Japan seems to be this: When
our old crabapple trees and Rhomp-
sons two cherry trees bloom we re-
mark: How meet" and 60 out and
sniff at them enjoyably on Sunday
afternoon and bring in spray for the
table When two cherry trees bloom
in Japan the mikado declares a ma
tional holiday, the whole nation goes
en- fete: the schools are dismissed.
professions are held day and night;
japanese poets with fillets In their
hair charge up and down the land,
chanting their verses, and 600 Amer
lean tourists photograph the phe-
nomenon.
We landed in Tokyo in the midst OF
one of these festivals on typically
bleak, raw day while gusts OF chill
rain and wind swept the streets. A
concourse of mad poets, school chill
dren, runners. wrestlers and other SUI
pernumeraries were Juggling a Shinto
temple through the streets, dancing
and chanting around it and inditing
peans of praise. They all looked blue
and half frozen. And they all coughed
or SMILED.
In the evening we saw a geisha
dance. I am glad to have seen 1t.
am sure the first thing every woman
l know who has been to Japan will
say when she sees me is: "Oh, my
dear, and did you see the geisha?
Wasn't the dancing perfectly fascinat-
ing? The most charming thing, I be-
lieve, in Japan! But then, of course,
all of Japan is charming, isn't it?