The farmer and mechanic., 1913-12-02
A NORTH CAROLINIAN
:; ON AFFAIRS IN JAPAN
A letter Which Gives An Intimate View of Matters
And Events in the Flowery Kingdom With
Comments of Interest
BY Aha
BY w. A. GRAHAM CLARK.

gradually being improved, and in
time Will be one of the worlds most
beautiful capitals There are numer
Gus canals in Tokyo as in Yokohama.
kyota, Osaka, Kobe, etc, in cast a
japanese city has to be very unfav-
orably located to prevent the natives
cross sectioning it with canals The
center OF Japan has long beenconsid-
cred to be the Nippon Bashi'' or /
Bridge OF Japan in Tokyo as from
this point, have always been measured |
the distances along the main roads |
OF the country as where those Of the |
Romans from their golden mile stone
at the Forum. Formerly it was a |
humpbacked wooden structure, but
though still arched, for Japanese
never build a bridge on the level
whether the arch is needed for boat
room or not.
The Menu In Japan.
japanese live on boiled rice. raw
eggs, fish raw or cooked, pickles, and
sake "a Japanese whiskey distilled
from rice.) Taxes are extremely high
and still increasing. Japanese houses
are most f1imsy with thin walls of
smoothed wood and oiled paper. with
| sliding panels SO the whole front
can be opened up during the day, and
the people sleep on the floor on quilts
| Men and women wear kimonas, with
bare legs, and shuttle along on wood
en- clogs raised a few inches from
the ground and which are held on
by strap passing between the first and
second toes, in their houses or stores
they leave their clogs outside and
go barefooted or wearing only short
cloth socks made with a division
for the big toe. The poorest class
wear hemp or straw sandals and have
raincOats Of stray tied around their
necks.
i The japanese are very polite race
which makes it pleasant for those
travelling in Japan. They bow instead
Of shaking hands, The bow of the
; men is singu1arly awkward as well
as selfcOnsciOus as they bow or rather
duck stiffly from the hips without
!, moving their feet, but slightly bend
ing their knees. The girls are more
,, graceful at it, but to see a girl bid
ding her companions bood-bye at a
street corner, the interminable bow
ing reminds one Of the way ducks
act after rain. When the ceremony
Is finally over and one has shuffled
away home, the manner in which the
other girls look after her and smile
and gossip about her, reminds one
that human nature is about the same
4 the world over. Women in Japar
4 never wear hats but arrange their
4 long and rather coarse black hair il
a fantastic shapes, this being done b,
v professional hair dressers every othel
g day or so, who oil and stiffen it will
every hair smoothly in place until i
q looks more like ebony carvings Their
+ are numerous popular styles, Gale,
! | after the names of the leading hair
II dressers, but the styles for girls ar
q always different from those for mar
% ried women. Some of the younge
| OIL w k1n hot hai~ y ri
- back, look much prettier and mucl
!, more natural than after the hair
~ dressers have started their artificia
&c and conventional work of socalle
y art.
- Japanese babies are never kissed
o but 1t may be mentioned also tha
y Japanese babies are seemingly entir
90 strangers to handkerchiefs. Babie
n are always carried on the black, in
"a cloth tightly knOtted around tn
n shoulders, either by their mothers {
y sisters They have to stand lot
~, jolting when their young sisters ru
tn about playing, but seem to take it {
.;c a matter Of fact though many of thel
ID have weak eyes due to bein
av .v SO much exposed to the su
eS while strapped so they cannt
70 move themselves. 1t is ncol
no rect, however, to say that Japs
nese children never laugh or cry, fl
~ ~
most Justify. So common is the Gu
tom of carrying babies on the bac
1f that women take them to the the;
"a tre or other places Of amuseme
o this way and one occasionally Sc
u little tots with their dolls strapped
"o in the same way.
ith Jananese cat soun last instead
ns first, they dry themselves with stear
al ing wet towels they pull their plan
rs and saws instead of pushing thel
sN- The back of their book is the fro
ID of ours and they write from top
ace bottom, starting each vertical Iii
'ho at the left of the one precedin
'es, In these and rnanv othar wavc m
yer strike as topsy turvy, but they ha
an the same feeling towards our CT
TIC toms and it all depends on whi
the side of the world one is which
vas right.
the
ng, ho' AAHo ouo'