The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-10-28
ODDITIES IN JAPAN
Natives Have a TopSy TurW
Way of Doing Many Things.
BATHING is A SACRED RITE.

And Whenever Native Has a Mo-
ment to Spare He Resorts to the Tub,
With Its Peculiar Code of Ethics.
Houses Without Windows.
| just can't get used to how turned
around. upside down. inside out. topsy
turvy. things are in Japan. Japa-
nese carpenter draws the plane toward
himself, and a blacksmith sits down To
work.
A japanese blacksmith never knows
the joys of getting tickets TO the circus
for he hasn't any place for the advance
man To paste up his three sheets. The
whole front of a japanese blacksmith
shop is open, with other buildings jam
med up SO close on each side that the
circus man couldn't get poster in.
A japanese book begins on our last
page and finishes on our first para
graph And their sentences begin al
the top of the page and read down. like
long columns of figures. They wear
white to funerals and judge poetry by
the beauty OF the handwriting.
japanese houses haven't any chin
neys. SO you may see a whole plateau
of houses with not single curl of
smoke as far as the eye can reach. The
japanese cooling is done outside the
house in a little charcoal stove. They
have no stoves to keep themselves
warm, only little hibach.s. gallon jars
with charcoal in them covered with
fine ashes. There isn't enough heat III
one to SINCE a miller. and whenever
they get too cold they take a warm
bath.
Bathing is a sacred rite. Whenever
they have a spare moment they run
and take bath When business is dull
they hurry to public bathhouse and
jump in. If they miss one train they
take bath while waiting for the next
They take hot understanding siz-
zling hot. And the strange thing is they
don't do the bathing in tub. They
have little foot baths about the size of
crooks that they use for washing them
selves. and when they are thoroughly
clean they climb into the tub.
If you should get into the tub first
the proprietor would break into tears
and tell you that you were bankrupting
him, for the same water is used all
evening, no difference how many guests
the hotel has.
After soaking awhile they crawl out.
steaming all over, gently blot them
selves, get into kimonos and sit around
bare ankled. One would think that be-
fore the evening was over feet foot
ed runner would have to be dispatched
for medical assistance, but instead of
that they never catch cold!
When | got here and was invited into
a Japanese home I found that they
hadn't any chairs. In fact, there isn't
a stick of furniture a foot high in a
japanese house. You have to sit on the
floor A person Of my build was never
meant for sitting on the floor. When
get down on the floor and try to draw
up to a japanese table my feet are so
in the way that can't get up to where
there is anything doing. The waitress
has to walk around my feet to bring me
the viands. By the time the meal is
over she is pretty well tagged out.
A japanese house hasn't single
window. And it's only the most stylish
of houses that have a pane of glass
A person who has a pane of glass
somewhere IL his house sets the social
space in that neighborhood. Instead of
glass they have paper pasted on sliding
frames, and through the paper the
light filters. Naturally one wonders
how they keep the rain out This is
little trouble. for outside the paper
walls are a series of wooden doors
which also. slide back and forth.
When time comes to retire you look
around for the bed. but there isn't one
In sight. 1t is rolled up in drawer,
and the Japanese wouldn't know a
bedstead from a quilting frame. Mil
lions of people in Japan have grown
to manhood. voted. paid taxes and
gone to their reward without ever hay-
ing clapped eyes on an American bed
stead.
To make the bed ready the servant
opens the drawer and unrolls the quilts
on the floor. putting tomato can look
ing thing under one end for a pillow
Then she shuts all the paper windows
and pulls to all the wooden slides so
that not breath of air can get in and
the bed is ready. Money In the palm
wouldn't persuade japanese to sleep
with the window open.
Their theory is that during the day
the air becomes full OF dust and germs
so that If you keep your windows
sealed during the night none Of the
germs can get in.-Homer Croy in Les
lies Weekly.
49, cn~lI:~r