Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-06-20
JAPAN AS FOUND
BY Mr.. A. C. BAKER
Visit to Yokohama and Tokyo, the
Capital of Japan and Largest
City in Asia Most Wildly
Described.
RIKSHA RIDING PROVED
A GREAT ENJOYMENT
Labor of Raising All Crops i'm Japan
Is Done by Man Power. Plows
Almost Unknown.

Is Done by Man Power. Plows
Almost Unknown.
After being seventeen days at sea
perhaps nothing could be more in
teresting than the sight of land and
as we steamed into Tokyo bay that
morning mount (meaning Peerless
mountain) Fujyama or Fuji as II
is dubbed, was as welcomed a view
as the traveller could have had pre-
sented and he felt with the Japan
ese that 1t had a sacred side as this
mountain the largest in Japan 1885
feet high is recognized and worship
ed by the Japanese as sacred.
Tokyo bay Is a beautiful body OF
water and safehaven from all
storm and would house all the ship
ping of the world. On this bay is sit
uated Yokohama the port at which
we land and Tokyo the capitol OF
Japan and the largest city IN Asia.
When boy studying Mitchels Old
Geography this city was called Yedo
and great mystery seemed to sur
round it but now it has no mysteries
that one cannot approach openly.
The city has 40 landing harbor;
when the city was built the ships OF
that time drew 6 to 10 feet of water
and as this was the depth of their
landing they easily and safely car
ried on their commerce, but now
with the leviathans of the deep this
is all changed and their shoal har-
Dor Is no longer used but everything
landed at Yokohama twenty miles
farther up bay and transported by
rail to Tokyo.
Yokohama is city of about 10O.-
900 people; it was three o'clock be-
fore We had passed quarantine and
allowed to land.
The wharfs were moving mass of
humanity down to welcome the
hundreds of laps our boat had re-
turned from America and Honolulu.
but not a face that the writer had
lever before seen and such strange
faces. Soon we have made our way
through this strange company and
to that human drawn vehicle the jim
rik. or as we shall call riksha, the
vehicle in which we spent many
lays during our traycl through East
ern Asia.
The Jinrikasha is a light, usually
pneumatic rubber tired vehicle about
the weight of a light racing sulky;
they are found everywhere and one
only has to get in wherever he may
be and will he transported at about
four miles an hour. His riksha man,
usually dressed in blue with pants
so tight that it was a study with me
how he ever gets them off, cloth
shoes with rubber soles, hat look
ing like an inverted butterhole, a
short coat and handkerchief in his
belt. He will start off at dog trot
gait and keep 1t up by the hour un-
complainingly. There are said to be
60, 900 of these rikashas in Tokyo
and wherever you may go you only
have to get in as they are standing
everywhere. The usual fare is
about one hundred and fifty sen a
day or seventy-five cents Of our mo-
Iney.
Onr riksha man WAS directed to
the Grand Hotel the best place in
the city and as we rode through the
streets, SO narrow, no sidewalks, all
the people walking In the middle OF
the street and always turning TO the
left instead of right, all on wooden
shoes that held them up some four
inches sSom the foundation, with
their funny dress, all seemingly
dressed as women, though the wo-
men could be distinguished by their
elaborate hair dressing and the
enamel on the face. You look into
small shops on either side of the
streets, places looking more like
childrens playhouses than busines:
houses, but in such is the business oi
Japan transacted. The one thins
that most impressed ME was the
great number of children in the
street and the general appearance OF
poverty, but this latter wore entirely
off after travelling in China.
Children were more numerous IN
the streets than chickens in the
road of the automobilist. You wou.t
see the old grandfather and grand
mother with an infant on their back
then you would see all the children
from about the age of twelve to five
wltn one on their back and younger
children where they could not get 9
baby had big doll IL its place. One
reason for this great display they
have no back yard, no Porto ol
space in the house and the street l;
| their home. They are always smil'
ing and if you greet them with 9
loud (Ohio) meaning good morains
they all repeat to you and are over
joyed at the notice.
One cannot help but be pleased
with their hearty greeting and were
lit not for their dirty noses, worse
than a calf's, no children could be
more interesting.
You never hear these children cry
though the one carrying an infant on
the back may be skipping the rope
and the child's head hanging linn
as though 1t would twist of.
Arriving at our hotel We found Il
a most comfortable place, one needs
lno sympathy as 1t Is seldom In Amer
Iica yeu get better meals and beds
than at the Grand at Yokohama.
! (Continued on page 81