The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1917-03-29

U~EWA~U
ISsMAGN ter, the father indulging
lg&@gy first, and the others in
order of position down through
the servants, but the washing
is all performed very carefully
outside the tub, the tub being
used simply for rinsing. One
rather curious custom is in the
preference of wet towel for dry
ing purposes. Public baths, cor
responding to our swimming tanks,
are situated in every one or two
blocks of the larger cities, the use
of them costing the whole of cent
a person! 1t must be confessed
that one sees plenty of filthy peo-
pie in the streets, especially chill
dren; but, as whole, the nation is
a clean one.
The houses are unquestionably
cleaner than ours. One of the
principal reasons is in the custom
of removing the "geta," or wooden
shoes, at the outer entrance. 1t
would be impossible in any case to
walk on the soft 'tatami" with
these shoes, but the more impor-
tant consideration is the dust and
dirt they would carry in from the
street. The japanese walk about
the house in cloth ''tubi''-a kind
of stocking, white, blue, or dark
or frequently they 60 barefoot.
Foreigners have adopted system
of shoe covers. Sometimes, a kind
of a straw sandal is worn on the
balconies or going up the stairs,
but they are always carefully slip
ped off on entering a room. The
absence of carpets and rugs does
away with one great dust collector,
and the comparative emptiness of
the room makes sweeping very
simple matter. If our own rooms
we're less cluttered with uphol-
stored furniture and brio a-brac,
they would be considerably freer
from dust and dirt.
The government has attempted
to insure the proper cleaning of all
houses, and shops, and public
buildings. Every year, when the
time of ''Osoji'' arrives, the for
eign papers make scathing criti-
cism of this very unsanitary meth
cd of housecleaning. The regulation
requires every article in the house
or shop, without exceptions of any
kind, to be carried outdoors and
thoroughly beaten, or busted, or
washed. The tatami themselves
must be taken up and treated with
disinfectants. The Osoji has be-
come the time for the annual pur-
chase of fresh mats. Osoji moves
in districts. All the houses in cer-
tain sections of the city must be
cleaned at the same time. The
streets are clouds of dust. and if
one is luckless enough to get into
a street when Osoji is going on, he
chokingly finds his way to another
quarter as fast as possible, for all
the germs of the year are sent
a-holiday making in the air. For
eigners, as we'll as Japanese, are
compelled to obey the regulations.
A policeman, clad in a white uni
form with a sword at his belt and
dictionary in one hand. appears
at your door. With characteristic
suavity he explains that, OF course,
he knows the foreigners are i'm
maculately clean-all foreigners
are clean-but the japanese are
a very dirty people. and, conse-
quently this rule has been estab-
lished, and will the foreigner be so
gracious as to put himself to the
trouble of performing the Osojie
When you have complied, a little
slip of white paper, like customs
certificate, is pasted diagonally on
your door. Osoji may be scien-
tifically mistake, but at least its
principle is good.