St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1919-09-06
HOTEL CUSTOMS
EMBARRASSING
TO EUROPEANS
Taking Bath in Public, in Water That
Would Boil a Lobster, Is, or Used to
Be, in the Nature of Torture

With the advent of the modern ho-
tel'' in Japan the old inns, or rest
houses, have been to a large extent
relegated to ~obseurity, but some still
survive in parts where Europeans trav-
elers seldom penetrate. The kind of
welcome accorded to visitors in one
Of the village inns is very far removed.
from western ideas CT hospitality.
Here is the interesting experience of
a traveller as related in The Caterer
and H~ote1keepers' Gazatte:
"As soon as I arrived was con
Quoted by the polite hostess into the
chief guestroof, which looked cut
upon the cool orchard of a temple.
"Cushions were brought in, and
bright kimonos. took off my dusty
English clothes, and put on first the
lower kimona, made of cotton; and
then a gaudy silk one, bright with the
colors of the hotel
tThe room, like all Japanese rooms,
was bare except for a single decora-
ton. There is always a special corner
for the rooms ornament, which is
sometimes a vase of flowers, some
times a piece of china. sometimes sim
ply a painting upon silk or a Woodcut
The subjects are not seldom such as
bring a blush to the European cheek,
but they have no such effect on the
Japanese, who seem more concerned
with the arrangement than the sub
ject of the ornaments. There are
strict rules for decorations; it is laid
down, for example, that flowers of diff
ferent colors should not be mixed in
one vase.
"A length, because / was furnishing
a low table and a brazier were brought
in and set in front of me and my
cushions.
Every time | thought had finished
the hostess or one of the maids would
trip in with another tray of dishes
and put them before me on the table.
Had I not been able to use chopsticks
before, I should certainly have become
expert by the end of that meal.
"A little while after the mea1-for
it did end at last-I was told that the
bath was ready. was taken to the
open courtyard and introduced to the
arrangements there.
Two huge barrels were sunk in the
earth, one filled with hot, the other
with cold water. There was a thin
screen on two sides-not against pry-
ing eyes, but simply to keep off the
wind. Indeed, as | began to take off
my kimonos an interested audience
Of both sexes turned to watch me.
This was unpleasant, and did my
best to dodge their gaze behind the
screen.
81 might have saved myself the
trouble. A moment later, in reply to
the calls of the %innkeeper and his
wife, their daughter came up hastily
to battle ne, as her duty a She
was not in the least embarrassed-and
/ soon had other things to worry me,
for when, at the young lady's direction
/ let myself down into the hot tub
discovered that, in the usual japanese
fashion. the heat of the water in it
was not less than 115 degrees Fahren-
heit.
up to my neck in that hot bath
suffered exquisite torture, which turn.
ed to the most exquisite agony when
l stepped on the still hotter kettle ly.
ing on the bottom of the tub. The inn.
keepers daughter pulled me out, red
as a lobster and very nearly boiled.
She dropped me, more dead than alive,
into the cold tub, pulled me out again
and dried me.
Then she bowed politely, and left
!, me to return to my ROOM