The Press., 1920-05-06
TRAVEL IN JAPAN
Hotel Customs Somewhat En-
 barrassing to Europeans.
Taking Bath in Public, in Water That Would Boil a Lobs@:~, Is, or Used to Be, in the Ma
 ture of Torture.

With the advent of the modern ho- tel" in Japan fhe old Inns, or rest houses, have been 90 large extent rel agated to ebscurity, but some still sur viye in parts where European travel CTS seldom penetrate. The kind or welcome accorded to visitors in one of the village inns is very far removed from western ideas of hospitality. Here is the interesting experience or traveller as related in The Caterer aud Hotelkeepers' Gazette "As soon as I arrived l was con- ducted by the polite hostess into the chief suestroom, which looked out upon the cool orchard of temple. "Cushions were brought in. and bright kimonos. I took off my dusty English clothes. and put on first the lower kimOna, made of cotton; /; ana then gaudy silk one. bright with the colors of the hotel.
 "The room. like all Japanese rooms, was bare except for single decOra- tion. There is always special corner for rhe room's ornament, which IS sometimes vase of flowers, some
 
 ply g painting upon silk or Woodcut. The subjects are not seldom such as bring a blush to the European cheek, but they have no such effect on the Iapanese. who seem more concerned with the arrangement than the SUD- feet of the ornaments. There are strict rules ter decoration; it is laid down. for example. that flowers of diff l ferept cnlorS should not be mixed in l one va.e.
 At length, because was fa1nisf Ing, low table and brazier were brought | in and set ,r front of me and my | cushions.
 l "Every time thought I had finished, l the hostess or one of the maids would ! trip in with another tray of dishes l and put then before me on the table. Had I not been able to use chopsticks before, ] should certainly have become expert by the end of that meal. | "A little while after the meal--for it did end al las+-I was told that the bath was ready. I was taken to the open courtyard and introduced to the ! arrangements there.
 "Twc huge barrels were sunk in the earth, one filled with hot, the other l with cola water. There was thin l screen q, two sdes-not against pry- ing eyes but simply to keep off the l wind Indeed. as I began to take off my kimoros an interested audience of both sexoe turned to watch me. This was unplec Sant, and I did my best to dodge their gaze behind the screen.
 q might lave saved myself the trouble. A moment later, in reply 10 the calls of the innkeeper and his wife. their daughter came up hastily
 to hathe me, as her duty was. She
 was not in the least embarrassed-and I soon had other things to worry me.
 for when, at the young lady's direction, let myself down into the hot tuh
 discovered that, in the usual 'npancSe fashion. the heat of the water In It
 was not less than 115 degrees Tahren-
 heit.
 "Up 10 my necl, in that hot bath l suffered exquisite torture. which turned to the most exquisite agony when l
 stepped on the still hotter kettle lying
 on the bottom of the tub. The inn keepers daughter pulled me out req as 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 lme to return to my room"