The New York herald., 1921-10-30

Seibold, The Neao York Herald cor
respondent, aOhose recent articles ON
Japan hare attracted matiomacide
attention. Many Occidental inven-
tioms hare been freely adopted, but
thought and manners remain much
the same. Not the least imteresting
feature of Mr.. lSeibold's observo-
ti0ns IS has comment ON the ten
dency toaOard suicide that enists
among all classes and the general
desire to display family crests.
BY LOUIS sEIBoLD.
Special Correspondence TO THE New York
HERALD.
Copyiioht 1921 by THE New YORK HERALD
TOXIC, Oct. 5.
NTEsTERNERs who encounter for
wv the first time the excessive po.
likeness OF the Japanese are
likely to describe one of the favorable out
door and indoor sports as "bowing and
scraping." No other people in the world
indulge in such excessive politeness as the
Japanese. When they meet their meeting
straight down abjectly at the sides and
almost doubling themselves into the form
of jackknife. One of the extraordinary
things about it is they do not crack their
heads together. AS matter of fact they
only miss doing so by matter of inches.
When they take leave of each other there
is no waste of words about it-they just
double up three times and turn uncere-
". -.
fined to any class or caste-the coolie and
the ricksha "folk" are quite as punctilious
in observing the ancient form as the aris
tocrat who traces his lineage back a couple
of thousand years.
At little town on the Inland Sea /
witnessed the going away of bride and
groom. Half hundred of their relatives
came down to the train to see them off.
The bride and groom, very solemn of mien,
stood in the vestibule of their car for
more than five minutes without saying a
word to their friends outside, or even as
much as smiling at them. Nobody dug up
an old shoe OF handful OF rice, and nobody
said word until the train started off, then
the bride and groom bowed deeply three
times each and their friends on the sta
tion platform did the same
80
THE well to do japanese has acquired
the gentle art of loafing with great
ease. He has fallen into the Eng
lsh habit of week ending and Of
further maintaining country places at
the seashore or in the mountains. AS
Japan is entirely surrounded by water
and other islands there is no lack of
of NV
Japanese have built bungalows with
modern conveniences. and spend two or
three months in them while the cities
are sweltering in the deadly heat that
srips the lowlands for three months with
out abate. The most popular resorts are
at Kamakura and Enoshimo, ON the Pacific
side of the main island; at beautiful Nikko,
on the slopes of Fuji Mountain; at Hak
kone, at Mianosta, all of which are noun
tain resorts, and at Karuizawa. where the
missionaries from all over the Orient
gather to spend the heated spell and which
TO some extent resembles an American
camp meeting
THE Japanese are pretty well accus-
toned to Westerners by this time
and rarely bestow second look
upon the representatives Of those races
But there is one Occidental type that never
fails to provoke interest that Is sometimes
embarrassing This is a woman with
blond hair as a blond, auburn or brown
haired japanese Is as rare as the sacred
aux.
In little town west of Yokohama a
short time ago a very pretty American
girl with hair like spun gold held up traffic
Tor ten minutes while the populace gath
cred around and focused attention upon
her hair, on which lightly rested a small
sailor hat. The young lady was very much
embarrassed until rescued by guard She
would probably have been much more dis
concerted IL she could have understood
the comments OF her audience The con
sensus Of feminine opinion was that her
hair had been dyed
THE Japanese is natural squatter.
Except when he or she is dining
in a hotel or restaurant the most
natural posture is to tilt their legs and
squat upon their heels. gathering the
kimono in one hand so az to pre-.
vent It from dragging in the mud or