The New York herald., 1921-10-16

Spectd correspondent OF THE NEW YORK
HERALD.
Copyright, 1921, by THE New YORK. HERALD.
YOKOHAMA, Japan, Sept. 2S
A LMOST one-half of the population
~ Of Japan proper is female. 1t is
also the most picturesque portion,
because neither in costume, customs,
thought nor desire has the Japanese female
of the species surrendered to Western in
Japanese philosophers and scholars assert
is changing the standards of the empire
and destroying the respect for the glories
of ancient forms has but little affected the
Japanese woman
few OF the younger set, educated
abroad, go in for the higher education,
ertly practise the newest steps in dane
ing; but by and large the Japanese woman
of 1921 looks and acts pretty much the
same as did her honored ancestor of 1000
years ago. For that reason she is, as said,
the most interesting half of the popula-
tion of the empire.
She has certainly more than contributed
her part to the propagation of the race,
because she has few if any interests out
sida of the bearing and rearing of chill
dren. One explanation for the great in
crease in the population of Japan, which
approximates a net annual gain of 100000
to fight for survival in their overcrowded
island home, dates back to the Russo-Jap-
anese war. That conflict exacted heavy
toll of the Mikados soldiers before the
armies of the hitherto invulnerable Czar
had been defeated. Japanese leaders,
voicing their alarm with the divine author
ity Of the Emperor, united in warning the
people against the evils of race suicide.
Race Suicide an Act
of Horror to Japanese Women
The statistics prove that the warning
figures show that of the 57.OOO,OOO of popu-
lation living on the islands in the main
Japanese group there are 38,625,617 males
and SAP, 900 females, the division of the
sexes therefore being almost equal. or
the population 37.53O,7O9 are married,
unions being encouraged at an early age,
with recent tendency toward more ma
ture matches.
1t is not unusual to see a boy of II and
girl two years younger parents of one
and sometimes two children Marriage is
IT, To- l<<.s.
professional matchmakers among the lower
classes. and very frequently the partici.
pants do not even take the trouble to make
official record Of the fact. Family infu-
ences usually dictate unions, after the
French custom. Once married, however.
the matches usually stick, and domestic
discord is the exception rather than the
rule.
national custom that Is giving way be-
fore other Occidental innovations is the
legal adoption of the husband by the wife's
family. particularly IL she possesses prop
erty. For several hundred years a husband
was not only adopted by the family of the
wife but he was compelled to take her
name by the ordinary processes of adop-
tion prevailing in other countries.
A. very interesting incident of this sort
recently came before one of the courts.
The wife of professor named Goto con.
nected with the faculty OF the Toxic I'm
perial University, sought the assistance Of
the law to compel him to support herself
and child. Mrs. Goto testified that the pro-
fessor was legally adopted by her family
in accordance with the ancient custom
while he was still a poor student in the
high school of Kanagawa.
After he had signed the adoption con.
tract they were married and he finished
his studies at the expense of'the family of
the wife and started on the road to pros