The New York herald., 1921-10-23
@ONTINUING the illuminating

@ONTINUING the illuminating
articles ON Japan by Louis
- Seibold, staff correspondent
of The NeW York Herald, IS the
folIoVing intimate study of the
Japanese character, as glinpsed
through .various phases of daily
life. Education, religion, Gnaa.se-
ments and transportation are a fen
of the topics discussed.
Neat Sunday Mr.. Seibold aOilI
continue his studies of Japanese
character through intimate glinepses
of the daily life IN Nippon. The
police system, the tendency toaOard
suicide, motor cars, personal dress,
&C., aciU be discussed.
BY LOUIS SEIBOLD.
Special Correspondence to THE NEW YORK
HERALD.
Copyright, 1921, by THE NEW SYoRK HERALD
NARA, Japan, Sept. %.
w IITH the Japanese education Is
wv passion. The sturdy rikisha man
puts in his time waiting for you
by reading one of the public prints or
book; the tired factory hand or shop
clerk tops off his day with reading his
favorite daily journal or In taking up the
study of the ancient history and past
glories of his island empire; the passen-
gers on tram cars in the cities and on the
trains that traverse the rice fields under
the shadow of towering mountains read
instead of looking at the scenery; the pur-
veyor of sweetmeats and ice cream cones
at the railway stations carries side line
of literature ranging from the vernacular
and English dailies to-"the best sellers"
both Eastern and Western.
A visitor to Japan soon forms the i'm
preston that more of the people can read
and write than is the case with almost any
other country, not excepting the United
States, and that while the daily newspapers
are depended on for information the aver
age Japanese keeps close at hand a work
on history, art, economics, philosophy, from
which he CLEANS entertainment and in.
struction. Nor is there any dearth of
funny papers," cartoons drawn by compe-
tent artists in an artistic atmosphere.
The better educated among the Jap
anese people are. quite as well informed
regarding world events and concerning
the subjects that entertain the students
and cultured people of the world as the
most progressive man or woman in Lon
don, Berlin, Rome or New York and can
uuif int Qan about them
r THINK one Of the greatest surprises
that foreigner encounters in japan
is the number of Japanese who speak
a native born American or Englishman.
Long time foreign residents of the empire
tell me that they have yet to go into the
humblest hamlet without finding some one
who spoke or at least understood Eng
lish.
In cities like Toxic, Yokohama, Kobe,
Osaka and other seaports all of the hotel
clerks railway employees, a large per-
centage of the shop clerks, porters, street
venders and rikisha men understand
enough English to provide what you ask
for or direct you where you want to go.
The chief reason for this Is that the Jap
anese Government encourages the study of
foreign languages.
It's educational. system, which provides
an elementary course of at least six years,
includes the study of English French and
German, one of which must be selected.
Probably 250,000,000 yen is expended
for education in Japan every year, the
communities and provinces alone contrib
uting more than 100.000O00 yen. There
are estimated to be 42.300 public and
private schools in the empire, with an
average attendance of 9,219,492 pupils, or
about one-seventh Of the population. Of
the pupils attending the public schools
4,141,429 are boys and 2.S62,074 girls.
Japan annually sends to foreign coun-
tries for instruction In the higher forms
of education about 1900 students and pro-
vides facilities for an equal number of
Chinese The number of instructors in the
public schools is about $4,000. About one
sixth of them are women. who are paid
very small salaries. ranging from 10 yen
to 40 yen a month-$10 to $40.
There are FIVE State universities in
Japan, the curriculaCof of which embrace law,
pharmacy, literature, engineering, eco
nomics, science, agriculture and dento1-
ogy. There are three important technical
schools which provide instruction and