Evening star., 1922-08-07
REJECT MILITARY MEN.
Japanese Brides Turn to other olf'
cles for Mates.

Word has lust come from the lailo
of the cherry blossoms that some ~
tcresting things have peen W h ,hs
70 light by statistics compiled py tie
Nakadac chi-match- maker OF japan.
II seems that a military son-in-law
is no longer looked upon with ia'oi
in that country. oon
Where they were preNiouSlS
s;dered to head the list, now onlE wv
ont of every hundred orders piaceo
win these match-makers by anxious
mamaS request a man IN mi!italy
vice. Indeed. even the wife or Jap
anese army officer of hlgh ram no
stated that her daughter should never
,narrv a military man. This deter
mined little lady is herself an olneet
in the principal association OF jap
anese women in military circles:
Both the social prestige and nnanr
cial status of the Japanese military
man are very low at this time. inls
is of particular interest, coming from
Japan. the country of the Samufal'
who have upheld for centuries the
Japanese traditions that are parallei
to those of the days of knighthooo
in England.
In spite of this change of fashions
in son-in-law, however. the custom
of arranging marriages Is stlli quite
the thing in Japan. 1hey 40 not
seem to have the flapper PEI type Weren Oh
are taught from girlhood to be mod
ast retiring and obedient as a
daughter and. later, as a wite. w ms
the youth movement is StlrrlnS lhei {.
as everywhere else. the girls have not
in general broken away from the
traditional manners expected Oh 'helh
by their honorable parents ana an
cestors. There is absolutely no
chance for petting partles' court
ship in any form is positively TABOO.
The Japanese girl does not have TO
worry about her matrimonial posi-
bilities at all. The mechanics of
marriage are SO definitely arranged
that she is almost certain to avoid
being an old maid.
matchmaker, has among her many
accomplishments the knowledge or
astrology and makes business or
determining the suitability OF the
temperame of the two young peo-
pie suggested for marriage. U.s.
and is the hair dresser Of the COM
munity. She goes to every home to
twist the great blue-black coils of
the lady -the-house into the COM
plicated effects which We occidentals
know best from Japanese prints. In
cidently, while engaged in her duties,
she allows her little black shoe
button eyes to travel over every
thing visible and her alert little
mind takes in many things not vis-
ible.
No domestic secrets are safe from
the eyes of the all-important match
maker and she learns Intimately all
the faults of disposition as well as
of physical defects in the young
people of both sexes with whom she
will inevitably have business dealings.
Sometimes it is the father of the
young man who asks the match
maker to find his son a wife. Some
times 1t Is the girls mother seeking
husband for her accomplished
daughter. Neither of the young people
involved has any say in the matter
whatever.
Every charm or defect, even to the
shape of milady's little nose or the
keenness of the gentlemen's eyesight,
is calmly and in detail discussed,
either as liability or asset. by the
parents and the matchmaker. Prob
ably the one redeeming feature of the
entire proceeding is the utter absence
of hypocrisy. If a young man is to
marry girl for her money, no gilt
tering cobweb is thrown over the idea
to give it romantic guise. y
Yet. in spite of this carefully CAL
culated, horoscope arrangement, the
reason given for the largest propor-
tion of the divorces granted in Japan
is incompatibiltty. About one out of
every twelve marriages results in d.
vorce. but only two out of every one
hundred give other grounds for OBJ
tanning the divorce. Naturally, there