The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-09-20
JAPANESE PLAY
SPOTS RUINED
BY QUAKE
Quaint and Beautiful Resorts
Swept Away BY
Natures Fury.
BY ANN ROSS.
International News Service.

memory Of the tourist, restful anC
lovely to the japanese seeking re
Taxation, all have been wiped ou
in the red haze of destruction which
has laid waste the Nippon Empire
Yet of all the losses incurred IN
the havoc wrought by the earth
quake, which swept q mighty ma
ton, prepared for anything but that,
and the resultant force which tug
ged at the worlds heartstrlngs
Japan misses her playspots least
for it will be q long time before
Japan again is in the mood to
make merry.
Easier to Count Living.
'Tt is easier to count the living
than the dead in Hakone, SAID q
dispatch from the stricken empire
There the terrific earth tremors
which shook the entire island of
Hondo were at their worst. Other
dispatches brought the information
that Miyanoshita and Atami were
totally destroyed and Kamakura
swept by q tidal wave.
These were the popular resorts
of Japan nearest to Tokyo where,
in winter as well as in summer,
tourists and residents sought re.
taxation. Within an easy railroad
Journey from Yokohama or the
capital, they have been the scenes
staged by the members of the
foreign community, and on the
itinerary of practically every tpue.
est they offered the beauty that
travellers expect and fail to find IN
the mongrel civilizations of the
cities where east and west do not
blend harmoniously.
Hakone lies high up in the
HakOne mountains, nesting by the
shores of a lake bearing the same
name. On clear days Fujiyama,
the peerless, is mirrored in its un.
fathonnable depths, although the
mountain is many miles away. The
motor road up from Kodzu paral-
lels, part of the way, the old To-
kaido trafl-for centuries a famous
and welI-traveled highway. Now.
with grass growing up between the
stones laid by the ancients of Dali
Nippon, it is used as footpath by
natives who toll along under the
shade of towering cryptomeria,
wearing high wooden geta and col
kets Of produce from the country
side.
Eight miles below, on the same
heart of the 1oveliest mountains in
the world.
Over the round green eminence
curiosity, 90 ju-go-ku," which, trans
L. - eli
Beauty Disrupted.
1t is hard to think o. Natures
grim convuIslons disrupting the
beauty OF those mountains, with
their Villages q thatched rooted
houses and simple temples, their
naive Wayside shrines and their
eVer-shifting mists, for It Is a sec
ton of gentle beauty and peaceful
charm. In winter the mountains
abound; in summer they offer an
oppressive "nyubia," or heated
term, of Tokyo. Undoubtedly the
resorts were crowded with week
end visitors from Tokyo and Yoke
hama at the time Of the disaster.
And just as they went to Miyanc-
shita for New Year, the folks of
Tokyo fEocked to Atami at Easter.
1t, too offered a pleasant week
0nd or summer refuge, within four
hours ride from the city. and must
have had its quota Of foreign visit
0rs on the Inflated Saturday.
The Rivera Of Japan.
Atami Is an old village that lies
IN the curve of those picturesque
cliffs. which are termed the
Riviera of Japan. The mountains
come down to the sea along this
part of the coast, and ancient,
gnarled pines stretch their fantas-
tic boughs out over waters as
sparkling and as blue as those of
che Bay of Capri.
Atami was famous for it's hot
baths and for a magnificent "bav
yen," or plum garden. It was here
that NJ. Joffe, the Soviet envoy,
spent last winter and spring while
negotiations were being carried on
looking toward Japan's recognition
Of the Soviet. 1t was reached by a
narrow-gauge railroad, running from
Odawara.
Most Popular Resort.
Kamakura is nearer to Tokyo and
Yokohama than any of the other
resorts and. therefore, was, even
more popular. Hundreds of sum-
naer cottages were opened in May.
Business men could commute to
Kamakura, and did. There were
excellent bathing beaches here,
and no place in the empire was
Gayer Snan Kamakura in the sum-
uer
5noshima. the picture Island, :"
|eported to have been completely
submerged, was connected with
KamakorA by a frail swinging
bridge cE bamboo and was a ia
NoriuS spot for picnic parties. Here
was a subterranean cave, where q
shrine to Bentan, the goodies of
lovers. was placed in a damp and
dripping niche OF rock
Escape Destruction.
Kariuzawa and Mike, other well.
liked resorts, seem to have es.
capped destruction, but these are
farther away from the center of
the foreign population.
AT Chuzenji, above Mike, il the
reimbursement known as the sum
mer embassy of the British, and
many OF the diplomatic corps of
other nations summer up there.
Hood Estate So, 665.
Edrvfv