Evening star., 1923-07-09
EAST is EAST
By Frank III. Hedges


which he has crossed the Pacific ties
up at dock in Yokohama. The ex-
citement that comes with landing on
foreign soil does not conquer this
disappointment as he steps into a jim
rikisha and is trotted through the
dingy streets of the port city to hotel
or railway station. If he catch the
electric train to Toxic he is further
depressed during the ride of fifty
minutes and the drab appearance Of
the capital Of the empire certainly
does not serve to cheer him up.
He does not see the Japan which
he has visioned. Instead of a. riot
Of brilliant colors, the whole land
seems to have taken on a monotone
of gray. Dinky little trolley cars
that bounce through the streets over
uneven rails carry more passengers
than fall to the lot of tho bare-limbed
'rikisha coolie. Unless he be so for
tunate as to land during a brief ten
day period in the month of April,
not only are the cherry blossoms
absent, but he catches only one or
two brief glimpses of flowers of any
description. In all likelihood falling
out the glory Of Fujiyama as the
sacred mountain towers over the har-
Dor, for rain, rather than sunshine.
seems the normal condition of the
atmosphere of Japan.
He has probably read bit of Laf-
cadio Hearn and has fallen under the
lotus spell of that master Of de-
scriptiye English and lover of the
soul of Japan. Or perhaps his friends
have recommended the book written
a few years ago by Julian Street.
Certain it is that whether he has
read a word about the sunrise isles
he has absorbed the belief that they
lie wrapped in sunshine. girdled with
laughing people to whom art and the
beautiful come before all the other
things Of life. None of this does the
average American see on his first day
self
The cities of Japan are far from
beautiful; the countryside is another
matter. 1t is the cities which the
newly arrived American sees first.
Because he admires the graining of
wood more than the colors of paint.
the Japanese refuses to bury the
naked timber under a blanket of
white or yellow or green. Here and
there stands a building that has been
coated with plaster or stucco, but
most of the streets are lined with
rows OF small weatherbeaten houses.
The newness of the wood soon turns
TO a drab gray. as the rains beat
or gray tiles. The wonderful gar
dens Of the nation lie hidden behind
tall board fences. Even the surface
of the streets takes on this gray tone.
for they are unpaved, muddy and
without sidewalks.
Japan has been peculiarly unfor-
tunate in the choice of foreign archi-
lecture. In that section of Yoko-
hama which was originally a foreign
concession and where Europeans and
scarcely a building that is not ugly.
either actively or passively. In the
capital city the government long ago
adopted set style for public build
ings that is an offense to the eye.
Heavy, saualid structures with gro
tesque ornamentation have been
built of red brick and white stone.
Not only are the buildings out Of
keeping with Japan. but they would
be passed by with a shudder in any
city of the western world. 1t was
due. I suppose. to lack Of experience.
TO lack of background. and therefore
lack Of discrimination. Fifty years
ago the whole western civilization
was an unread book to the Japanese
book that fascinated and attracted
them. In their eager desire to alb
sorb its contents they did not pass
but adopted the whole bodily. The
architectural monstrosities OF the
earlier foreign style buildings of
TOXIC and other cities are but one
manifestation OF this. Fortunately
there has come a reaction, and Japan
today is erecting some modern build
ings that would grace Washington
or any world capital with their
beauty.
In the costumes OF the people. too,
. =, -.
pointment. True. he sees many wear
ing the kimono and straw sandals.
but the kimonos are for the most
part dark blue. black, a heavy brown
or dull gray. The desire of the true
Japanese woman is to look old. not
young, and she dresses in accord
ance. Children and schoolgirls wear
brilliant reds and blues. but no mar
ried woman would consider any but
the most sober costume. Her formal
| dress is a kimono of black silk with
| delicate tracery in white of bam-
sign and perhaps just a wee touch
of color. The geisha. seldom encoun-
tered In public, revel in gorgeous
colors and elaborately embroidered
kimonos. Although most of the men
wear the native costume also, there
are hundreds who go about in the
coat and trousers of the west. and
the incongruous combinations some
times achieved may bring a smile of
amusement to the American spec
| tator. but they coVld scarcely be
considered as adding note of beauty
to the scene.
The Japanese encountered on the
streets or in the railway trains stare
at the newcomer as Fiji Islander
in native dress would be stared at
in an American city. The tourist
has expected to look at everything q
in Japan with curious eyes, but he
finds the Japanese even more curious
about him than he about them, Be
! cause 1t is simple and childlike
curiosity and therefore not impolite.
no effort is made by men, women or
children to conceal their interest
when the American pauses to tie his
shoe or perform some other simple
act, and crowd Immediately closes
in around him. 1t is natural that the
American should not understand this
attltude' innocent enough in itself,
and the tales told by the returned
tourist of how he was watched and
iEsulted because he was an Ameri-
! can usually arise from this lack OF
understanding.
On the surface the great cities of
/ japan hold but scant attraction for
the eye, and the newcomer to them
| is almost certain to be disappointed
II he be so fortunate as to leave the
cities behind him and boldly strike
out into the open country, there is
another tale to tell. for no Lafcadio
Hearn with words and no Japanese
artist with paint brush or wood block
Chisel has sketched a picture as love
ly as has nature herself with noun
tain and mist. pine and bamboo and
terraced rice field, moss-grown rocks
that border waterfall or swirling
stream.
And if the tourist remain in japan
long enough to cease being a. tourist
the drab cities. too, reveal their
beauties to his widening vision.
Toxic offers him the simplicity of
the gray stone wall, crowned with