Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-20
JAPANESE AREAS
HARD HIT BY QUAKE
Latest Disaster Centered in
i Fishing Villages on
( WakaSa Bay.

Sections of Japan which are most
ancient, most modern and most beau
tiful suffered in the worst earth
quake which has shaken the mainland
since 1923.
Fishing villages on and near Wa
KAE4 bay, facing Korea and Man
churia, were in the center of the dis
tarbance. Fortunately the densely IN
fabited commercial district 80 miles
away on the opposite. east coast OF
the mainland containing the cities OF
Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, escaped with
small damage and few casualties.
These three cities are, respectively,
the second, third and fourth largest
in Japan.
SIN the quake area modern Japan
is represented by Kobe and Osaka"
says a bulletin from the National
Geographic Society. They are COM
panion cities. Osaka's million people
manufacture what Japan needs. Osaka
sends her export products rs miles
by rail to Kobe for shipment. When
the shock came a big American liner
was at the dock at Kobe. There are
always sleek liners and burly mer-
chant ships in Kobe harbor. Much OF
the raw silk shipments to America,
valued at more than $300.000,O0
YGNii, GOijlt OuI Vi fApbC- ~ INV
ern metropolitan, Occidental Japan.
Oriental Japan fingers.
Twenty miles north is Kyoto,
stronghold OF ancient Japan, the resi-
dence of the Mikado from the time
Charlemagne went riding through bar
barrie Europe. 1t was to kyoto that
the body of the Japanese emperor
who died recently was taken for burial
near the tombs of his ancestors. KY
OTTO has the grace that accompanies
age and aristocracy. It's streets are
wide. Temples look down on 1t from
the encircling hills. The emperor and
the court have gone to Toxic, but
many artist colonies which the en-
peror planted remain in Kyoto. Fine
pottery, silk weaving and painting
are the pride of the city. Nothing is
old in Kyoto unless it has survived
three centuries. In the old capital
Oriental Japan fingers.
Newspaper dispatches have not
yet reported whether Amanohashi-
date, Bridge of Heaven one of the
three famous beauty spots in Japan,
has survived the earthquake. 1t Is
close to the focal center of earth
movements. A geologist would de-
scribe this third wonder as a nat
across an arm of the sea. 1t is ar
tificial in appearance. That probably
recommends 1t to the japanese who
respect scrupulous, perfect beauty
more than the wild, natural variety.
Growing the causeway are files OF
splendid old pine trees. One may
walk the strand out toward the sea
under the singing pines with the
waves tapping the shore close on
either hand.
THE other two views are far dis
tant from Amanohashidate. One is
of the island filled bay from Matsu-
shima, near the city of Sendai, 800
miles north of Toxic; the other the
Tori of Miyajima, near the city of
Hiroshima, which is situated on the
Inland Sea $50 miles below Kobe. |
Tori means gate in japanese, in this
case, the sacred gate which stands |
picturesquely in the water, three stall |
wart piers on either side supporting q II
cross-beam tip-tilted at its ends. Only |
the moon knocks at the portals of /
the Tori. After Mount Full the Tori |
picture enjoys probably the widest |
popularity In the United States.
Prevented by Geography.
Geography has prevented great !
loss of life in the recent quake, which |
is said to have eQualed in severity the |
disastrous 1923 quake. Mountains |
come sharply down to the sea on the |
west coast of Japan and there is room |
on the narrow shore only for small |
fishing villages and few farms. Some |
of Japan's finest oranges come from |
this district.
'On the east coast, however, rivers |
have built up plains and broad valleys i
in which millions of Japanese are con-
centrated. Kyoto, in itself, offers first |
hand evidence of Japan's political his !
tory. In the center of the city is the |
old Imperial Palace, occupying 81 |
acres. The visitor. after obtaining |
entrance by card, will find the palace |
rooms spare and Spartan in simplicity. |
The charm of the palace lies beyond |
the buildings in the gardens. Sur |
rounded by the perfection of the gar
dens 1t is possible to understand how |
the emperors, shorn of power by the |
shoguns, devoted themselves to such |
works as organizing a cherry blossom !,
festival and formulating poem style |
limited to 81 syllables.
up on Hill is a shogun's palace, |
which &c now used by the local gov
ernor. The shotgun had power and |
wealth, so he, not the Emperor, sur
rounded himself with exquisite cary.
ings. screens painted by the finest |
artists, and firm wall for protection"