The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-02-06
This is the fourth Of six stories on
"Japzn's Skyrocket Rise"
BY ROBERT TALLEY
NEA Service Writer


as modern as those of any Amer
lean newspaper.
You would listen in on the radio
in your home just the same as you
listen in here, except that you would
pay the governments radio agency
a fee for the listening privilege. The
fact that you had paid your radio
tax would be attested by a metal
sign on your front door.
You would hear no advertising,
for radio advertising is barred in
Japan.
You would trade at department
stores as modern and as large as
any in the United States; Mitsu-
koshi, Japan'S biggest department.
store, carries nine floors of mer-
is equipped with nineteen
elevators and six escalatorS, sells
everything that you would expect a
department store to sell.
You would be keenly interested
il news from America about Babe"
Ruth and Pepper" Martin, for
baseball is the great national pas
time in Japan; the new ball park at
osaka looks much like any big
league stadium here and is only enc
of the many that have sprung up
over Japan.
You could join a Japanese Y. M.
c. A. or a japanese w. c. T. u, or
even buy a Salvation Army War
Cry printed in japanese.
TINE ancient island of Nippon
4 has gone American" 1t has
not yet completely reached that
stage. But it is getting there fast.
There is still strange mixture
of the old and the new.
TaXicabS and street cars dash
through the streets. So do jinrik-
iShas, those two-wheeled passenger
carts pulled by coolies.
A NIGGA" or modern girl, 5trolIs
past, looking and acting like true
fapper. Her old-fash-
Toned sister, in kimono, quaint
Shimada headdress and wooden
soled sandals, is also seen.
Many store signs are painted in
both Japanese and English. Cards
in show windows proclaim English
spoken here"
A collegiate-looking young chap,
with socks rolled and looking like
an American college boy, also drifts
by with the crowd. Behind him
may come another studious- looking
youth in long kimono and sandals
and wearing a felt on straw hat.
On fine macadam road just out
side the city you may watch a big
auto truck roll by, followed by a
heavily laden cart to which six to
ten coolies are harnessed.
IF you lived at Osaka, the "Pitts-
l. burgh of JAPAN the chances are
that you would work in one of it's
steel mills. The din of trip
hammers would nearly deafen you,
giant cranes would be piling tons
Of stuff into bargeS on the nearby
river. If on the night shift, you
would work-and Sweat-under the
glare of arc lights.
If you were an Office worker in
Toxic or Yokohama or Kobe or
Kyoto, the chances are that you
would toll in one of their modern
office buildings.
If you wanted night life, you
could find plenty - night clubs,
cabarets, movies, theaters.
When you celebrated, you would
drink sake-made from rice-instead
Of corn liquor.
.EYOND the great cities the
d scene changes. Old Japan
the Japan that Commodore Perry
found in 1853-still lives in the him
terland.
In these quaint villages that cling
to the mountainsides and dot the
fertile valleys, the old order re-
mains. Men and women in queer
parasol-like bamboo hats, toll knee
deep in the waters of the rice fields;
the people live largely on a diet OF
rice; they sleep on thick mattresses
on the matting-covered floor, a
notched wooden headrest serving as
a pillow.
The water buffalo pulls the wood
en- plow. the handloom comes out
after the days work in the rice
field is done, little wooded places
with sacred shrines beckon the Ja-
panese to the gods of his ances-
tors.
The charm of the ancient seems
to linger. Even a rich Toxic man
after being driven to his
suburban home in his limousine,
may exchange his Americanized
attire for silk kinono and wooden
sandals and squat upon the floor
with his family for a cup Of tea.
THE average japanese is civil,
i polite, secretive, intelligent.
Lacking a sense of humor, he is as
dumb as an Englishman when it
comes to understanding the point
of a joke. Nevertheless, he is usu-
ally light-hearted and buoyant.
Centuries of rigid mental train
ing have masked his feelings, max
ing him imperturable in trouble,
stoical in pain or death. He looks
upon cowardice as the most despic-
able of vices, and neutrality-suspicious.
larly to his emperor and his coun-
try-as the supreme virtue. Thus
he gets his pride of race and his
near-fanatical patriotism.
He is cocky, confident and quite
satisfied with himself. He is usu-
ally truthful-eXcept when the truth
hurts.
THE Jap lives in the most dense
Il ly populated country on the
globe, but there are great arabic
areas therein open to him if he
would go. However, he doesn't like
the cold climate of the northern
islands, which corresponds to that
of New England. He prefers the
warmth, the sunshine and the cher