Evening star., 1935-11-24
Continued From First Pagel

the japanese m1SS10nar1eS-and dlrect
traffic with their pretty lanterns, eX-
cept on the main streets, where the
traffic lights blink red, green and
orange, as they do in Washington.
u
A Festival, Crash
And Some Words.
In Osaka our automobile, driven by
q Japanese gentleman who was show
ing us the town, turned of a busy
street and headed down a narrow
lane about the width of an alley.
Above the steady honking of his horn
the noise Of drum was heard and
a second later we were stopped by
crowd of so or more young men,
wearing white shorts and blue tunics
and bearing on their shoulders tre-
mendously heavy Japanese sacred
palanquin. Their load was so heavy
they staggered from one side of the
street to the other, chanting some
thing like "Rahl Rah! Rah! Rah"
while a drummer pounded in steady
beats. keeping time with their chant.
"Ah," said the driver. "A festival"
''What does it represent" We asked.
"Oh, a festival of some sort"
SIS the palanquin sacred to some
god?" he was asked.
"Ah, yes; perhaps. But in Japan
we have many. I do not know which
one"
The car started, but stopped just as
the celebrants lurched over to our
side of the street, throwing three of
the bearers hard against the front
bumper Immediately the car was
surrounded by an angry, shouting and
gesticulating crowd of the young men
In white shorts One of them jumped
on the front bumper and screamed
at the driver in words and syllables
that sounded very much like repeti-
ton of the term objected to by the
Virginian unless said with smile. And
the man was not smiling. A police
man stood nearby, with arms folded
watching the scene with bored in
terest. Suddenly, and apparently for
no reason. the noise subsided, the
angry members of the mob bowed and
smiled with cordial ponteness and
lifted out hats and bowed and drove
away and I put my passport back in
my pocket.
What did he say, that fellow who
jumped on your front bumper?" I
asked the driver.
"Ah, he said to me: Did you not
see at the top of our burden the
,,I
did you not know that your behavior
was disrespectful to the emblem?'" I"
And what did you say?" asked.
"Ah. said to him: The motor car
vas stop. We do not run into you.
You run into us. I am so sorry. 1t
was so much an accident "
"And was that alp" I asked.
"Ah, that was all"
And apparently it was. There are
no curse words in the Japanese Ian
guage Those that are used frequently
by the English-speaking Japanese
are imported from the American
universities where so many japanese
have gone to school.
X X X X
Even Show Cannot
Appease 1886 Anxiety.
Sitting in the balcony-the only
place where seats were available-we
were watching the Toxic Takara-
Zuka Theater performance of the
musical comedy: Il Hate Lords" The
English translation on the program
explained in a roundabout sort of
way that the plot concerned Miss
Kinuta of the House of Shimada,
who did not like the life of Daimyo's
(Feudal Lords), while young Kyono-
shin. heir to the House of Kanaya,
"held the similar idea as we'll" One
thing led to another until Kyonoshin
became a 'readymade palanquin-
bear by switching his cloth with the
one who came across Ghe bridge
first" and met Miss Kinuta and they
"became man and wife Immediately"
It was all very confusing and hard
10 follow, there being more talk than
action, and we we're watching the
spectators, most Of whom seemed to
have brought their children with
them. holding them on their laps and
by some feat of Japanese legerdemain
keeping them quiet. But occasionally
a child would grow restive and the
little mother would strap the child
over her back and stand up in the
aisle, moving gently to and fro in
teetering motion that seemed to be
what the child wanted. Down on the
stage the actors sat in row facing the
audience and when one of them COM
Lou 81 I,te
would take it up, the spotlight fol-
lowing the speaker. In the darkened
theater the faces of the audience
appeared pale, tense with interest. the
dialogue on the stage occasionally
producing a short, sharp burst of
laughter that moved like a wave over
the crowded house.
The Japanese sitting Immediately
behind me, whom had never seen
before. leaned over my shoulder and
whispered:
do you think Roosevelt will be
Reelected"
Shrine in Home sas3
Brings Peace of Mind.
A japanese gentleman who paid
us the great courtesy of inviting us
into his home and meeting his wife
and children explained that he had
built a European house because it
was cheaper than the Japanese house
to build. He could, of course, have
built one of the combinations which
are as hideous in Japan as anywhere
else when the worst architectural
features of two styles are thrown
together. Unfortunately there are
many of these. His home was Euro
pean, with the interior made more
beautiful by careful use of the highly
polished native wood of Japan
But in one wing of an upper story he
retained the shrine, or sacred place, |
that is part of every Japanese home,
from that of the lowliest farmer or
the city pauper to the palace of the
Emperor himself And this shrine was |