OCR Text |
Show jjjfjHE REAL JAPAN K-i'ttyj FROM THE STUDIES CBu OBSER-i((fQ& OBSER-i((fQ& W VATIONS OF THE WORLD'S FOREMOST STUDENT OF MAN-jggjg?ggfS MAN-jggjg?ggfS KIND WHILE LIVING IN JAPAN AS A JAPANESE By PROF. FREDERICK STARR THE NEW HOME Tokyo. It may be true enough that the Japanese lead "the simple life." It is, however, no easy matter for the foreigner to adjust himself to Its simplicity sim-plicity ' It has taken us, In fact, three weeks to do so. Our desire to be within easy reach of Asakusa rendered the securing of a hoiife somewhat difficult. Friends insisted that neither in Asakusa itself nor in the neighborhood of Cyeno park were sanitary conditions of the best They said that the neighbor hood of the university, high and well drained, was the n&ftresl to be considered. con-sidered. But houses in that neighbor hood are not easy to secure Not in-frecjutntiy in-frecjutntiy people wait for months before be-fore a satisfactory one is to be had. But my friend Nagai's sister's husband, hus-band, living in that district, offered to do his best to find a place for us. Meantime we stayed at our little Hotel Kunikonlya. where everything was comfortable and purely of the country. Finally word came from Hasegawa that a house was ready for our inspection. inspec-tion. The first Impression was unfa-Torable. unfa-Torable. The house was much smaller than we desired and the space available avail-able for gardening connected with it limited. Anxious, however, to make our settlement as soon as possible, we agreed to take It. It improved upon acquaintance, and a little experience almost seemed to show that it had been constructed with reference to our needs. Mr. Nagal and his sister were good enough to go shopping with us. Of course we bought no European articles, and our purchases Included only articles ar-ticles of Immediate and pressing need. We have two sets of tables, one for ordinary use, the other for occasions of ceremony. The former consists of trown wood traps a foot or so square and raised eight Inches high above the floor. Each person of course has his own table, so our common outfit cares for ourselves and a single guest. The other set consists of five square black lacquered trays, which set directly di-rectly on the floor. Five seems to be the definite number which the Japanese Japa-nese consider suitable for a social occasion oc-casion and food trays, tea cups, lacquered lac-quered bowls, and all such things are I regularly made up in sets of five. Plenty of these In variety and chopsticks chop-sticks made up our table equipment. In addition to the things necessary for meals, there was the tea outfit of a teapot, hot water kettle, waste bowl and five cups. It Is necessary In Japanese households to serve tea to every guest who may drop In on the mast casual errand. Then there was of course the tabaco bon, with its burning charcoal and bamboo spittoon, for the convenience of smoker guests. The actual cooking outfit was beyond ns, and was left entirely to the cook, who, I fear, bought a motley outfit, ruined by European influence. Eating Eat-ing and Bleeping being the two ultimate ulti-mate necessities, the remaining shopping shop-ping was devoted to the matter of bedding. Bedsteads of course do not exist In our household economy. Thick quilts are laid upon the floor at night and a warm comfortable Is laid over the sleeper. Pillows are hard and solid rollers filled with rice chaff covered with velvet and protected by a cotton slip or cover. The sleeper wears at this season of the year a light cotton kimono; in winter he has an extraordinarily extraor-dinarily thick and heavy qulltey garment gar-ment which completely covers him and extends well below the feet Having moved In, we complied with ordinary custom by sending osoba to our neighbors. This caused a sensation sensa-tion and made a good impression, as it was not expected that "the foreigner" would pay attention to the local custom. cus-tom. Our house Is situated at the end of a little blind lane bordered by great hedges There are thus neighbors on sach side of us and In front upon the street where our lane ends. We therefore had to send osoba to the two neighboring houses on our right nd left, and to the three houses in front of us, and also to the agent from whom the house is rented. We stopped at the osoba shop on our way back from shopping. They told us that elegant ele-gant custom demanded that we should send three "pieces" (three square 'ooden trays piled one upon the other with a wooden cover on top of all) to each house. It was possible to satisfy Sy sending those which cost three aen (1 cents) apiece, but if we were Tilling to pay the extra price, they could send osoba at seven sen apiece which would delight the neighborhood. We ordered the best sent, and that an extra outfit of four "pieces" should be flclivered at our house so that the rook's heart and stomach might be iatif!c,'i. and that we ourselves mieht have a chance to see what It Is like. It was promptly delivered, and we found that osoba Is a very slender vermicelli, delivered hot to all the houses, accompanied by plenty of sauce or soy. Within the next 24 hours each and all of the favored neighbors neigh-bors and the renting agent made their formal acknowledgment and thanks to the newcomers. Thus we moved Into our new tome. At firs-1 everything was in -charge of I the old cook His wife, who was to be also in our employ, did not come for several days, as she was completing a term of service elsewhere. The old man took good care of us, and long before she came we had become accustomed ac-customed to our mode of living. Sweet beans, rice, fish In variety, pickles of all kinds, the badly smelling daikon (a gigantic radish) and all the great variety of soups so dear to the Japanese, had become familiar to us We had even made a variety of experiments ex-periments on the whole successful upon raw fish. It is true that one meal a day we partook of more or less European food bread, butter, milk, eggs and fruits. But on the whole, we had done famously. When the old lady appeared, however, all changed. Both of the old people have worked for years for American and European families, and know what's what. It was with difficulty that the old man had submitted so promptly to our orders. or-ders. The old lady took control, and it would have been difficult for anyone to find much left of Japanese food in our daily menu. It Is true that one or two dishes perhaps in each meal were somewhat as they should be. We have been now In revolt for several days, and. in time, no doubt shall again restore re-store conditions to their proper state. Just now our eating is half and half. Our household Is yet far from complete. com-plete. Our old man and woman are old friends. In 1904, we saw them when we stopped with Clement, in whose employ they were. Their old-fashioned old-fashioned simplicity and their homely Japanese style won us, and for all the period of planning our present enterprise enter-prise they have been kept in mind. He is little, old, lively and mercurial. He I laughs and talks incessantly. He Is half blind. He has had his ups and downs in life, but he knows what is good custom among his people, since he has come In contact in his younger days with important personages. His wife is a simple country woman. She dresses in the old style and has rustic simplicity. She is accustomed to run things. The three "foreign" services she has filled have been satisfactory to her employers, but only from the fact that they have wisely capitulated. She puts a liberal construction upon her service and duties, and without hint or direction from us understands that she Is housekeeper, laundress, tailor, repairer and general manager. Neither of them talks English, and we speak no Japanese, so that means of detailed communication are lacking. lack-ing. We sadly need a boy as general servant, but so far have not secured one. Third in our list of helpers is Mr. Aral, our general adviser He knows the things of old Japan. He is conservative, yet enters heartily into our schemes. It is his duty to make arrangements He is not interpreter, for he knows too little English: but he knows what Is fit for us to buy, what is suitable for me to do and have, and where the things we need are located. It is his duty to find such people as we need to deal with Lastly Last-ly we have a reader and literary assistant as-sistant In a student from the university, uni-versity, Kajiwara, who knows English pretty well, but who knows little of the things of old Japan. If one could fuse him and Aral together the result would be a fairly competent helper Nor was it a simple matter, either, to secure my Japanese dress. We had supposed that we would go to one of the many ready made clothing establishments estab-lishments and select a suit in a few minutes. On the contrary it was a matter of three hours to arrange the business. Everything had to be made to order, and the greatest care was taken in the selection of materials. We went to the finest department store In Japan. Less extensive than many such establishments In the United States, in its character, its enterprise, en-terprise, and the quality of Its goods it is quite comparable to our Marshall Field's. Not only quality but fitness for my purpose were demanded in every piece of goods purchased by Mr. Arai. The haori, or great outer garment, gar-ment, the kimono, the juban (or inner kimono) and the hakama or wide-legged wide-legged trousers, were each of different material. Not only did these materials have to be carefully selected, but the question of lining for each was equally i important. Even our bathtub has been a matter mat-ter of serious concern. You know, o( course, that In Japan the bathtub is of prime importance. Every man, woman and child in the household should take a hot bath daily. The tub itself is made of wood, and is a remarkable piece of cooperage. It contains a little lit-tle stove for heating the water. Frequently Fre-quently this is so situated that the occupant oc-cupant of the tub runs soma risk of serious burning. The charcoal used lu heating the water gives off fumes, and Europeans at least consider this matter mat-ter a somewhat serious one. Accord ingly my advisers Insisted that the tub should be made to order, first, that it might be sufficiently large for its occu pant, second, that risk of burning be avoided, and third, that fumes be cai ried off. The cooper, upon inspecting our proportion decided that the tub should be three inches longer and three incftes hig'ier than the regula tion. We had been told that its cost, if made to order, would be about ten yen. After making his inspection the cooper stated that the price would be IB instead! Such are the disadvan tages of being great. As a fact, there is some question whether the bathtub may not bankrupt us. When it had been built, we received a bill of 18 yen which was paid under protest, but it was assumed that the matter was' a closed incident. Next day, however, a new bill appeared for 2.50 yen. This was settled grudgingly. Next day the cook announced that the tub was so large that a step ladder was necessary for proper use of it! When paid for, this will make the bathtub, which was to have cost ten yen, a matter of more than twice that sum. Personally, I hate It, for it looks as if it might be suited for the swimming place of elephants, ele-phants, and it is humiliating to think that such a construction was necessary neces-sary In this land of little people. It is, however, a work of art, with neat joinery and a smokestack for carrying off the death-threatening fumes. Bath customs for the Japanese demand de-mand that in the early evening the tub should first be used by the master of the house; when he has bathed the other members in order of age or importance im-portance follow him, bathing In the same water he has used. This sounds pretty dreadful, but in a land where every Individual takes a scalding bath daily, It is actually not so bad No soap whatever Is permitted in the bathtub, but the person bathing is soaped and scrubbed outside and doused with hot water thoroughly So we are really launched. When we enter the house our shoes are laid aside that mattings may not be destroyed or soiled. We sit on cushions, kneeling with feet crossed under us; we write at little desks a foot In height; we eat at little tables brought In for Individual use while the servant kneels upon the ground before us, watching to satisfy our needs; at night the quilts, pillows and kimonos are brought out from the closets where they have been stored during the day and spread upon the floor. Guests are required to submit to native regulations. Our old woman Is under orders to serve tea and cakes to every vlsitor-man, woman, or child. Both she and the old cook watch every movement with care, and nothing pains them more than when the master is guilty of some awkwardness, awkward-ness, or fails to recognize his dignity While we cannot understand their words we know quite well when the guest whom they announce Is one whom we should meet upon the threshold and there aie few such. We see little of our neighbors, but when we meet them, all Indulge In great formality. Next door the mother and two little girls are always dressed in brilliant colors. We meet them as we come and go, and she has taught the little ones to bow to us In proper style. It Is a pretty sight to see the little creatures as they place their hands upon their skirts before them and solemnly bow the head and upper body. 'Copyright. 1910, by W. O. Chapman.) Good Nature Is Its Own Reward. The car was crowded as cars are sometimes, so the fat man stood in the vestibule. At his back was an open window, and the trolley rope hung idly in a graceful loop on the outside of the car and just below his neck. For several blocks everything was lovely. Then the car hit a low place In the tracks without a corresponding low place in the trolley wire. The rope tightened to make up for the discrepancy discrep-ancy and caught the fat man's hat brim with sufficient force to hurl It out the window. Did the fat man frown and blame the conductor? No. He looked at his fellow passengers, his face wreathed wreath-ed in smiles, and said: "Well! I'll be jiggered if that Isn't the slickest thing I ever experienced In all my days." He' pulled the bell rope once, and when the car had slowed down at the next corner he pulled it again twice and jumped off before the car had come to a full stop. The conductor, however, had seen it all. Evidently he was unwilling that his good-natured passenger should wait for another car and sacrifice a nickel, so he pulled the rope once, and the car waited Kan krs Citv Star. |