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Show Japan's Roads -IM,riMl..iiV I'li'ii'ii'iiii'ii'niViiiia. ,,i i liiN-----------Vi,;iniini'ini'inil', "n" in rin r,Wn'n'n".' n' Mi inn ll'll'a'i ,'i ,.l i 1 1 "v-'-nIMH)f Scene on a Japanese Highway. Prepared hy National Geographic Society, Washington. D. C. WNTJ 3rrlc. WITH motor cars multiplying In Japan, the Nipponese are becoming increasingly interested inter-ested in good roads. A few years ago travelers scanned railway maps when planning to tour Japan. Now, new roads linking great cities with regions of historic and scenic Interest on the larger Islands are diverting di-verting the attention of visitors to automobiles au-tomobiles and Improved highways. It is possible, although, It must be confessed, sometimes slightly uncomfortable, uncom-fortable, to go by automobile throughout through-out the length and breadth of Japan. To be sure, many of the roads are true "sunshine roads," which mean woe to him who attempts to travel them during dur-ing the rainy seasons, when light bridges across flooding streams often become unsafe for heavy traffic or float away entirely ; yet motoring at proper times presents only minor difficulties. diffi-culties. Drive along that historic Tokaido road from Yedo (Tokyo) to Kyoto, past Hakone lake, sacred Fuji, and the east seaeoast. With the sharp autumn air bringing red blood tingling to your cheeks, spiral up to ChuzenjI from Nikko along the zigzag road carved on the steep mountain side. Behold there the exquisite panorama of multlhued maples. Climb to the mountains that gird the blue waters of Lake Towada, lush In the greenery of summer or aflame with riotous golds and reds of frost-tinted October. Direct your car out into the country byways when summer rice planting or autumn harvest makes evident the patience and ceaseless industry of rural life. Discover for yourself charming places along the Inland sea, the Fuji lake district, and elsewhere. If you take one such trip, you will agree that motoring is well worth the effort even when the roads are in poor repair. Today, in Japan, automobile trafflc is steadily expanding. If one excepts the innumerable motorcycles and three-wheeled three-wheeled delivery autobicycles that dart about everywhere, and Includes only the tiny flyweight cars, the raucous rau-cous taxlcabs that cruise the city streets for 50-sen fares (normally about 25 cents) ; the public and private pri-vate automobiles, the lumbering trucks, and the long, low 18-passenger busses that overfill the narrow roadways, there are now about 70,000 motorized vehicles on Honshu Island alone, and on the four main Islands a total of more than 160,000. Better Roads for Motors. The number of cars already In operation, op-eration, together with those arriving dally at the docks or taking final shape In locally established assembly plants, is ever a pressing argument for better roads. In the first eleven months of 1932 the United States exported ex-ported to Japan 2.S28 busses and trucks and 2,736 passenger automobiles. automo-biles. The value of automobile parts exported in this same period was $2,-348,665. $2,-348,665. Every day motors are widening their sphere of activity. Treaded pneumatic tires are leaving patterns in paths which for ages knew no prints save those of bare or sandal-clad feet. Gasoline Gaso-line fumes mingle with the dust that rises from roadbeds heretofore powdered pow-dered and rutted only by the wheels of dog, bullock, or man-drawn carts. The roads are rapidly changing, even the historic old Tokaido from Tokyo to Kyoto, which served Japan as the Via Appia served ancient Rome. Although the old roadbed that echoed to fne hoofs of horses In the grand days of chivalry has been altered, al-tered, until only cobbled spots between the weathered gnarled pines and stately state-ly cryptomerias identify It, the panoramas pano-ramas are as delightful as ever. Mount Fuji still stands supreme In her winter-whitened mantle or In the blue haze and shroud of cumulus clouds; the rivers still rush down from the purple hills, and the inrolling waves of the Pacific still break along the East Seaeoast as In bygone years. "There is the music of the harp In the pine trees and the sound of the timbrel in the waves; the panting of the carriers is like the sound of fl'ites and the stamp of the horses' feet like the boom of the drum." Hakone Barrier Long Gone. If Chome! were to write that portion of his Tokaido diary today, he would have to find some additional instrumental instru-mental similes for the exhaust of motors mo-tors and the blatant sounding of klaxons. The old flakone harrier gateway has been gone these 60-odd years. No more do armed sentries there challenge chal-lenge one and demand to see passports and credentials, as in the day when glittering trains of dalmlos (feudal lords) marched In ceaseless parade back and forth on this route between the courts of the shogun (generalissimo) (generalis-simo) and emperor. Motor trekkers now stop only if they are interested In examining the age-old site. It is sheer pleasure, however, to loiter along the way and enjoy the surpassing surpass-ing views across the cerulean Hakone lake, which on calm days mirrors that stately mountain named by the aboriginal aborig-inal AInus Fuji, the Goddess of Fire. Not only along the Tokaido, but elsewhere as well, men with picks, shovels, and dump carts are beginning to carve wider and better trails of Joy and utility through the empire. A wide asphalt and concrete road, which connects the titan industrial city, Osaka, with the port of Kobe, is in the final stages of construction. And, mind you, "speed cops" are stationed sta-tioned along the way to check up on motorists trying more thaD the permitted per-mitted 25 miles an hour! Thus far, however, motor trafflc has grown much in excess of the development develop-ment of the roads and the education of the people to the innovation that is elbowing its way into the congested thoroughfares. Persons who have become accustomed accus-tomed to wide macadam highways or spacious boulevards and are inclined to tread rather heavily on accelerators accelera-tors may find travel In Japan somewhat Irksome at first. Anxiety and impatience im-patience must be left at home; otherwise other-wise the nervous strain will destroy all of the pleasures of motor vagabonding. vaga-bonding. Careful and patient driving is, of necessity, the motorist's watchword watch-word on the Japanese highways. Not only are the roads generally narrow and full of turns, but up and down them passes a multifarious traffic. There is a constant succession of heavily laden bullock carts, bicyclists bi-cyclists beyond count, people plodding under ponderous burdens, high-piled carts with dogs straining at leash to assist their perspiring masters to pull them, peddlers hawking their wares, trundling horse-drawn wagons, and children babies playing In the open streets, youngsters going to and fro from school, hundreds of students on picnic or pilgrimage children everywhere. every-where. And there seems to be little inclination on the part of any of them to' share the road. Probably nowhere else in the world is there such extensive "jay-walking" or such a horde of irresponsible bicyclists. bi-cyclists. Squeeze the bulb of your horn repeatedly, re-peatedly, then sound your electric klaxon (every motorcar Is equipped with both), and still there is little movement In the traffic. Why there Is such slowness to respond re-spond to the repeated signals Is hard to understand, since courtesy Is one of the outstanding traits of the people. peo-ple. Many persons have tried to analyze the problem in the hope of finding a remedy. Bicycles the Chief Trouble. "How many miles we get out of our horn, and not how many miles we get out of our tires, Is the question we have In Japan," a motorist resident may jokingly remark when you are discussing the subject of congestion on the roads and streets. Give a man or boy a bicycle in Japan, where there are five and three-quarter three-quarter million bicycles to be reckoned with, and he will dart about with utter abandon, entirely disregarding traffic of all kinds. Consequently, bicycles constitute easily the most serious ot motorists' worries. If only the trafno police in the cities would devote to bicyclists a little of the assiduous attention at-tention they seem to think necessary In controlling motor car traffic, the situation would improve. Perhaps clearer roads are In prospect. Irrespective of facts regarding the right of way, the motor owner usually has, as yet, the heavier responsibility In court In event of a traffic accident. Congestion and delays that would evoke from Americans floods of vituperation leave the Japanese chauffeur chauf-feur outwardly unperturbed. If he speaks at nil. It Is probably to ask, wi;h most profuse apologies. If the carter who blocks the road will be so kind as to try to move his vehicle far enough to one side to permit a car to squeeze past. After more apologies for causing Inconvenience, the chauffeur chauf-feur expresses his thanks and drives on. It is a rare gift, indeed, this courteous cour-teous etiquette of chauffeurs. |