Show y J a 1 k ke v F e t I s y dl h A Sandal Shop In Tokyo I Pr p r l by National n 1 Society Wellington Washington 1 D U. C C. S SeI Seale r le leX X TOT UT many years ago It was was wasI NUT I J held up against the Japanese that they never Indulged In athletics Today there are ore In Tokyo two huge stadiums one originally seating people but enlarged In 1931 1331 to accommodate the theother theother theother other and on the days day of ot baseball games there are few vacant vacant va va- cant seats With the exception of wrestlers there are no professional athletes In Japan Teams are made up largely of ot undergraduates In the various universities and It Is the games which draw the largest crowds Baseball skillfully and Intelligently Intelli gently played Is as popular In Ja pan pan-as In the United States but It Is not the only popular athletic sport Hugger flogger football Is played everywhere and played well A As It ItIs ItIs itis Is part of the army training and andas andas andas as something like young men go through this tills training rug ger may well supersede baseball In popularity Hockey and association association tion fool football ball are played more and more and boxing Is becoming pop pop- ular Wherever there Is space In Tokyo there Is a tennis court The They y Y it M. M C. C A A. A pool Is always full of or swimmers as are the great outdoor out door pools In summer and Japanese Japa nose nese swimmers hold some world rec rec- More and more rowing crews In racing shells are appearing on the rivers and lakes Golf Golt clubs are springing up and as al In America the links are used largely by business men At the army maneuver on the outskirts out skirts of ot the city you jou can see magnificent mag mug nl cent riding So the old accusation accusation ac ae of ot lack of ar Interest In athletic ath letic letie sports can no longer be made These modern games have not entirely entirely en en- driven out the old purely purel Japanese sports Thousands gather as of ot old to watch the wrestling matches where the Immensely fat tat fatmen fatmen men so well known In Japanese prints carry carryon on their strange matches under the ancient rules Archery Is also popular among the chosen few v and the great matches are always ahva's sponsored by some of the Imperial princes It takes a strong man even to bend some of ot the tough old bows Athletics Build Up the Race It would be Impossible to estimate estl esti male mate what hat athletics are doing for forthe forthe forthe the Japanese as os a race The BIble says sas that no man by taking thought can add odd a cubit to his stature but there Is no doubt that succeeding generations of ot are taller When you jou ou meet young oung men In Tokyo Tokyo To kyo dressed In gymnasium costume through the streets when nhen you IOU see the finely proportioned bodies of the boys In the Y V. M. M C. C A A. A pool when you go to a university sity Hy graduation and see the students students stu stu- stu dents all together you no longer think of the Japanese as a par par- little people With ith a ft regulated better and better balanced diet and with physical training from the earliest years through all grades of school the tile Japanese are growing up physically They grew up mentally a long time ago It Is said that the generation now reaching maturity Is on an average an Inch taller than the tile preceding generation As a generalization one should doubt this but at the sage safe time one feels sure It Is true In Inthe Inthe inthe the cities where modern Ideas of ot exercise and diet are prevalent There Is II probably no phase of clearly life lite In Tokyo which more shows the contrast between the old and the new than do the theaters You go to the ro or to the and there theresee theresee splendid Tokyo Toko theater dramas given In the old see ste ancient II style etyle of ot acting or you yon go o around and theater the corner to a movie see the latest Hollywood tion The Kabuki and Tokyo theaters I are enormous thoroughly modern handsome ome buildings The orchestra orchestra orches- orches tra seats are like Ue those In tn an Amer Amer- I ican Ivan theater except that they are ore lower The boxes bores have no seats because people seem to prefer preter to sit lilt on the floor In the old style The plays begin there begin there are generally gen len three or four tour given In tn succession suc sue cession from cession from two until four tour o'clock In the afternoon and last until ten o'clock at night Huge Theater Stage The stage Is enormous the lighting light ing and scenic effects superb It Is probably true that the Japanese w were re the first to have a revolving stage for tor quick shifts of ot scenery The actors strut In the ancient style and cha chant nt their lines In fact tact If It the lines are emotional they are sung by the musicians at the sides of the stage since It t Is not considered consid- consid ered proper to show too great emo emo- tion nut Hut In spite of or all this the actors i men men of course take the women's ports parts and a Japanese lady explains explains' this ns os being necessary because men are so much more graceful are ore really great and make a profound pro profound found impression on any foreigner who has lias the Intelligence to rise above e the queerness of ot the per It 11 may be true as some have said that the living actors of or the thc stage adopted their stilted style from the puppet shows of ot old but the style cannot hide their power of ot character portrayal You feel teel on leaving the theater that you have been living In all the color of or past centuries And then the movies are just Jus as crowded as os the theaters There Is a movie Industry In Japan but this does docs not detract from the popularity pop of at the Hollywood dons Talking pictures were hard to deal with at first but now a solemn Individual sits at the side of ot the picture and translates apparently apparently apparently ap ap- to the sn satisfaction of or the audience as ns the play progresses tots Lots of Gay Cafes Tokyo Toko Is full of cafes cates always crowded modeled somewhat on the cafes of or l Paris In former daj days das s people pea peo pIe gave e gelatin parties those rather rath er solemn affairs at which geishas danced their symbolic dances They were very expensive and those who could not afford offord the expense contented contented con con- tented themselves with picnics Now the cafes are crowded their principal prin cipal patrons being perhaps the and the mogas The Tile Japanese more than any other nation nallon love line to late abbreviate and mollo Is the tile abbreviation for modern boy and moga Is the abbreviation ab ab- ab for modern girl Indeed these and mogas dressed al almost al most always al In European clothes and tryIng to adopt the freedom of ot European manners are about the most modern aspect of Tokyo One Une might go on almost Indefinitely indefinitely In pointing out the tile various contrasts of this city where at every ery point the contrasts between the old and new between the occidental occidental oc oc- oc and the oriental Is II so ing It should never be forgotten that both the old and the new both the western and the eastern are real In Tokyo Somewhere In the fusion of the two lies the truth of ot Tokyo When one remembers remember that the western Ideas have been nat not for less than a century one can understand the Inevitable Ine le outcropping of ot oriental Ideas In these theRe days day when the populace of ot Tokyo Is excited over the China situation when any soldier Is applauded applauded applauded ap ap- ap- ap on lie streets there Is perhaps an outcropping of the the- theold old military lo e of the samurai class Yet even en this Is somewhat also oc oc- oc- oc In nn on American city nothing noth noth- nothing ing can arouse such enthusiasm as marching troops troop at a time when war Is In the air So far as Ideas are concerned Kipling was 01 wrong In saying that the West Vest and Eat East could not meet In Tokyo the W West st has ties met the East and out lilt of this meeting l Is in growing a new kind of or civilization In which the Ideals uh of If the two hemispheres ore are fusing |