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Show I JAPANESE HAVE i GOOD TOURING Inviting Roads in Many Directions Di-rections from Tokio and Other Cities (By HI BKBXJEY.) Tho benighted tourist conies to 'Japan, flits from shrlno to shrlne bonders it thero Is a hole In his sock as he removes his shoos on entering a .i ipanese Inn, chucklea over broiled . i Is and rlco while ho fumbles with his chop-sticks, buys a florid kimono on our Main street for twiCfl the prlco he would have to pay back In the Mo-lo-xhachl, learns how to say "Ikura ska?" bow much Is that? and Sayonara!" good night! with the . in p basis on the first nyllable. and rc-mrns rc-mrns to America with a skinful of authoritative Information on thN lB- ruiabli- land And as he rarely got beyond bailing distance of a rlk"sha, flivver-taxi, tram or train .he will tell jou that there is no mjmr touring in Japan. That is why ho Is benighted. There Is good touring all over thl nchanted Isle. A legion of foreign : cedents, who are given to this sort of rocreation more than the natives, will corroborate this . There are inviting in-viting and tourable roads in every dt-non dt-non from Tokio. excepting directly direct-ly east, where boats .uro found more practicable. One may run down to Kobe, about 350 mil s west, or to the very foot of old Fcji-san. or to Nlkko with its carved and lacquered temples 'and ago-old tradition '. nc- might 'tour every day, Indefinitely, and find fair roads, to say nothing of new scenes and experiences, and a refreshing refresh-ing novelty that one could not find . !ewhcre on this motorized globe. Even up in the far northern island of Hokkaido, where but a few yean ago Inhospitable bears were wont to ontest rights Of citizenship with pioneers, pio-neers, and snow lay ten feet on tho level four months of tho year, one hears the purr of mighty motors and some that do not purr so much as cough and snort. It Is true that when one 9cts furth on a two or three-day Jaunt bo may o liriHL'o or two that ari' I a bit wobbly, and now and then an abrupt turn on the narrow top of a . alke. and practically all the 1915-1920 drop of brown babies will 'be toddling I in front of his car. but If the motor- 1st Is not willing to risk a mild adventure ad-venture occasionally, he Is not worthy of the name. As for Japanese roads,, one gets the wrong Impression in the states, since the majority of photos published were selected for their artistic merits and not as Illustrations Ol good highways. Generally they shOU narrow, winding lancscongested with things animal, vegetable and artificial, and therefore not alluring to a spirited gentleman with a powerful car. L'.it as a matter of fact, we have hundreds of miles ". reasonably wide, straight stretches. I where tho motorist can relax and let the old car lay back her ears and flatten flat-ten out over the road. Kent W. Clark, j manager of the 1 rlcntal hotel In Kobe, confides that recently he madi 70 miles an hour and please don't tell the cops coming up to Tokio. As Mr Clark driv a Packard twin " six, and as we have seen tin- roads, '.e didn't argin with him. To one brought up I" the American middle west, reconciled to those drab, ! if prosperous, little towns, and unin teresting terrain as necessary evils, j the brilliant green of the Japanese ountryside, the pleturesquenesi 1 the villages and the people are a reve lation and a delight. One rarely en- counters anything to affront his ocular ocu-lar sense. With the exception of the big old he-mountains, the towering cedars and broad inland lakes, everything in Japan Is built on a diminutive scale, j one might fancy he is traveling through Lilliputla; tiny houses, neat ns a new cigar box on tho inside, and i with straw roofs looking for all the world like Scandinavian haircuts, kneo high hedges, tiny horses, tiny ' :roes and tiny inhabitants in colorful garb animating the scene. Il'art of the route between Tokio and Kobe lies over tho ancient Tokkaido highway, once used by the Dlamyos in their pilgrimages to Yczo, as Tokio I was formerly called, to pay homage to their lord. Monster trees guarded those brilliant processions of palanquins palan-quins .mounted samurai in armor, and gorgeously attired retinue of hundreds hun-dreds of servants. Many of those trees are still standing ( The greatest treat In touring Japan Js to put up at a Japanese inn which has not been touched by foreign influences. influ-ences. As a rule they are immaculately immacu-lately neat and thHr hospitality un-livaled un-livaled anywhere, The guest must, of course, remove his desecrating shoes ' at the door, for the highly polished floors like the -surface of a fino dining din-ing table, and tho rirm, sleek mats .re meant only for stocking feet. ne eats, sleeps and receives In the 1 1 wme room, which permits absolute j privacy. Privacy to a certain extent, j that is. for ai ino. un-xpect-d m- j ments the demure little moon-faced ' maid will slide open a panel and en- 1 ter unannounced. In time one gets used to this Innooet sociability. II Usually the room Is simply fur- II lshed but always artistically, with a II delicately painted screen In one cor- 11 ner, one no more hanging scroll, a. l highly finished built-in chest of draw- It ers. and a quaint urn with a llttlo 'wart pine or other plant. Furniture for sleeping, euting, writing is brought I In respectively by the maid. The bed Is composed of several folds of a heavily padded comforter, and a padded pad-ded sleeping kimono la supplied each guest. Also, the maid ts right thereto there-to put it on, too. As for the pillow, wise tourists will provide their own or fold up a robe In preference to the unyielding cylinder which seems to fit the Oriental neck, but only puts kinks In the Occidental. Meals are likewise brought up on small tables, about six Inches high, and the diner sits cross-legged on a floor cushion. Unless you happen to have a knife and fork in your kit. you I will have to muddle through with u pair of chopsticks. The cordial atmosphere of these inns is most Inviting; the smiling host, the obsequious porters and principally the laughing and bowing little maids, who. when you try to speak In their own tongue, make you think you are the most comical person In Japan. Tips for all servants are paid in when leaving, at the desk, and a receipt is given by the proprietor. So much for that. And please remember that, in spite of what other tourists from Japan Ja-pan tell you. that you can motor here to your heart's content. |