JAPAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 148, 25 June 1887, Page 3 (Supplement)

JAPAN.

INTERESTING PACTS ABOUT THE LAND OP THE MIKADO.

Esisefor and, Governor ta Become

Christian,

The largest; audience that has. yet listened to any, of thfc Lick series of lectures assembled in. Pioneer Hall, San Francisco, to hear General Thomas Van Buren, who was United States Minister to Japan for \1 years* speak* of that foreign land.

Japan, he said, twenty years ago was a sealed empire, but enterprise soon broke the" bonds. Yokohama is now a large, thriving city, with 60,000 population in the native and foreign quarters, which are divided from each other. About 12,000,000 acres, or one-sixth of the available land of Japan, is cultivated. The smallness is owing to the absence of fertilisers. Incredible crops are raised. Sometimes two crops a ysar are obtained. The soil is a black mould of decomposed vegetation. The climate is not tropical, as generally supposed. In the north snow and ice are as regular as in Canada. The winters are cold. For years a skating club has been maintained among the foreign element of Yokohama. Several weeks of good skating are frequently secured, and «i the winter of 1884-85 skating lasted two months. There is a considerable excess of males over females in Japan. To which family of the human raco the Japanese belong has not been decisively ascertained. I entertain the belief that they were progenitors of the Isorth American Indians. I have seen men in Japan who, when they hang a blanket over their shoulders, are indistinguishable from Indians. The dijjerenoe of language is the strongest argument against the theory. The Japanoso labourers under the federal system were the absolute s|aves of the ruling class. There-were no courts, and it was as much as a labourer's life was worth to appeal to his Prince for justice. There were iive. classes --the ni]ers and their retainers, farmers, artisans, labourers and coolies. Since the dawn of tjio new era that lately began, courts have been established where the labourer can be heard. "The old class system is dying out. All the land was formerly the property of the Emperor, and since the abolition of the feudal system the farmors have been greatly benefited. The Japanese family relations have .been essentially patriarchal, the father being the absolute master of his household and offspring. Among the lower classes parents sold their daughters to be coneubjjies, singing or dancing girls. The law defining civil rights has done away with much of tho power of the paterfamilias, but it is still greater than in western countries.

Belief in shrine-cures prevails in Japan. The shrine-cure consists in bathing the diseased parts in a little dirty water kept at the temples.

The images of the gods at the temple are horrible in their appearance beyond conception. These gods are to be placated by prayer. The prayer is written on a piece of paper, which is converted by chewing into a pulpy ball. This is thrown with all the praying one's force at the monster. If it sticks the prayer is granted. Judging by the spitball decorations I have seen on these terrible-looking demons, thoy must have as much business on hand as our criminal courts.

Doctors in Japan formerly charged from ten to twelve cents for visits, including medicine. The demands of the new modern schools have risen to the enormous sum of fifty cents.

Tho relations of master and concubine in Japan are looked upon as perfectly proper. Japanese are very polite.

indiscriminate bathing of the sexes is common among the Japanese. The Japanese are cleanly. A large majority of them arc patient and skilful workers. The manufactures of Japan are distinctly household. Very low wages are paid. The people work nine hours a day They are vegetarians. A labourer's clothing is of the most primitive character, costing Idols, to sdols. a year. The Mikado formerly travelled in a covered car. The common people could not look on his face and live. No\v he goes among his subjects freely and without restraint.

The progress of Japan during the past quarter >of a century was spoken of. In 1890 an assembly is to be held and a constitution promulgated. The reigning Emperor and his family are to become Christians and the government is to be Christian. One of the Japanese papers advocated this course as a matter of national policy, arguing that it would secure Japan better treatment from Christian nations.

Railroads are needed in Japan, General Van Buren said. Bamboo is used there for innumerable purposes, and he wondered why it was not more employed in other countries.