FOX TROTTING JAPAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 186, 6 August 1923, Page 3

FOX TROTTING JAPAN.

■ - . • ..I JAZZ TRIUMPHS OVER ELDER STATESMEN. OKIENTAI. BATHING COSTUMES AND WL-TKRN" 15.V1.1- I.OW.N'S. (Rv DREW I'KAJISON.) j TOKYO (Japan). Japanese stuiio'sio's of modestly. «l.i-h f„ r ~., uaic pcnniit.-d I ,ie sexes to tneet'al the hath without the em-.m-brance of even a .'iic-picce b-itimi,. suit, are held t-. W' n.eiiac •'• by Ihc advent'ol' f-i-e. ,1 i,i. it." Tin* Khlct statesmen ami tee social arh'ic.-. generally not only frown upon it. 'c'". v :,ro opposed to it as a moral dati-'-r to the ,„„th ~f the cnipitv. The voiilh of the empire, however liny iall.-n i" « '"tHy I'er ilm -vucmialii::: ch.irm.- of the nne-ptet. and the fox-troi. 'o say n..ihii._ for the mo:.: recent .-iiaptel- vi ja-"/.. and the populace i- immeisc.i in a coiii:-.nei>y crimpiehcttsiolc to v- only in l icugnt of-lapati < I code of moihstv ami morals, the direct ! antithesis o| wluil v.-c iiiidcrslaiiil I iio-u ■',(•:■ is lo mean. j Tii,. sc\c- do ii" ! mingle '..tore mar'ri.vc in .I.'ipali. not ci en under I he <•;.*■ Jul the chaperon-. I'at.-nie -elect t•" juife for their son. I nurtin. is :.n unknown custom of 1 -'■ "<<■< " i s-ve-ai i I- a... I M-ite 1 a snl.lrr- , ran.: n 1 . I -M hi:; > v Hi" o'H-kir'- ..:' ' Tuki... l)i-."oh 11/ J -tui'tC'l in. T :, ri'.i 'ii ..,.„,|l „„.! l-iil'li.'hl.- i-ibiilM .'. gi'l'-*t pool ~f :.il;,i,iir water. I tie.itiit-.1. My . ii m •raiiihij .-a- I.io mil 'h I'U' '"■"■ ;-|„ ,',.. ~:.,, i .ictiu- 1 -.»_- _-.--. .--I I mi.: .t !:,. pr.i'.hl-.l v.:: i:. '■• nt '• It "as .not fott'icmin-. I io'- .' n.y ue-tci-.i :j,l ;,s of 111.1.I01;. f". i-" * It.f- hch.:. land enjoyed m. -"If. -oiii-whot !■— mi-Icon-.-ioiish . !io-.ie' i-r. ' iitill I lie ut icl hat'.eiT,. i.ir tiie... ■.. i .umiil he i.n-tuea-iiruW.v shock, d hi l.c si.ht of a uoinau in a conventional Kuropean low-cm cm-nlii. ilrc-s, hii'.c mingled a' j tiie bath throu.hout their lives. | .lAI'A\F>E C'LEAXKsT OK PKDI'LK. I Ii i.- quite common to -cc n man ol 'woman squalling in a shallow Lib outside a house and splashing aw..;, as I {'.ioiu.li h" or she -. •1 - iti the pr; -, ;;.■;.- ---! ol" a luxurious bathroom. In tiie lir.-t. place, bathing has an importance equal with that of sleeping and eating in the life of the individual in Japan. Ho; weather or cold, no day passes without a bath for each and cwi'y subject of ] the Kniperor. The .lapane-e, perhaps, iare the cleanest people, bodily, in t\iu \ world. j N'evert.clc-s, aecustoined as I have i become (o these Japanese bathing com- : j monplaies. I still shrink a (lille when ' the landlady walks into the bathroom I and unconcernedly senilis niy back as I | sit iv three inches 0 f water. Hut throughout Japan it is only common I courtesy for the hoste-s to perform th:_ service for her gtie.-ts. | The point of view which underlies the social conduct of the Japanese is admirably stated by Alice M. Bacon, in her book "Japanese Uirls and Women." "According to the- Japanese standard," she says, "any exposure of the person that is merely incidental to health, cleanliness or convenience in doing noces_ary work is perfectly moclc=t and allowable; but an exposure, no mutter how slight, that is simply for show is in tin* highest degree indelicate. In illustration of the lirsi, part of this conclusion I would refer Ito the open bath-house, the naked j labourers, Ihe exposure of the lower limbs in wet weather, the entirely nude j condition of the country children in sum- ! ran-, and the very slight clothing that j some adults, regard as necessary about the house (luring the hot summer. DAXC'IXt; IX SANDALS. The state of mind that miisiiiers nude public bathing perfectly proper, also considers Western dancing morally harmful.. In Japanese society, under the oversee- > ing eye of the Elder statesmen. Western I dancing has long been taboo. Hut, by the will of Japanese youth, mr.v being ■ expressed more boldly than ever before in the national history, public opinion is changing toward the dance just as West- j crn opinion changed toward the short i skirt. But the change is much more sig-1 nificant. It is in defiance of the censure and ; protest of conventional Japanese opinion.. therefore, that the ballroom of the I in-1 perial Hotel in Tokyo is crowded every Wednesday and Saturday with Japanese youths and maidens, dancing even more : gracefully than Kuropean fo.\-trotters. I and in sandals at that. j A Xew Zealand girl, wearing sandals! fastened only by a single thong between 1 two toes, might dance a step or two. but no more. These Japanese young ladies [ glide for hours as gracefully as the lie-i jewelled followers of New York's Four . Hundred, while British and Americans I sit spellbound watching and waiting fori a dancer to lose her sandal, which never | happens. THE "FLAPPER HAS ARRIVED, i The "flapper has arrived ill Japan, ] but she is an extremely new importation and a most .inharmonious one. j Bobbed hair, rouged and powdered face, : knee-skirls—they are such a contrast with the dainty Japanese lady clad in a butterfly kimono, reaching well to her ankles and giving no hint of the shapeliness of her body, that the ap.x-arance of the former is' t'-o n.*-a*ion for male attention seldom ac.-oidod women in Japan. A bol.l.ed-hnin-.l and short-s.irted young woman entered 'he Imperial Hotel the oilier .1..-. Two workmen stopped ami stale! n't her. ibis is most i.inis.ial. for few men ■on.lesccf.d to look at, a woman in this country. It is beneath their dignity. Hoi these workmen actually stared, and iv for [one laughed and rcniar_"H: "What a j fool'" The Kuropean habit of gh in. ■> IprcttY gj r l the "nnc -over" i- a ctistoi. ; j that jap:.-,, has failed to inherit with her i other innovations from tlit* west. In Japan the kiss is consider..! se.vt.ai It i- never practised in public, and is i | ceiisoicd from the impoHfd American j moving pj-.-lur-"-. Hut. along v.iib de rebellion of youth against tic an -cut i mics forbid.ling mingling »f tiie s.-x. «■ in s,,cielv and ihe traditional immorality . of a boy ami girl siiolliug together, the . I kh\s is wiiiiiin. eiia.njii ui-. ' I In vie- of tiie :•-_-. .-I.! isolation of the sexes, tiiuiiv iva-miablc erit: -s regard I their .udde'll (lirooin. logelbev as not I uniikelv to precipitate v brc.ik.li.w II of the, entire moral structure ol Japan. | They fear that Japan's special creed vl j i -wriestv inav help in this. I And'in order that the western I of mode-tr might accompany the advent !of western ideas of social int-reoursc. ; the tinvr-rnnvnt recently issued an . | comyvllimr al! public bathers ** i -.nits, li is rigorim-l.i. euf.-.r*'*'!. " .' ii-itors lo Ihe iM-ach ii""" ""f V _~._„-- : |r-i!' rv,.,,; iimed. But. before ■_.'■■: n>! ibto the ii.ilcr. 11-<'.'' ra *!* ~,1,-ov I .-!,-.; hing on the beach and "-" "-,,',._,] | a lounge on the sand in a mo.c liaiui- [ slate of nudity.