A HINT TO BANQUET GIVERS, FROM JAPAN

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXII, Issue 3467, 26 October 1896, Page 5

A HINT TO BANQUET GIVERS, FROM JAPAN

Dining in Japan is not thfBedous business it is iv New Zealand. The Japanese do n->t meet to eat, but eat because they have met, and conversation an-1 amusement form the principal part of a banquet. Exchanging cups is the chif»f ceremony at a Japanese dinner. Sake— a" spirit made from rice, resembling dry sherry — is drunk hot out of tiny lacquer and gold cups throughout dinner ; and the mustnea who sit on their heels in the open' stace of the floor, patiently watch for every oppor- 1 tunity to fill one's cup with pake When a gentleman would exchange cups — whicb is equivalent to drinking your health — ke sits down in front of you and begs the honcur. lou empty your cup into a bowl of water, have it filled wub sake, drink, wash it agnin. aod hand it to your friend ; he raises it to his forehead, bows, has it filled, aud drinks. Eating is, however, but a small part of the entertainment We must be amused, and to amuse is the business of the geishas, the licensed singing and dancing -girl** who are attached to every tea-house. The dancers are splendidly dressed, and their movements are so interestina, so unlike anything seen in Europe, that one watches them with a curious sense of pleasure.