THE RICKSHAW MAN

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22443, 2 July 1938, Page 19

THE RICKSHAW MAN

Disappearance from Streets f Of Japanese Cities

V-’/fIL l ' pHE man-drawn rickshaw, still I the general mode of transportaA tion in Chinese cities, has become very much of a rarity in Japan, writes the Tokyo correspondent of the “Observer” (London). It is possible to walk about in inany parts of Tokyo without ever seeing a rickshaw puller, in his .familiar uniform of a coat and blue ' pants, trotting along at his customdry rapid pace and occasionally sounding a horn to warn pedestrians out of his way. . However, although taxicabs, amazingly cheap and amazingly reckless ■Jjf Western standards, have supplanted the rickshaws that were so numerous before the great earthquake of ,1923, more than 200 rick-shaw-pullers, organised in five com--68 ’ survive. Most of these are veterans of their wade, men in the late fifties, but rough and wiry and very far from D «ng physically worn out.

They think nothing of making 20 runs a day, which, at the prevalent charge of 30 sen a day, gives them a fairly good wage by Japanese standards, even when taxes and replacement expenses are considered. Most of their customers fall into four classes: Geisha, physicians, stray tourists, and very oldfashioned Japanese, who prefer not to set foot in an automobile or tcixiccib. The geisha, who, incidentally, have held out against the competition of Western and modem forms of entertainment better than the rickshaw-pullers have withstood the competition of the taxicabs, are their most steady patrons. It is inconvenient for the geisha, in their towering headdresses and gorgeous costumes, to endure the bumping that often goes- with a taxicab ride or to walk even a short distance on a muddy or dusty side street. Doctors also often prefer the rickshaw, which can bring them directly to the patient’s door.

Making Monsters In Pirmingham, a city of strange trades, the strangest trade of all has been started in a factory recently opened in the centre of the city. In this factory are to be made replicas of prehistoric monsters, guaranteed to behave just like monsters and, if necessary, to bellow forth fire and smoke.