VIGNETTES OF NIPPON

Evening Star, Issue 22963, 21 May 1938, Page 1

VIGNETTES OF NIPPON

Japan is a feudal country, in which' it is justifiable to take a man’s life for “ dangerous thoughts.” Living conditions of the peasant and his family have remained unaltered for 500 years. He cannot afford the white rice. he. grows. He buys cheap Saigon rice. The townsman lives m a wood-and-paper house, for which he pays perhaps 3s 6d a week. His electric light and fuel will cost about 2s a month. He buys an outfit of working clothes for Us. He can furnish his home for £2. Breakfast for six—probably, comprising bean soup, rice, pickles, and tea —will cost about 4d. ■ A seat at the cinema costs 3d or less. Saki (rice Tvine) can be bought for 8d a quart, lager for 4d or 5d a pint. Apples are three for a penny, bananas' id each, peaches 10 for 3|d. Sixpence for SO is an average pno® for cigarettes. In Japan only two classes of women count—the grandmother and the mother-in-law. To them a wife must accord obedience even more than to her husband. In a Tokio tram a man gets up to give his seat to a boy—not to a woman. It is the woman who holds open the d °The male child is all-important. His mother .will call him There are said to be 4,000,000 girls under 15 in houses of ill fame. A man can obtain a divorce merelv by writing three lines on a sheet of paper. He gives his wife permission to. marry another. The Emperor is a divinity, a living god whose name must not be mentioned in conversation. The worst oath used by a Japanese is to call another man Other-than-to-be-expected fellow.” _ . ’ Service in the army is universal and compulsory. All men are on the army list until they are 40. Everyone is taught the virtue and honour of dying for the Fatherland./ Jn. the town propaganda its way into every home, instilling contempt and hatred for the Westerner Japan, has war planes,, battleships, and tanks. She has also cnpplmg taxation, poverty, and malnutrition.