JAPANESE AT PLAY

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 November 1936, Page 13

JAPANESE AT PLAY

ADVANCE OF WESTERN WAYS, j The small newsboy’s bell tinkles urgently as he rushes through the village; carrying-another “Gpgai”—spe-. cial. edition —under his arm. (writes., a Japanese correspondent in the Maiß ■ Chester Guardian). He. slips one duf,.. drops iL-into, the poYch ot a. . sup> scriber.,and- runs on. The single.sheet is eagerly seized. A double Japanese., swimming victory. Records broken, The" great news is displayed in . huge'. Chinese'characters thatican .be read halfway' across-the. street without difficuity. On the back of.'the sheet are three pictures,- radiographed, from Berlin to Tokio and telepboted thence to the local paper. . The. illustrations are mere smudges, but. the happy imagination can easily, fill out one blur intd a mass of ..enthusiastic spectators cheering Nippon’s victory, and the others into likenesses, of the hero and heroine themselves who had won the races. The circle of. the. Rising Sun can easily be discerned on theirchests. A few minutes later I reach the beach. Crowds of young people come here every day to escape from the hot streets to the cooling, water, to lie with free limbs on the warm sand andto meet their friends.' There are a number of convenient, little booths here where soft drinks,, ice-cream, chocolate,' simple dishes of Japanese food and so on can. be bought cheaply and eaten under the shelter of flstraw roof. Behind, some of these shacks there-are changing rooms. Japan's beaches are" in every stage of development. Many- are similarto what this used to be when I firstknew it three years ago. At that- time there were a few decrepit- huts which: had once been used by fishermen, anda useless boat rotting on the sand. Ascore of young men and each with a cloth round his waist amt most with a twisted towel round thein cropped heads,'were to be seen swim-, ming or playing there on hot days-. There would be several schoolgirls as. well with ugly black swimming coste tuiiies hanging to‘them, splashing in. the shallows, and there were usually, one or two middle-aged -women. At the other extreme there are in Japan a, number of- fashionable beaches such as this may become in a few yeais This particular stretch of seashoieis in an attractive stage of develop-. ment, in which it is aware of its transc formation and is delighting in it. Con-, spicuous are the-groups of .dainty. Japanese girls in well-made, backless? swimming suits, brightly, coloured anc often decorated-just now. with the five Olympic rings. A '.few have smart shorts or pyjamas, hut not many. There will be- more of these next year. When- they’ are not in the .water they have a brief cape fluttering from their, shoulders, and- they all swim in nea.t helmets such as. are thought .pretty on every beach in the world,. They are so tiny that a Westerner would set their age at 15 or less, but,, in fact, a lot of them are 17 or even 18. DIFFERENCE IN BEARING.

There is a difference between the bearing of the girls on a Japanese beach and those on a Western beach. There is a touch of diffidence in the wav the girls walk, in the way they glance at each other. They are not used to this sort of life and do not quite know how to adjust themselves to the new conception of Japanese womanhood which their presence on the. beach implies. Unless with then families they never speak to a man. In the big cities there are a number of women who, earning their own living. demand. "‘freedom.” They are featured in countless films and novelettes as the unscrupulous woman inforeign dress who, after temporarily, turning the hero’s head, loses him again to the kimono-clad, home-lovmg Japanese girl with the traditional ideals. Most of the girls on this beach would be horrified if they were taken for “nioga.” (This is the Japanese abbreviation of the English words | “modern girl”). They would, for instance, think it more than daring to speak to a man outside their family circle. The-elder, sister of one of them would not even speak to the man her parents had arranged tor her to marry except under circumstances carefully prescribed by convention. The indoor -lives of their mothers and grandmothers still cling to the minds and behaviour of these light-hearted youngsters. -How long will it be before the fresh air they are for the moment breathing will stir in the I homes of Old Japan? Perhaps 50 years; perhaps by the next Olympic Games. .

The men on the beach are a young. Few can be much over 2a. > They are mostly. students or office • workers who are fortunate enough to > have a holiday. They wear only ! trunks and are proud of their tanned, 1 muscular bodies. Their minds are ' full of the successes of their fellow- ’ countrymen in Berlii). A group of co - b lege boys are practising the hop, step, and jump. Their men had a great 1 triumph in this event, breaking a 3 world record. “The youth of Japan —this thought is in every mind—

“has surely now proved itself tne equal of any in, the world.” The suspicion that he is thought infenoi moves the Japanese to an agony of anger and grief. No one should deal with Japan, whether in politics, business or sport, without understanding this’ “Olimpiku; Amerika; Doitsu (Germany),” again and again one catches the words. Up comes the inevitable topic. “Isn’t Machatasan splendid?” cries, a girl as she fastens her short cape round her shoulders, and there is the ring of hero-worship in her voice as she speaks of the famous Japanese woman swimmer From all round come exclamations oi agreement. Eagerly they, speak, o i the swimmer’s triumphs and of' the further feats confidently expected o_ her.

BOWS ON THE BEACH. On the sand and in the water rubber balls are tossed from hand to hand. Three young men are turning somersaults; one is doing the pole jump with an unreliable-looking length lof bamboo. My attention is. caught by an unusual sight. A young man of the middle twenties and a girl about five years younger are saying good-bye to an older man and woman. They bow again and again. It looks incongruous to see them bowing with grave conventionality in their scanty wet bathing things. Then the older couple leave them and they look happily at each other. They are certainly -not a “rndga” arid “mobe” (modern girl and modern boy) aggressively defying convention; they are shy and modest, a;good-looking pair, and prbb; ably, newly married. Will such a

couple one day cease to be noteworthy? I strike out leisurely through the clear, water. A powerful youth speeds past with the grace of an expert swimmer A girl laughs and throws, her gav ball to her friend,, the water glistening on her brown arms and her face alight, with happiness. Where will she be next summer, I wonder? Not here, probably, for she is of an age soon to be thinking, of marriage, and, she will be anxious to avoid disfiguring herself with, an unsightly tan. She will not venture into the sun next year. I suspect, without a dainty sunshade. held over her head. A- year after - that, maybe," having achieved the whiteness which is one of the chief tests of beauty in ’a Japan-

ese woman, and is guarded: even , by women working in. the fields, her marriage will be. arranged for her, and-she will disappear into the house of her , husband’s parents. Seldom will she , emerge except to go to market, makea. formal call, on relatives, or. take a journey to visit members of.the family in another city. In TO years’ time, > though, she may come here.on. a. hotday with the family, and she will' sit with her mother-in-law ; .and the (young-< est of her children watching while her husband proudly carries the second youngest into the water. She will be about 30 then, and there will be less need to safeguard her complexion, but-, even so if she can keep .the :sun> oft' with one of those big, bright umbrellas, so much the better.