AN AUSTRALIAN IN JAPAN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2129, 17 October 1867, Page 3

AN AUSTRALIAN IN JAPAN.

A gentleman, says the Argun, who recently occupied a high position in this colony, and is now sojourning in Japan, has treated the readers of the Argus with an interesting description of 'matters that have come under his notice in that strange country. Although thei'9 have been several books, official and otherwise, written ot a land which till l-ho last few years wits to Europeans almost a terra inco/jnita, jet the observations of aii Australian oil Japanese affairs as he found them may not bo uninteresting, He arrived at Yokohama oil Easter Sunday last, and having escaped from the Custom-house ollicials, took up his residence at the Club. The Club at Yokohama is a fine two-storey buildiusf, on the esplanade, facing the sea, " The Club society consists of naval and military oilicers of all nations, Government officials, professional men, merchauts, &c. The cost of living is about £1 per diem, taking one day with another. There is a readingroom, library, billiard-room, and colfee-. room (the latter (301't by 30ft), and a fiue balcony overlooking the from this point ;is not much unlike Hobson's Bay from the end of tlie railway jetty." Of the town of Yokohama, lie says" The immediate site 1 was originally a swamp, partly cultivated with rice, but has been reclaimed by a great outlay of labour, and hundreds of men are still employed iii bringing earth for the purpose from the forest-crowned heights adjacent. It originally had a bad reputation, before the European's settled there, for malarious diseases, a character that it has never lost, nor is likely to do. In my view the place is open to three dangers. In the first place, the Japanese could, from the surrounding heights,. invest and destroy the. town at any time. The country is subject to earthquakes, and the perturbation of a shock considered, moderate iu these parts would cause a wave to rush in and submerge the entire town and its population, Thirdly, the swatnpy nature of the site ! ■must always be .likely' to induce fevers, cholera, and other epidemics, whenever such are prevailing in this quarter of the world. Most of the houses are built of wood, lined with stone —the latter to prevent ready ignition, and the former material to keep the stones from tumbling about the ears of the inmates in the event of au earthquake. ■ Stores and dwelling-houses in every direction are rapidly re-covering the grouud, whilst their roof tiles of black earthenware and white mortar joints, ivith the picturesque ridging and gables, give a look of uniformity in. architecture seldom seen iu a European city, and. peculiar withal. The European quarter is appropriated by some 250 residents of ail nationalities, whose loss by the lire in November last is stated at £300,000, in addition to £700,000 paid by insurance companies. Contiguous to this is the native j quarter, ' exclusively occupiedby J Japanese, to the number of 18,000 or 20,000." The Japanese dealers are generally very civil and very patient; I but mixed with an obvious shrewdness j there is a childishness of manner not easy to comprehend. The dealers are generally also manufacturers, so that the visitor's curiosity can be gratified by the whole process of construction, •which is conducted on the spot. The wife and children of the artisan usually assist, Mental - education is by no means neglected. A knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic seems universally diffused and quickly acquired. Our traveller made a short excursion into the country. He fouud the dwelling-houses all on one model, the " walls of tempered clay, and one storey high, the windows of varnished paper, the roofs thickly thatched with rush material, generally finished iu a neat and substantial manner, and the exterior whitewashed and painted to a condition of cleanly and cheerful appearance. Sliding shutters more or less closed the window apertures, according to the exigencies of sun or tempest. The. Japanese do not affect much privacy in. their domestic proceedings, and the family'operations of cooking, washing, or bathing are not usually regarded as being anything to be ashamed of. Friendly and polite to an extreme appeared the/general population. Scarcely: a private house', of respectable character we passed but one or more of its inmates, if opportunity offered, would greet lis . with merry countenances, and an exclamation exactly translated to me as—' To you, a good day;', And, in case of any pause, a further ejaculation on moving ou was chorused from the household, equivalent to our English farewell." Tlie country appeared to be well cultivated, not £i' weed to be seen in any of the gardens. "Irrigation, as a science, is. well understood, and lias accomplished ..much; and the network of overilowing.runnels of crystal water, when seen.from the mountain heights, has a beautiful and remarkable appearance. There are no slteep in the country (a suggestive fact for thoughtful Australians), very few pigs, and the scanty number of cows I have'seen are all stall-fed." Of the 1 female attendants at the.tea-gardens, he says: —"lean dispel an illusion. There ai'e scarcely any of . them . good looking; ..and,: in common with the rest of the population, about onethird are severely marked with, the small-pox, vaccination being unknown here. Their teeth are good ; their eyes uniformly dark, and deeply set. I'hey are all attired in clean coarse garments of a penance-doing appearuuce > and they usually possess, ill-

shaped feet and ankles, and fat noses. The pictures in the books give as truth- : ful an idea of the Japanese teii-girl as the stago representation of a brigand in shiny boots and coloured ribbon}) gives oue of the actual Italian bandit. They are,..however; merry and obliging, iiinl indoineiinour andiijiponrancbTully as. modest as the rest, of the community. Some of them strove to entertain us with tunes upon tl\o 'samsing,' an instrument of the banjo tribe vrith tlireo. strings, and to this they sang in wild discordant strains, which, at first intolerable, became gradually almost amusing. The souse of decency exhibited bv these people is of a very blunted kind, as judged by our standard,..but their incongruities of char, acter in this respect form tho most incomprehensible subject of contemplation I have encountered in Japan." Subsequently our Australian visited Xeddo, with, several oilier Europeans, the party consisting of tlve Due do l'entliievre, the Count da Bcauvoir, Captain Fauval, and I)r lfnne of Hong ! Ivong. On this route, as they increased the distance from -Yokohama, a marked change for the worse was observable in tliis demeanour of the .people, most of them regarding the foreigners with no very friendly feelings. They met, however, with a kind reception from the Council of the Empire, who permitted them to visit all the places except the fencing-school and the theatre—the .former, because the young natives of rank who .attended it were not supposed to bo favourable to Europeans, and the latter because it : seemed to be infra dig, for any. oue of station to go to the; theatre. There are no public buildings of any prominence at Yeddo, and no private edifice is loftily raised. The city is impressive on account of its immensity; but the estimate of population at three millions the writer is inclined to think exaggerated. The channels are everywhere filled with clear running water. The streets are swept and watered iu dry weather, and no offensive smell was noticed even in close neighbourhoods. The vast numbers of retainers of the daimios be regards as injurious to the best interests of the . country ; they may be, counted in the empire by hundreds of thousands; : they hate foreigners; swear by the nobles, whose badge they carry, and are idle; ignorant, and vicious. They deem it a social degradation to engage in any steady continuous labour, " There is no respectable middle class in Japan, beyond a comparatively few artizans and shopkeepers. ]S T o professional men worthy of the name can be found. j\ t o manufacturers, except those who provide iu a small way for simple local require-, meuts. The mineral wealth ot the Country is so far undeveloped as to leave little to exchange for foreign commodities. Coal is abundant,, and also petroleum, according to indiea- . tions; but the Government, with incomprehensible apathy, hesitate to. allow-these fields: to be prospected. The. natural wealth of the* empire is .undoubtedly great, especially in minerals; and tho amount of population (some live-and-twenty millions) seems to open a line market for British manufactures and productions, although the Japanese will probably be slow to adopt the advantages we could offer." The mint and tiu> arsenal appear to be the only buildings worthy of notice; at the former about 200 meu Were employed ; but there was an almost total absence of machinery. In the arsenal, however, a similar deficiency was supplied, there being a large number of European appliances, including rifling, and boring apparatus of Belgian manufacture. The character of the people is summed up in these terms Japanese habits -and character abound with in* consistencies. As a rule, their houses, are. kept clean, and their cooking is conducted iu cleanly sort, and yet they will neglect to wash their wearing apparel till it swarms with vermin. At the same time they are constantly bathing and scrubbing their bodies, and public bath-houses are met with in every street. In the preparation of pastry, fruit compounds, &c., more attention is apparently bestowed on form than flavour—all are tastefully modelled, pleasing in tint, but abominably insipid. The upper classes among the natives are pacific in disposition, seldom quari'elliug and . fighting; and yet the men encumber themselves with great swords, which not one in a thousand will make use of iu. his lifetime. The poorest artisan or day labourer will, wear his one garment till it becomes offensively odorous, and yet will clean his teeth carefully every morning with a fresli toothbrush. Mem.—These toothbrushes are of soft wood and eight a penny. On marriage, the women blacken their teeth and pluck out their.eyebrows, and at the same time -formally commence a virtuous life. Most Japanese are bom ■ artists, and possess great apti- . tude for faithful delineation and colouring ; mid still they altogether neglect the study of drawing as a science. Some miniature portraits, iu water colours or enamel, Which we wero shewn, possessed very high artistic merit, as far as the faces were concerned; and an exhibition of waxwork was pronounced equal to anything iu. Europe, -t-indeed, this latter transcended all that I could recollect having ever seen. On every side is observable; tho operation of this natural artistic talcnl,-iu their house decorations, shop signs;, sword cases, and carved and'painted ornamentation ■generally,' There is a, bold fidelity to . nature in these efforts, and much lively invention, all usually conjoined with grotesque extravagances, furiously defiant of the received canons of art. In tho way of civilising .progress their stolid pride and bigotry are the. stum--1 bling-blocks. The'symbol of nobility ■liere is tho two-sworded decoration, and feeble-old iueu will stagger about with a couple of -cumbersome gold-bedi--1 zened weapons (which literally burden their existence) rather than have 1 their quality momentarily mistaken. | Again,,the real men in authority are so unapproachable, as .they, are sUr- ' rounded byconce'ntriccircles of courtier ' attendants. . 'With its vast resources, its climate, and its position, Japan is

destined yob to bo a power in the w oHd; .but it is chiefly to the jiromise ivftoi'ded in weivdiiij*- young nion of' iiimily to Europe .i'or education that we must look for the 'prospect of gathering:, this population into a band of fellowship with the nations of the West,: Underlying a sort of aileeted nklillerenco towards the naiional supe-' rioritv of European countries, there iH, among the present rulers of Japan, much envious regard for iind ambitious desire to emuhito them. These ideas hare hitherto shaped mostly to a -weak fancy for acquiring a knowledge of scientific warfare and its agencies, But it is to be hoped that as. the Japanese come to learn, that commercial prosperity is the real foundation of national power, great opportunities will open at no distant period to European .mercantile enterprise.