THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 270, 16 November 1909, Page 6

THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN.

Probably less is known to the world at large about the Emperor of Japan than about any other ruler of a great nation, so considerable interest attaches to a communication on the subject from an Australian visitor to Japan, published in the Sydney Morning Herald. The Emperor rarely goes outside the capital, and most of the Japanese have never seen him. People wait patiently for hours in the streets to see him pass, and greet him with bared heads and in silence. But the Emperor takes no notice of his subjects as h« drives along. The writer describes him as a sallow rsurlylooking individual, whose features display no sign of interest in the things about him. When receiving admirals who had covered themselves with glory in his service, he did not even look at them. From an article in a Japanese paper one obtains an insight into the Emperor's private life. Of all the world's monarchs he probably eats the simplest food. He speaks but little — '■& shampooer who has attended him for thirty years has never had a word from him—and he rarely laughs. His underclothing and nightsattire are never worn twice, but are given away to people about the Court. Every night he talks about literature

to the Empress and the Court ladies, and writes fifty to sixty poems a day. It is true a Japanese poem is a short affair, but even so, this is a great output. "What a comfort, and again, what an encouragement, his poems were for us people in the late war I His poem is not a manufactured sort, but his own heart." The Australian remarks on the unbounded devotion of the people for their ruler. The humblest speak of him with the utmost reverence, and even the modern educated Japanese, with his veneer of Western culture and thought, does not care to hear him discussed as one would discuss King Edward or the Emperor William. Western people look on their monarchs as erring mortals; the Japanese regard their Emperor as an infallible demi-god, and the Emperor comports himself accordingly.