PEOPLE OF JAPAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22865, 21 October 1937, Page 3

PEOPLE OF JAPAN

SIMPLE AND INDUSTRIOUS OVERSEAS LEAGUE ADDRESS A vivid description of Japan and the Japanese people was given to members of the Overseas League last evening by Mrs. Nello Porter, who recently returned from a four months' trip to the East. The chairman of the executive committee, Mr. C. M. Rattray, presided. Mrs. Porter confessed to a feeling of disappointment on arrival in Japan. The cities were so westernised that if the people were taken away ono might almost be in a European city. The girls had their hair shingled and permanently waved and the national head-dress of Japan was very rarely met with. It was also only occasionally that the tourist saw a kimono worn in the cities. She was, however, tremendously impressed with the theatres and the cleanliness of the streets, which were beautifully laid out and lined with shops full of modern clothes. In the quaint inland villages Mrs. Porter said she saw the life of the simple Japanese ■ people. Here the men and women worked in the rice fields and the children, of whom there were literally thousands, were happy and extremely well cared for. The main food of the villagers was rice, fish and vegetables, and meat was only eaten once a week.

A visit to a modern silk factory where 900 employees worked under the most hygienic conditions, and where she saw the process of silk-making from the cocoon to the finished materials, was also described by Mrs. Porter. At the conclusion of her address Mrs. Porter showed many interesting articles that she had collected on her travels, including a small and exquisite rico goddess, which was placed in a small shrine in the rice fields. Another interesting exhibit was a wooden family box from the island of Bali, in which was kept a mixture of lime, betel-nut leaves and Javanese tobacco. A colourful bottle for carrying fresh water, a toilet comb mado from palm frond, a specimen of kapok fruit and a beautiful hand-woven silk prayer blanket, worn, over a brown sarong on special feast days, were also displayed.