THE CAMERA IN JAPAN

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1681, 18 May 1904, Page 74 (Supplement)

THE CAMERA IN JAPAN

i3GSn?EIITGtSTBEET '{PICTURES IN' ; ■ WaAiR /fIME. of the TDTEND” ’'(From ;o«r,"Special 'Correspondent.) {TOKIO. (Japan), February 13. JlAt'this •paTtiGiilar Juncture in ‘Japan’s •liiStcrßy 'iHie photographer is "regarded as ,*maieh ?.an -enemy '.of - the ! nation as the /Russian, ’(whose • subjugation the army ftnilanayyrare (.striving rto secure, and no :matter whether he proclaims himself to foe £l inaturalised Japanese or a subject •df‘"’Great Britain, lie is equally suspected if the rim of a kodak protrudes from his pocket,cor.rhe -carries in: his«hand.a harmless, innocent-looking gladstone, large enough to rhold - a-photographic machine. Thus it; is ?that in’securing pictures and in (attempting toi procure others, I have frequentlyrendangered iny liberty and jeoparidised:the;existence.of my camera. The ruthless ifgxip of steimfaced,police has bruised my arm, .and vigorous verbal ‘protestation in unintelligible language >foas bruised my feelings on more occasions than one,.-.and i in each case it has hetjiuired. rtbe utmost ingenuity to escape feeing (forcibly .invited to . interview the unrelenting presiding Magistrate. Evidently, the J.apanese, policeman has come to an understanding with himself that all white men -fee regarded as a common enemy' of Japan, and having settled that, herhas {determined < to watch their niovemehtsvwith extraordinary closeness. The Jap.ihas-.thus the feiggest say in the transaction, and the (foreigner will, if he is wise, ising absolutely dumb .and eat humble pie -whenever it is offered him. In fortified zones, even if you conscientiously ..determine to confine yourself to snapping old barrows on the streets and barges on ~the streams.. you are just as guilty of trangressing the laws as if you boldly ifaced -the mouth of the nearest cannon—which: might be ten miles away—. with the object of endeavouring to get a jpicturs oof the projectile with ?which itiwas loaded. Such a thing was proved by-an American correspondent named Loudon, who at Alaji..was recently fined 5 yen and'had'his camera confiscated for snapping a street scene. The.Pther day: I went out with the intehtion.of (securing-some pictures of the mobilisation of?the {forces/, -and if I had one picture-spoiled I must have lost half a dozen by a clap on the shoulder just asil was; abc.ut to touch the shutter release of the camera. Such a thing is exasperating, .but it is no use remonstrating, because the man who claps you cannot understand you. ’Best thing you can do us tto ; sneak off while ho is trying to keep niff the crowd "who collect round .every {foreigner . if he .is in the clutch of the law. •Sometimes, however, I managed to ..get some-good shots by taking them-whilst fiding-fey ih a ricksha, and a picture of ><a Nipponese sol Per r«ady forf tho field was secured in that -■ .inner.

He was on duty as a sentry near some horse stalls in Sukinya Cho (or street), and ; though he made a movement to stop me when he, saw the camera, my ricksha puller was too fast for him, .and T escaped. '•Mobilisation of men is the chief' indus-try-of Tokio. just at present, and for the purpose-the-city , is split up into districts. In these districts soldiers assemble and gothrougli parade drill, and have all their equipment.given out to them. It is a common sight, therefore, to see soldiers putting on their service shirts and trousers whilst-standing on the footpath. I-managed tovget a-picture of some dressing themselves in the middle of the day and ,-in full sight of any passer-by who might happen along. The men were just trying on their shirts/ when I passed, and without stopping-my ricksha I snapped as I went by. At the other end of the street I ; noticed _ severail otner correspondents arguing the point with an officer of the ■ guard, so I did not remain longer to chaaxce getting a better view. Out in the parks—where, by the way, the children, in their quaint little costumes, regale themselves in the fresh air and exercise themselves oil swings, horizontal bars, and "giant-stridesfine sights of recruits being put through the goose-step are to be seen. Difficulties, however, also present themselves to the photographer here, and he has to be very careful lest a general charge should be made upon him. There is one thing which-particularly strikes a stranger-from other lands when looking at soldiers, and that is that the dressing of the men is not ur> to the standard of European or Australian troops. Uniforms similar to those of regiments abroad are worn, but the majority of those which I have so far seen have been extremely dirty and ill-kept. They are- strangers to the curry comb and brush, a,nd here and there missing buttons mutely testify to the carelessness exhibited by the men and the lack of observation on the part of the officers.. Yesterday afternoon fortune favoured me with a view of about 1000 men belonging to the Tokio Infantry Division on "the march to the railway station to entrain for Shimoneseki. whence transports generally start for Korea. These men were all ready for the field, and though they did not carry their rifles, they were fairly well-laden with; blankets and things-necessary for a hard life on the Korean mountains. The blankets were of the red variety, and these they had rolled up and stlung-a-emss their shoulders much the same as. the tramp of the Australian bla-ckblocks slings his swag. In addition they had bine overcoats, rolled in similar fashion, slung across the opposite shoulder, and on their-backs they carried a email square knapsack, made .of some kind of skin. Their leggings were of white canvas, and their boots solid and apparently well made. Most of the men wore eoatls made of rough brown blanket, and attached to their belts cornu fee seen huge thick fingerless gloves. At least there wars a stall for the thumb and index finger only, the other three fingers going'together into one compartment,

after the fashion of the gloves we used to wear in childhood’s days. Heavilyladen as these troops were, however, they trudged along through the muday streets and smiled grimly as they sorted out a friend here and there amongst, the crowd, and though they were not cheered and petted as we would cheer and net our departing forces in Australas’-a, they-looked glad and heroic. Thev were all small, thick-set men, these soldiers of Nippon, and appeared to be capable of enduring any amount of fatigue. I waited until the whole thousand or so- marched over the city meat t-o the railway -station, and marvelled at the crowd remaining silent the whole time, and allowing these brave warriors to go, perhaps to their death, without, even “Pav-ona,ra,” good-bye, or “ Banzai,” long life. Though a war might not fee the means of spreading prosperity over a country, it benefits some people, and here the newspaper proprietors are reaping copper harvests of sen.. Every day each paper in the city has its out erviug, to the accompaniment of clanging bells, in the highways and byways, the latest news. Slips of paper giving both facts and fiction are palmed off on the unsuspecting public, and of late days the people seem to be getting more fiction than fact. In an extra, perhaps, you will read that whole regiments of liussians have been captured and. later, when the newspaper comes out, that statement will be denied. Every office endeavours to show its enterprise by posting up o7i boards at its doors the m fist recent news. The newsboys who sell the papers are quite an institution hi themselves, and they would be regular objects of interest if they could be seen .m the streets of a colonial city. Wearin 0 * clogs, w itli clothing- on which is written in Japanese characters the name of the office employing them, they yell at the top of their voices, “Gogai, gogai !” which is equivalent to “latest'news” in English. My interpreter tells me that they very seldom specify the news they bear, in which respect they differ from our Australasian boys. Most of these Japanese newsboys by their antics demonstrate that their bump of humour is fully developed. Very few of them wear hats, their headgear consisting of a simple band of cloth tied round their foreheads. This is used for-various purposes, and forms a handy receptacle for a good many things. In particular, at this period they utilise, it for holding miniature flags, and it is rather significant, as demonstrating the feelings of the people towards Great Britain that many of them Lave the Japanese flag and the Union Jack crossed. A number of them were assembled outside of one of the newspaper offices a day or two ago awaiting for the issue of extras, and when several of us showed a desire to- photograph them, they did not resent it in tilt least. On tEe other hand, they showed a keen interest in the proceeding, and bustled one another to get in the forefront or the picture. Borne wore the Stars and Stirpes,; evidently being the partisans of America.