JAPANESE JOTTINGS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1683, 1 June 1904, Page 79 (Supplement)

JAPANESE JOTTINGS

The motto of all Japanese of both sexes is “‘lleath "before, dishonour.” A Japanese mounts his horse on the right side, and beats are hauled up on the beach stern first.

Cremation is spreading in Japan. Every, large town has its crematorium, which is under Government inspectio 1. Among the monuments erected by the Japanese to commemorate their war against China is one. to the memory of the horses that fell during the campa'.^n. One of the biggest bells in the world hangs in a temple at Kinto, in Japan. It is peculiar in. having a clapper, and is struck outside with an instrument resembling a battering' ram. In Japan there are pagodas of considerable height, which have withstood the effects of frequent earthquake shocks for centuries.

The House of Representatives of the .Japanese Parliament consists of 37.1 members, elected for four years. In the northern parts of Japan the crow is worshipped. The bird will ffy into the huts of the Ainu at meal-times, and is allowed to help itself to whatever it takes a fancy to in the way of food. A Japanese prison is a place of detention, of reformation, and of profitable labour. The prisoners work for nine hours a day, and all are dressed in cotton suits of a peculiar terra-cotta oxcrushed strawberry colour. Robbers are tried and convicted by ballot in some parts of Japan. When a robbery is committed the ruler of the hamlet summons the male population, and they must write on a paper the name of The person they suspect of having committed the crime. The one who receives most votes is duly punished. The Japanese never sleep" with the head to the north. That is because the dead, in Japan, are always buried with the head in that position. In the sleepingrooms of many of the private houses and •h’otals, a diagram of the points of the compass is posted upon the ceiling, for the convenience cf guests. The Japanese show their appreciation of an actor’s playing in a more substantial manner than by merely applauding. They throw .various portions cf their dress on the stage and at the end of the performance the. favoured person claims the money that the donors re. purchase them with, the prices for the various articles being' at fixed rates.