BRITAIN'S BROWN ALLIES

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 9729, 4 January 1908, Page 4

BRITAIN'S BROWN ALLIES

No. I.—IMPRESSIONS OF TOURISTS' JAPAN. (By W. J. Jones.)

Not further back'than the beginning, of this century Japan "lived largely in the rcflected-glory of 'W. S. Gilbert's "Mikado" and Adrian Ross' "Geisha." It was geneT.iiiy considered an opera bouffe country where people- disported themselves much in the style of the Laputans of Gulliver's age. But the defeat of Russia has earned Japan ample recognition from even the average New Zealander, and the cluster of islands in the northern Facific looms almost as large in his eight as the twelve -hundred! of miles of-territory which form the new Dominion. Japan has become a vital commercial centre. It is the Germany of the East. It has reached a period in the processes of transition when it is made, manifest that those distinctive features which have hitherto been virtually the country's whole asset are doomed to destruction at the relentless hands of progress. Tokio, Yokohama, and Kobe are largely cosmopolitan. They have their electric trams and their motoi cars. The advertising-fiend is making the landscape hideous with hoardings testifying to the merits of various manufactures, beverages, and specifics. The tall hat- and the irock coat have been adopted by a considerable section of the leading officials and commercial men, and no secret is. made of the fact that Japan has determined to introduce into the East all the modes and methods of the Occident. —Mainly for Tourists.— But it is in what remains of her distinctiveness that the whole charm of the country lies; the picturesque associations are not lost, but sentenced to gradual supercession. The kimono, the fan, and the jinrikisha familiarised, by colored prints still provide a quaint setting for the manners of a quaint people. The geta, or wooden clogs, which suggest the height of discomfort- and absurdity to the European mind, will not be readily relinquished for shoes which the Japanese claim completely confine the feet regardless of the claims of hygiene. So people of all ranks still clatter along the stoneflagged streets creating a hubbub little less irritating than that of the horse traffic upon the paved streets of the great Western cities. One is early impressed with the conviction that Japan has not outgrown her eense of dependence upon tourists for a substantial proportion of her revenue. The streets bristle with curio shops and art depots, where satsuma, c'okomie, and; damascene articles, and the thousand and one ■ objects of Japanese handicraft are offered for the benefit of visitors. None of these tilings are sold locally, and when one sees the hundreds of establishments of these sorts in the various towns, large and small, and at the show places en route,„ he is impressed

with the enormous amount of business v.hicn must transpire to justify the liberal equipment. Hero the tourist is fleeced unmercifully by the suave and clear-witted tradesman, and the only satisfaction he has is in realising throughout that if any bargain be struck the vendor will not le the loser, though he may appear reluctant to abate by one yen his original demand —Where the Earth Meets the Sky.—

While the Xew Zealander who has had the good fortune to view the scenic beauties of the Milford track, the Otira (lorge, the Kimutaka route in the early summer, and Kgmont on the clear July evening, must be disappointed with the scenery of Japan, upon ■which so many superlatives have been lavished by writer.-: who have glorified the country in print, there is much to delight the eye of those who admire splendid landscapes. JMyanoshita can only be described as magnificent. Climbing the closely-wooded hills which rise on each side of the hotel one can obtain delightful views of tho surrounding villages, basking at the foot of the mountains, or gracefully reclining in the broad valleys which stretch for miles in several directions. Fujiyama's snow-capped cone shows high above the intervening hills — the sacred Fuji, the most awe-inspiring and tangible reality in Japan to the Japanese. Here and at Chiuzcnji there are veritable foie-ts of native and English trees —the pine, the beech, the birch, and the feathery maple—from saplings to centenarians.

In whatever Japan may bo lacking, its people set an admirable example in regard to forcstation. Where one tree is removed, half-a ; dozen are planted in its stead. From the hi.lltops of Myancshita—eminences up to 2CCO feet in heiilrt—silveiy streams are to be seen meandering through their fretted courses, with an occasional leap of from 50 to 100 feet to break the monotony. There is nothing of the grandeur of the Sutherland or Bowen waterfalls, but in its comparatively modest way the panorama of beautiful country around Myanoshita, picked out with blazing patches of azaleas, would take a good deal of beating in any part of the world. The mountain slopes all

round arc covered from summit to base 'villi rich green foliage, nestling beneath which are delicate-hued wild flowers and clusters-of native strawberries. A network of white roads zigzag up the hillsides or cross the fertile valleys, to connect with the villages on the upper slopes. —A Sturdy Human- Steed. —

From Yumoto to Myanoshita the journey iis covered in jinriicishas or in kagos (hammocks carried by two bearers). Th'e road is a tortuous one and severely taxes t!ie endurance of the coolies. The average Kuropean feels mean if he docs not give the kurumano a "breather" at the end. of every quarter of a mile, walking up the steeper gTades, but Japanese travellers are not so considerate —there is a great deal more, of the business instinct than of sentiment about them. The coolies are compelled to drag or carry their fellowcountrymen the whole distance to the top, and while it takes four of them to transport even a diminutive Anglo-Saxon, two are considered ample for a twelve-stone Jap, who also is indulged in a much more mode6t tariff. One would consider it a physical impossibility to toil for a full hour up the steep, rough track, but the jinrikisha coolie is as willing as a horse, and has every bit as much endurance per cubic foot of bulk. On the crowded streets of the hrrger towns he clatters along at about six miles per hour, cutting things very line and occasionally taking a "wick" off an approaching vehicle, in the same manner as the gondolier in Venice obtains stimulus for his craft from the numerous piles lining the narrow waterways of his city. But collisions involving seTious consequences are practically unknown, as the jinrikisha coolie is a genius in his own particular line of business. —-The Conquerors of Manchuria.— The designation "little" Japanese is something of a polite fiction. That they are perhaps an inch or two less than the stature of the average European is attributable to the fact that their limbs are shorter, from centuries of sitting crosslegged at work among their ancestors. Robust health and sturdy, physique are characteristic of the younger generations.-' who are recruited from the hardy- youngsters bred to withstand exposure to the rigorous heat or cold, or to die the death of the physically unfit. They are a race-built on lines suggesting stamina, and one is not surprised at the almost impossible tasks accomplished by the soldiers in Manchuria, when he sees the stamp of men against whom the Russians were pitted. Despite the drain of manhood dnring the war in the Far East, there are tens-of thousands in the cities who as a result of systematic physical exeieise and training in all that makes for muscular development are thoroughly equipped to fight and win another Mukden or oust a determined garrison from ■another Port Arthur. The Jap is a perfect fighting machine, tested in. endurance arid inbued with an easy confidence begotten of, that fatalism which counted' for much in his encounter with the Slav and a sense of proficiency born of victory.. The girl is the girl of the Japanese fan—rosycheeked, faultlessly coiffured, and attired in the picturesque kimono and brightcolored!-' obi. She wears the ridiculous geta end glories in" the wearing of therh, as'tlii; gives her .the charming shuffling gait so uniquely Japanese, and assists her in .creating something- of a stir : ia- her own town if she cannot achieve greatness in the outside world. Moreover, she simply, effervesces with good humor and appears to be the happiest, creature in the uhiveice—a : veritable tonic for melancholy. - : ; -■'-'. - '.""'■ ."-'••"'.—A.-Domestic-Picture.—

JaDaa is depicted _ as a country of flcwers, quaint customs and temples, and 'there is : 5 liberal /assortment of...each./. In all pictures of the. country the tea-house occutjies; the foreground, and. it/i£ little wonder, for tea-houses axe legion. However. 'to Wly appreciate ;the: charm' of these establisliments! ■ as portrayed in song and story; ',' sit/is/essential//that, one should be imbuedi\vitlx;a proper;sense of:-.faith.''.-.They. !are^d:stinctlya surftivai of:th"e'Japanese intheir; most = Japanese form, t The miniature

toy houses of flimsy -wood .with -perishable paper windows and almost bare of appointments, Teqnire the setting of healthy, happy hesanis to make them interesting to the ,practical-minded Britisher. The tea is a washy decoction,'■.which might be infused from any fragrant' dried leaves, but it is" delightfully 'served, by viva-cious-damsels whoee whole-souled enthusiasm would' be sufficient to make anything seem palatable:' Raw fish,salted biscuits, and seaweed confections are provided, and the clumsy attempts of the uninitiated to manipulate the chop-sticks supplied in lieu of knives and forks cause much merriment on the part of the pretty little hostesses. The geishas strum on the samisen and koto, emitting strange weird strains of Japanese love and . Japanese war, set to words which though pleasantsounding suggest nothing to those who have not mastered the mysteries of the language. Tho -hibachi, containing live coals, is an essential article in the equipment of the room, and all smoke the tinybowled pipe, inhaling, the fumes of the light tobacco, knocking out the ashes and refilling several times. Tea and tobacco are two of the Japanese besetting 6ins. The charm of the tea-house is not in the tea, the sake-punch or the comestibles. It h an intangible charm, bom of an atmosphere of sentiment and stimulated by pleasant, smiling " faces and irrepressible and infectious good humor. —Where the People Congregate.— By far the most interesting features of Japanese life are the street scenes. The Deojile seem to live in the open air, and the thoroughfares are thronged with strenuous crowds at all times of day and niaht. Theatre street in Kyoto is literally packed with people for hours after, •unset; indeed, such is the popularity of this particular portion of the old capital that 'rickisha traffic on it is forbidden. The quaint little shops are surmounted by huge placards setting forth in cabalistic signs the virtues of the wares purchasable therein : the various open-air markets do i flourishing trade, and altogether it apoears one of the articles of the religious faith to which the people subscribe, that the veiling shall bo devoted to "taking the air" in the narrow alley-ways of their cities. It is invariably a good-natured and orderly crowd. If the' Japanese indulge too freely in sake or Kirin beer, and it is on record that a certain comparatively small section do, evidences of this weakness are not. to be found on the streets, but is confined' to the lower class drinking shops and tea-houses. The latter is a particularly interchangeable quantity. —The Japanese Idiom. — You may heroically decide to learn Japanese and may even pick up a few ilray words here and there, but the grammar is a distinct stumbling-block and ruthlessly breaks down one's determination. The available stock is usually restricted to "komban-wa" (good evening), "ohayo" (good morning), "oyasumi nartai" good night), "sayonara" (good-bye), and a few more chance phrases. The kurumauo .Hid nesans are quick to realise the disability from which the average European surfers, and, if one claim to speak in the vernacular of the country, reel off the common idioms in derisive iteration. Japanese takes years to master even inadequately, iiid even then there are varying dialects, the speech of the inhabitants of Yokohama and Tokio differing materially from that current in the ancient cities of Xiklco and Kyoto, indeed to such an extent that often the people in the respective places fail to understand one another. In these circumstances, it is found expedient to depend upon English, which, ilthough not always entirely satisfactory, is the best available medium of philological exchange. We may well expect our mother tongue to survive in the East, where the German boatswain swears at the Malay or Cantonese seaman in forcible English, and where the Chinese merchant finds it expedient to.learn English to monopolise a satisfactory portion of the trade.

—lmpossible English.— However, if one fail to master Japanese, he has the satisfaction of realising that Britain's brown allies have the greatest difficulty in obtaining a working knowledge of our' own language perhaps a greater difficulty than any other people in the civilised world. This is remarkable, seeing that tens of thousands of English-speaking tourists annually visit Japan. The kurumano, in excellent Anglo-Saxon terms, will ask yon if j-ou want a jinrikiiha, and will promise as an incentive to business to ."show you all the sights." Immediately afterwards he subsides completely, and is dumb to all inriuiries as to "VVhat is this';" or "Where is thai?" He, like ourselves, picks up a few catch phrases, and uses them for all they are worth, which, unfortunately, is too often very little. Still, apart from tlie leading merchants who freely associate in business with the tourists, and the students of the Young Japan Society, who learn English to facilitate their efforts for political and social reform, the 'rikisha coolie is perhaps the most fluent English linguist in Japan. The average inhabitant has no use for it, and for that reason is usually more readily understood.