CHANGES IN JAPANESE HOMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2707, 31 January 1906, Page 79

CHANGES IN JAPANESE HOMES.

HOW CONTACT WITH THE WEST HAS INFLUENCED THE WOMEN'S LIVES. Tourists in Japan find that gentle- [ women in Nippon differ very slightly -.m their home- customs from the gentlewunym 01 '/England (writes Helen Adair in. Boudoir). So quickly have they grown aocustomod to Western ideas, so closely have they followed the example set by arande dames like the Viscountess Hayasiu, that the peereests who have decided to westernise have eotablished houses which" * (allowing for difference of climate and taste) aire a.s modsrn as the best in Park lane, and are training their daughters much as our English girls are trained at Cheltenham or a convent school. ■ Fortunately for the picturesqueness 'of life, many of the old habits are retained 1 -* 5 and dovetailed into European customs-. ?t For fete occasions and to receive British guests, for example, a, lady of rank afc t Tokio %vili don a Redfti-n costume or iu 5 « Worth creation, but when she is living! eu fiimUle the probability is that she, andi. her daughters will wear the kimono. -5^ In her botidoir the Japanese lady-- vvriftwri ply her needle a little more, possibly, than her English sister, for the art of embroidery is essentially Eastern, .tnd skill in making brocade, in silks and:-; tapestry work, is inherited, and tiie'J gentl&woruen of to-day in Nippon' are- as'" assiduous in ortistry of this kind as"\the"^ '•waving queens of the middle ages "of^S .Europe, - ',-_- vt& Bnt in addition to the arts which are native, they are quickly learning many arts which are Western. 1 There are several excellent schools of design, in Tokio, and hero the daughters of noblemon may be seen studying from life and from classic models. The most European trait probably which should strike the visitor would be the fast -growing demand of the woman to take her full share of life. The Japanese- gentlewoman is no longer content to be a chatelaine, to preside over t a castle as reserved as a. hermitage. JSha^li eliiims to have her opinions in public affairs She has studied medicine, and is allowed to practise. Shr? has seat her daughters to Girton, and they have taken degrees in art. There are lady novelists and lady journalists, and (on a lower plane) a considerable number of girls have entered the postil and other departments of the civil service. It has not yet been contemplated that wom&n should enter Parliament, .but the wives of Ambassador abroad have quite dropped the reserve which was as definite a barrier as tho purclah, and frankly obey all the social etiquette of the coupfay to which they may be accredit ed/./W.iyes^of the statesmen, at home'Jih^tKe^saino^wayf' are establishing quietly, but surely, their political salons. In connection with the war, the gentlewomen of Japan have dona all for their soldiers which English gentlewomen did for our troops in South Africa, with the single exception that they have not thrown up a Florence Nightingale or sent a Lady Randolph Churchill to the front. In the nursery one will not find many cradles, and the toys are not made in Birmingham. At the table the food, fortunately for their digestion, is still native, and for this reason their doctors are not so busy as ours of Harley street in carving the human frame. Tennis is only slowly ingratiating itself. Games do nofc - appear so necessary to a people at once so strenuous and (as far as their women kind are concerned) so sedentary. But they are voracious readers. They study English and American illus- / trated papers very closely. They take up our whims and our jokes. They are deter- - mined, it is to be feared, to follow U3 in our minor vices as in our chosen virtues, - and the u]D-to-date girl in Tokio is rapidly assimilating the airs and graces of the smart debutante in LoDdon. She i.<s coming over in rapidly increasing numbers to our London season. She takes her trip to New York as a matter of course. You will find the yellow-backed French novel introduced', and an 'English 'girl who 'spends a summer in Court circles in. Japan.* would find that there were few of her foibles not understood. The Japanese gentlewoman is by instinct and preference light-hearted, merry, determined to see the best in life, prepared to enjoy small pleasures greatly, and to minimise troubles. She has the placid, well-balanced temperament which ia natural to a healthy young life. The cynic might add that it is equally to be Roped she will inoculate us with her inbornpoliteness, but I gather from conversations with Japanese that they fear that elabora- i tion of courtesy will be killed by our./. plentiful sarcasm. Floiver9 of speech which are quite pretty in the land of the chrysanthemum have to be dropped in our colder drawing rooms, and when our fair visitors return it comes upon them .. with a slight shock that the home 'style ' of politeness is a shade overdrawn.