HARD TIMES IN JAPAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 92, 18 April 1929, Page 10

HARD TIMES IN JAPAN

EFFECT ON MARRIAGE The cruel hands of economic pressure are crushing the fond hope of married happiness out of the hearts of many a young maiden and youth in Japan, -which already has gone through eight years of hard times. In fact, marriage is now coming to be considered one of the four great “difficulties” of life, the three others being the difficulty of entering higher schools because of the rigid entrance examinations, the difficulty of making a living. All four seem tu be equally acute and equaly troublesome, “A man should not spend more than 30 per cent, of his annual income i«»r his wedding expenses,” thinks .Mr Yoshima Ozuma, principal of the Ozuma Girls’ High School, one of the leading private girls’ school in Tokio (according to a statement published in the Tokio Nippon). In the past a man oncn spent from 200 to 250 per cent, of his annual income on his wedding, including clothes, banquets, and trips, whereas, Mr Ozuma’s study shows, the average British. French, or American youth rarely spend more than 20 per cent. Mr Ozuma even says that for people belonging to the middle classes or below -wedding banquets are superfluous and unnecessary. In former days weddings were mostly held at the home of the bridegroom, preceded by a solemn procession from the bride’s house, the bride taking her trousseau with her to her new home. Cups of “sake” of three different sizes are exchanged at the wedding between the bride and the father of her would-be husband, between the groom, the bride’s father, and the gobetweens. These cups are passed back and forth so that the bride and the bridegroom have sipped nine times. The ceremony is called “san-san-ku-do’* (3-3-9 times). Then some auspicious songs are sung by an elderly gentleman invited to the function. The bride then goes into a separate chamber to change her dress. A rich Diicft> will often change her dress three or four times. Often the eating and the drinking, in celebration of the happy event, last- until past midnight. These customs, solemn and picturesque though they may be, are gradually going out of fashion. People are busy, times are hard, and the simple, sconomical wedding is preferred.