ECONOMIES IN JAPAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 56, 8 March 1939, Page 10

ECONOMIES IN JAPAN

JAPAN'S drive for wartime economy has reached the carnivorous animals of the Tokio Zoo. A wolf who formerly lived on horseflesh has been put on a diet of sardines and vegetables, and the meat rations of the lion and lioness are being cut down. Fish is being served to these monarchs of the jungle as a partial substitute, and experiments will later be made with the traditional Japanese fare, boiled rice and vegetables. The feeding of the animals is in charge of two expert dieticians, who express confidence that the shift from the meat diet will prove beneficial to the animals and eliminate some of the parasites which now bother them, A sum of 11,740 yen is now budgeted for meat for the comparatively few inmates of the Zoo; it is hoped that 5000 yen (about £300) can be saved, A similar compulsory shift of eating

and drinking and sartorial habits i*> foreshadowed for Tokio’s human inhabitants, especially foreigners and Japanese with foreign tastes, by tbo recent publication of a list of over two hundred articles which can no longer bo imported into the country. The list makes a pretty ruthless sweep of canned foods, bottled beverages, cosmetics, perfumes, toilet articles, and clothing. A few loopholes, however, remain. Wine is spared in deference to commercial relations with France, while coffee escapes the ban because many Japanese in Brazil are engaged in it’s cultivation. Cheese is also still on the permitted list. Japanese substitutes for most of the prohibited articles are available; but the quality of these is rather variable.