FROM A JAPANESE JOURNAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11643, 22 August 1905, Page 4

FROM A JAPANESE JOURNAL.

An amusing and interesting insight into the difficulties which beset the young Japanese when he goes abroad with an imperfect knowledge of Western customs, is given by an account in a New York paper of the experiences of a young Japanese nobleman on his first visit to the States. One of his first troubles was with the soup on the' liner. Aa he drank it he" noticed that his f«llow passengers were laughing. "You ought not to make such sounds with your tongue or lips when you drink," whispered the Japanese steward. This was a surprise, for,, in Japan loud sounds are made when the drink tastes well — it is considered a compliment to the host — and poets sing "of how victorious heroes drink their, soup or sake, giving forth trumpet-like sounds from their. lips at the King's banquet." His next serious mistake was to endeavour to convey meat to his mouth with the wrong end of his fork. ' But the mistakes he made gained him friends, and he became acquainted with a Harvard man and several American ladies. The American girl puezled him greatly. The "I am very-glad to meet you" of one' was to him more than, a formal greeting, and he promptly replied that lie was only an "insipid dullard." "Sorrow is the shadow of gladness in Japan," he said to one lady, and the next to be introduced remarked "I am very glad to meet you without the shadow of gladness," a remark which naturally caused - wonder and admiration. The frankness and graciou9ness of his new friends was something to- which he was not accustomed, and it- made him wonder how an American man know when a girl was in love with him. Americans, he remarked to

his Harvard friend, were always laughing and joking, the girls smiling at the men, so how was one to know whether a girl really loved a man or not? The American admitted that even for his countrymen this was the hardest problem of all, "excepting that in love a man can tell whether a girl loves him or not without knowing why," and the Japanese student had to be content with this unsatisfactory answer. A glimpse he got ou > board of an engaged couple made him regard the Japanese method of marrying, in which it is unusual for love to play a as a poor one*. "I had often thought our method of marrying a poor one, and hoped it might be changed; but never until I realised what I saw last night and appreciated the happiness those American lovers were enjoying did I feel the difference so keenly." Of course the English language led him into all sorts- of mistakes. "Old man" was hardly the way to address a married lady, but he had been told by his friend that the phrase meant "good friend," and he was forgiven. But he was able to correct his friends on one interesting matter. Nippon, he told them, was the real name of his country, and it meant Land of the Rising Sun. "I wish you would call my country by this beautiful name instead of by Japan, which means in our language stale bread." ...- ■