Illinois News Index

Wilmette Life (Wilmette, Illinois), 24 Oct 1924, p. 17

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= cago river and the Northwt'stern l,leWilmette Traoeler in Japan Rnda pot are more whining sing-song beggars than can be seen in all Japan the gruesome urthquakes, Native. Friendly and Honest Lot despite fires, and resultant ponrt~·. WILMETTE LIFE, FRIDAY, OC1'0BER 24, 1924 nation, he pointed out the store we wanted, and I could see h ;m looking from that car window until out of sight, a beaming look o n h i ~ chubby face. t'lt was only 5event y y<'af!> ago that Commodore Perry ~t wa k £·n ed Japan from medievalism. Tracint: our an· ct'stry back to old England, how many hundreds of years have we taken to reach our present 5ta ndards and art still found wanting. 17 " lt was about 600 11. C. that tile pn· ptror Jimmsu founded the PftiCIIl dyna sty. We have seen in a prkate collection literally huodrea of maje tic robes worn by form shoauns and emperors that wo·14 grace any dvi1ized potentate .. The artistic detail, brilliancy, and colorinJ. infinite tabor and patience in each bit of hand J. Melville Brown S.7a Ex· dusion Ad Ia Good But Effectecf Without Tact Ji d f,u··J 11 ntc: .'· .~!el'llille_ BroWI' of Jl'ilmdlr, n·lt o Wtth hu fanuly is travel~{rs. 1. T . Hanley and F. W. Harvey Jr arty of fri end s 'to the te nd festiviti es at the ~llinoi s. The returned -o- ;,9 11 n·u11d the u ·orld, writes the fol/ou';11,1 /l'llrr f rom Japan. Mr. Brourn , 1 ;~..... his impressions of the customs au 11 11/tllllll'rs of tile Japanese a·ul de· .;ai/·,·s dc11 ri)' their cco,omic and sociol o111ditu·us. /11 ~·ietv of the Prese11t ,,-/ot i "IIJ h!'lu ·cc11 Japan a11d the U11i1t·d Sill' ·· · this lr ttrr is csf'ecial/y t:mel)·. September 20, 1924 "\\·, have been in Japan six week s anti will leave in a few days for China. \\·,. ca me with many prejudices and an illn umerable list of "don'ts," mos t oi "hich have Yanished away. Perhap- -orne of our impression s may pron in teresting. At least they will not dl'te r intending visitors to this mi,unde rstood and much slandered b land Empire. "Hl'l·ause of its great sea gi rth Japan i.; humid and consequently in \tlhtl.r green. Were it not for its moulltaiu ranges and rugged land·capt' ,i t might rival the gentle downs ancl clair~ of old England. "\ \' ~ will s uppose the tra n ler enttr' Yokohama bay on a cloudless day. The great ship wil_l glide through th <· l!la--y waters makmg scarcely a ri pple. Hundreds of tiny sampan s " ill lie mo tionless about, their shadows re fl rcting in the blue sea as if they harl been there for centuries. A close inwection through glasses will show t iny t11ms of charcoal smoke leisurely lift ing upwards and semi-naked forms I~ ing undl'r the shadows of the queer lookin g -a il s. Perhaps the majestic outl ine' of Fuyu Fuji-San in the distall<"<' di'il racts from these small obiect,, inr who would look at a crawl ing r.tterpillar when an eagle can he -cen Hy ing? So Fuji-San clear cut a s a dia mond , blue outlined in summer and glistening wh ite in winter, the mo,t dominant featur e in all Japan's l;tttd~c ape. claims our first attention . Courteoua UBYS ~ILDREN ~ DEVELOPING fVBAR FOR. Play Built "We stopped for severai days at a small hotel near the ba se <'f Mt. Fuji. tain ret!eat to Tokyo and become en- The man o{ all work receives llO y-.:n ~ged an a delightful conversation for his month's work, or about ~0. w1th a Jap~nese gentleman. As we During the re st of the year he picks enter. the c1ty we inquire about a up an equal amount hy hard labor. ( Continued on page 20) certam bank where we can draw Imagine supporting a family in bonfunds on our letters of credit. He esty and moral s on $100 a year! \' et !ell~ us the bank will close soon and this man ha s thi s reputation anci h as mvJtes .us to ride in his car that wilt maintained it for years. meet ham at the station . \Ve demur "Of course the standards o{ livi1 1g but he ~litely insists, saying he must are immeasurahly helow ours. hut go to thas same hank himself. At the they have to be when a family must bank we are introduced to th e foreign be fed on less than we pay for papers department by the gentleman who re- or ci!l<lrs. But it is to their credit qu~sts them to attend to our wants that they remai11 honest through it all quackly and to gi\'e us the lowest especially wh "n reckless foreigners r~te of exchange. \Ye are then in .' leave things ahout. Thl· uneducated vated to the .gentleman's priute office Japanese ar e crude. often short, ~·here. we dt scover that he is manag- squat . and with ugly protruding teeth. mg dtrector of the institution. He But some of thr races we so readily presses us to remain over in Tokyo receive from Europe arc not pretty · another day and Yi ~ it hi s family at to look at dther. th~ir seashore residence. He then "Foreigners arc not numerous in orders his chauffeuT to drh·e us to Japan , and where\' er we happen to be, our hotel. All this kindness, unosten- in a city or ,·illagr. we arc soon the tatiously prrformed toward' an utter cynosure of a silent serious wonderstranger. Incident s like this can he ing group of Japanese. At first it multiplied all through Japan. is embarrass ing. but we !'OOn learn Thc:rt ;.- no nt:ed o i having your wife "\Vhile not unduly car~less we lea,·e this peculiarity and it cea ses to make wear hcr l-df t·nt preparing the meal and our trunks unlocked and room s un - any impre~ s ion. Rut are we not fa stened and ha\'c not mi ssed an artt- curiou s too, e\'en though in a more wa ~h i ng th e di ~ he !' . Take dinner with u s The deferen r e rese rved way? Do we not coyert1y clc great or !~mall. and kt U F do t he hard work. shown is delightful and is a lesson to eye the turbaned E.ast Indian, the us brusque American s to watch salu- swarth y man from Mexico, and even . our own cow-boy as he strides along tattoos among J apancse ladies an.t State street dressed in his new wide· gentlemen. brimmed sombrero and leather trousBest coffee in town. ReEutina an Old Story ers ? Are Kindly Folk "John Paris in hi s books, 'Kimono' and 'Sayonara'. \\·r!tcs rathtr luridly "Smile at a Japanese man or woman about certain w cial nils in Yokohama and make an inquiry he can half and Tokyo. Is there any larg'! dty understand and he will raise heaven the world over without them? I! is and earth to plea~e you. I recall said these evils in Osaka, the Man - confusedly trying to find a certain chester o~ Japan, are even wor.;c, but ·tore in a large city. A small lad 1111 Wilmette AYe., oppoeite Villqe Hall an Enghshman tells me they don't sen sed our desire hut could not incompare with portions of Lonrlon, :md form us in our language. But he a New Yorker says Gotham has sorer pointed to -the car he was entering and spot s on her. East Side. On thE' short we took it, Elizabeth giving · him a stretch of s1dewalk between the Chi- ~ mile of thanks. \Vhen at our desti- L···················································· ~--------------------·---------········-·--·-······-· Take a Rest , ... WILMETTE CAFE I :o. itu~ Tel Univ. 6300 t r flome" "W e all dread customs officials and 'exatiom ' d elays. Some gossiping traw ln ha s told us Japanese customs offic ial;; ar£' the wor st on earth. So we mak t> the simple avowal that we ha,·e with us nothing dutiable, and are ~g r.e ~ably surprised that without examuung our baggage we are courteously handed clearance slips and in a very short time are on Japanese sQil. A hotel porter greets us and we are ~ iven baggage checks, which we ac n·pt hesitatingly wondering if we -ha ll ever see our trunks again. But they precede us to the hotel and are in our rooms as soon as we are. When we la nd we do not know a thing about Japanese currency, but there is a ,nwll exc hange shop on the dock and ·' polite clerk in Japanese co;tume -m.ili ngly takes our Cook's cheeques, qu 1 c ~ly compares signatutes, and in ~1o t1me we are given the equivalent m Japanese currency and a memora ndum of the transaction, which we afterwards find is absolutely correct in every detail. "Back home we may have extended a " ery slight courtesy to a Japanese -tudent at Northwestern university. \\' e may also have written about our in tended visit to Japan, suggesting that she call at our hotel during our 'l ay in Tokyo. What happen~? She knows the difficulties we must enco unter these first few days in a new la nd, with a curiously strange people a~d unintelligible language and unt ned customs, and in two huge cities, cruelly strangled and twisted out of hape and torn to death by a terrible ra tastrophe. So she takes the hot, rlu ~_ty, and dirty twenty mile ride and att s, no one knows how many hours, that shadeless wharf to greet us. for days with the thermometer the nineties, and the sun merciless e continues to be our guide, until know the customs and can get round alone. Poli- are Elic:ieat "By and by we decide to go to a ain resort to escape the heat. e there we indulge in an autole ride to a neighboring village lose our glasses. We mention the to the police department. who imiately telephone the neighboring lage and in two days the glasses returned, all offered reward being ly refused. About this time we that an umbrella has been and recall it may have been left a certain rickshaw stand in Tokyo. we write to our little Japane"e who institutes an inquiry and umbrella is found and promptly urned. :'At our hotel in Nikko an absenttnded elderly traveler missed her ch and complained to the mant that it had been stolen. He told her it was impossible, that in Japan were honest. So a search was made for the which was finally found in toe of the lady's bedroom slipper ere it had fallen from her pillow. c..toaa Of6c:iala · NIGHT ALL CHARLES S. DENEEN I SATURDAY Candidate l'or U. S. Senator OSCAR E. CARLSTROM Candidate for Attomey General of Illinois FRED E. STERLING, Lt. Gov. of Illinois Candidate for Re-Election HENRY R. RATHBONE Congreasman at Large OSCAR NELSON Auditor of Public Account· --WILL SPEAK A T - - Community House Winnetka Saturday, Oct. 25th, AT 7:45 P. M. Other Ca'ndidatea Will Alao Speak ' "We are ......... ~ returoq from our moun- YOU ARE INVITED

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