Japan's Peasant Courtesy: A Never-ending Source of Pleasure

Grey River Argus, 11 August 1948, Page 8

Japan's Peasant Courtesy: A Never-ending Source of Pleasure

(From Denis Warner, N.Z.P.A. — Reuter’s Correspondent) TOKYO (By Airmail). The courtesy and kindness of the villager and peasant in Japan is a never-ending source of pleasure, When you meet with unexpected civility in the cities you may suspect that it is the official “line”, or if you are a cynic, that the Japanese have I been well indoctrinated in the belief that if you can’t kill the occupation | by kindness you may at least send lit home more quickly. But the Japi anese peasantry obviously have not ' heard the current joke that “G.H.Q.” I stands for “go home quickly,” nor can I they expect advantage because of passing kindness to people they see once. With the sun beating fiercely down and the wet season’s rain now returning to the skies in a constant mist of clammy heat, all of Tokyo . that can find its way to the hills is now doing so. The Japanese go by jampacked trains or by foot; the occupation mostly in long lines of cars and jeeps. Last Saturday we went to the hills for a brief, overnight stay nn the cool simplicity of a Japanese I inn. Our car was old and uncertain; the journey through high, winding mountains and over rough roads. A blow-out was the first misfortune. It occurred on a narrow Macadam road, | with wet paddy fields stretching away | on either side. In a moment two l Japanese from the fields were with I us. One took the jack and levered j up the car: the other insisted on removing the wheels. With deep bows they refused cigarettes. They wanted nothing. It was an honour to perform this service for us. Yumoto is a lovely little village on the foothils of the Hakone National Park. Its one street is a naItural arch of green cherry trees and its shops are filled with brightly coloured wooden toys and lush peaches. It was here that we met real trouble, the engine had overheated and would [not take the hill. Petrol vaporised in the pump before it could reach tiie carburettor. We fiddled with the engine without result. A village shopkeeper with bowl of water and a precious piece of soap came out to me when he saw me wiping my grease stained hands on the seat of my trousers. Then the innkeeper with cups of tea and low bows came first to refresh and comfort us in our trouble, and later to give us actual aid in the person of his son, the only driver in the town. It was now late on Saturday and ! there was no mechanic in rhe town. We would have to go back to Odawara, some eight miles back along the road. The innkeeper’s son in his car, also aged, and like all Japanese cars suffering acutely from the gasoline shortage, would push us bi.ck. In -Odawara the garage was closed. But that did not deter the innkeeper's son. He found the garage proprietor, went for the mechanic, looked for the asbestos to cover the petrol pump. An hour later, running smoothing, we were back in Yumoto. We tried to press some cigarettes, some money, anything on the innkeeper’s son. He wanted nothing. It was an honour to perform this service for us. So we drove on in the twilight, up the mountain, into the s now cool night air, no wiser perhaps S but much richer in appreciation of | the kindness of the people who live | beyond the cities and towns of Japan.