THE MODERN GIRL

Hokitika Guardian, 29 October 1929, Page 7

THE MODERN GIRL

REALTIES JAPAN. (By Sir PERCEVAL PHILLIPS.) TOKYO, August 20. Once a month an odd sight is to be witnessed in Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel. That strange architectural mass of raw brick and dressed lava, which the Japnese and many foreigners consider the most beautiful building otf its kind in the world, is invaded by 150 demure young school girls. They are marshalled by their mistresses' in the main dining-room at an hour when most Europeans are having tea, the doors are locked, and in this seclusion they gravely go through the courses of a

formal European dinner. They are at school. The purpose of the meal is to teach them how to use. a knife and fork.

It is a sign of the times. The rising generation of Japan is breaking with national traditions in dress and deportment. The avidity with which foreign fashions and customs are being assimilated fills their conservative elders with despair.

Yet though the latter protest violently against HOW feminine standards which repudiate fatilegs and thick ankles, and against masculine idea no less revolutionary, Youth presses determinedly on its way to equality with its contemporaries of Europe.

Tokyo registers a change which will ultimately affect remote country districts as yet untouched by the spirit pf modernity. I find it almost startling i- and not altogether pleasant!' The Japanese “flapper” has been born and is doing well. Her skirts are as short as. can be; her silk stockings, trim shoes, and tight little hat, her walk and her public devotion to lipstick and powder puff place her beside the “flapper ” df the Western world. Her male counterpart achieves the same sartorial success and is as obviously proud of it.

The Japanese language found itself baffled by these exotic types transplanted .from alien lands. Mew words had to be coined to describe them and their devesting ways. Since they were known in the‘"West as the Modern Girl and the Modern Boy, Japan decided to know them ns “Moga” and “Mobo” and the designations will' probably stick for all time. , ‘

They are not altogether complimentary terms, They signify generally that a '“Moga” is capable of almost any outlandish action calculated to shock her elders, short of actual immortality, and that a “Mobo” is a foolish dandy, of the species known in the United States as, a “sheik.” These interpretations are by no means deserved, and the recipients f naturally reseiit tlleM:

Tils ‘‘Moga’* exists in jeveral types. She is to be found in the smart social Sets, where her behaviour is as irreproachable as that of any well-brought-up Ehropean girl, She is also found in a different walk of life, in direct competition with the geisha. The latter sees her profession as a highly trained social entertainer seriously threatened by the emancipated “Moga.” The real geisha is popular according to her ability as a signer, dancer, and conversationalist. One type of “Moga” lias taken a leaf from her hook and is competing along Western lines.

It has become a recognised thing for some “ Mogas ” to offer themselves in the street to the lonely young “Mobo” who wants a dancing partner or a little friendly conversation. She will accompany him to a dance hall, or to a restaurant for tea, and expect to be paid for her time. The transaction is a purely business one, and entirely respectable. A friend of mine who engaged a “ Moga ” for a tea dance was angrily reproved because he merely laid his hand on her aim when about to conduct her to her seat after a dance.

This type of “ Moga ” has a distinctive name, also coined to fit her particular personality. She is known as a “Stick” girl. ' She is usually to he found awaiting partners in a popular dance hall, where all the “ Sticks sit on one side of the room and the “Mobos” on the other. They are never together except when dancing. The ‘‘Mobo” buys tickets in the Western way, and presents his partner with one for each “dancu” —another new Japanese word created by the “modern 'movement.”

The “Mogas” follow the latest Paris fashions. Some of them, who do not know a word of English, buy a weekly illustrated journal merely for the one new dress design it contains. The Tokyo department stores and even the little cheap shops feature in their window displays the new “ ideas ” of the Rue de la Paix as interpreted by Japanese manufacturers.

Jt is unfair to characterise the average “ Mobo ” as a “ sheik ” or “lounge lizard.” He may have a weakness for gaudy ties and carefully creased trousers, but he has a strong love of sport. Football is increasing enormously in popularity all over Japan. Tennis has spread beyond the big cities. When two school teams play baseball in the Koshien Stadium, near Osaka, 109,000 spectators cheer their favourite players to victory—nearly half again as many as have ever witnessed a single baseball game, in the United States. Sport is a serious thing. It is not unusual to see a losing team, after a gallant effort, break down en masse on leaving the field, and weep bitterly over their defeat. The new vocabulary of Japan has been increased by many imported terms. Japanese who cannot speak any foreign language talk intelligently of “ knock-outs ” and “rounds” in boxing, and a loser is always counted out in English.

Perhaps the sincerest compliments a “ Moga ” or a “ Mobo ” can pay to the “Crusade of Modernity” is to carry an English printed newspaper or magazine and read—or pretend to read—it in a .train or tramway-car. This is a popular pastime, and one that apparently confers great prestige.