AN INN IN JAPAN.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5390, 6 July 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN INN IN JAPAN.

The certainty of having a pleasant resting place after the toil and trouble of the day is one of the charms of pedestrianism in Japan. The “Pied Bulls” and “Red Lions" of our English Ir'gliways make no pretence whatever to anything beyond the mere satisfying of the animal wants. How very different is it in Japan ! Prom the moment the threshhold is crossed to the moment of departure, the visitor is the object of unceasing solicitude on the part of everyone connected with the establishment from highest to lowest. If ic is midday, and be has arrived hot, dusty, and a little tired, after a long morning’s tramp, the whole force of the establishment ushers’the visitor into a pretty,- light apartment, looking on to one of those marvellous miniature gardens, in which, covering a space of a few feet, the mountains, woods, rivers, and' floods of an entire province are represented'. By one neatlydressed, pleasant-looking damsel, his boots are taken off and his feet bathed in hot water,- a second fans him and keeps up a voluble patter of conversation, a* third on her knees offers him refreshing tea and sweet-’ meats, whilst the host himself, with another detachment of waitresses, is helping the coolies to unpack the box cont lining the European food. Everything that meets the eye is contrived to please it. There are pleasant rustic paintings on the screens. There are vases with flowers dotted about ; from the woodwork outside are suspended gaily colored lanterns, or festoons of glass through which the wind makes a soothing music, so that by the time the traveller has finished his repast, has smoked a pipe, and perhaps drank a cup of “ Saki” with the host, he feels thoroughly refreshed and in capital humor to resume his journey. AU this enjoyment is procured at a merely nominal cost, and the present of some bread or European liquor to the house at leaving brings out the whole establishment, who say “Sayonara”— that is,, “ Good-bye"—with their foreheads on the mats.— Belgravia .