CONDITIONS IN JAPAN.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3490, 19 May 1920, Page 5

CONDITIONS IN JAPAN.

A CHRISTCHURCH GIRJJS EXPERIENCE.

A Christchurch business girl, who 11-as been in Tokio for two years, writes interestingly to a. friend, states the Press, concerning conditions in Japan. She says: “Conditions in this country have been steadily becoming Worse and worse during the past year or so, and the cost of living is enormous, especially considering what poor quality and quantity we get for our money. There is a. dearth of accomodation everywhere, and people are at their wits’ end to know where to find board and lodgings. Even the Japanese hotels, unfurnished as they are, and with only Japanese food, are overcrowded with both Japanese and" foreigners. -The hotels are charging exorbitant. rates, and if one so much as utters a murmer of complaint, Hm \'ztl'ions proprietors are liable to turn aroulul and reply tllat they do not__ need you~t.hey can rent their rooinrs to someone else the next moment. . ‘

“There is no doubt-_that. the increase of prices in Japan, particularly in the hotel rates, is chiefly due to the influx of Russians for some considerable lime past. ‘Some of them are wealthy, and can nfl'ol'd to pay practically anything the hotels choose to ask. They have fled from the Bolsheviki, and not neglectedito bring with them sucient funds to tide them over difiiculties for many :1 long day to come. This makes conditions very h-a1'(l for“ individuals who are living and wol'kin»g in Japan on :1 fixed salary, and although salaries are rising they only dose in proportion with advancing prices on ovel'yt.hing essential. The hotc-1 in which I am staying is one of the four which Tokio possesses. Lust winter the price of :1 room and three meals a day (monthly) was 150 yen~—to-day it has been increased to 200 yen, excluding any egcfi-as, such as laundry, coal, etc. This is probably the cheapest, rate to be found in the capital. In the hotel where I am at present there is "not a room to be had.

“\\§hen. one reflects for a moment upon the present: conditions in this country one ’s brain reals, for there are comparisons with the past and future to be nlade—wh‘at will be the state of tlrings this time next?’ year} lu‘eonomie.— ally Japan is in a turmoil. Of course, there are still tliousands of "yen spent——or_, rather squalldered——upon. fr-ivolities by the idle rich Japanese, against. whom necessity has not raised her voice suffieie7ntly' to be heard, and to whom also the I'H.C.L. does not exist. It is the same all over the world. I suppose, this terribly unequal distribution of wealth, but, living in Japan at theipresent time, it is sttartliirgly apparent. “When I first arrived in Japan, during 1918, I was inclined to advise others to try their luck as 1 had done, for salaries were much higher than in New Zealand, and the work easier, with a generous amount of holidays, both Japanese and European, thrown in. Now, as these two years have passed, and we have slipped into 1920, I should feel very ehary about advising anyone to come to Japan for the purpose of earning a living. The above—nlentioned' difiiculties, together with manifold disadvantages of climate, conditions, ete., rather make me think that two pounds a, week in New Zealand are better than five pounds or more per week in Japan. Personally I have never regretted coming, for I came for experience more‘ than anything else, and certainly nothing does enlarge the mind so much «as travelling, but to anyone Without ambition, who would merely come to ‘get ~.~.»-hile the getting’s good,’ as the Americans put: it, I would say, ‘Stay at home.’ ”