THE JAPS AT HOME.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 239, 15 November 1909, Page 3

THE JAPS AT HOME.

A BUDGET OF GOOD THINGS ABOUT OUR EASTERN ALLIES. If a Jap invites you to his house, yon would probably be'shown into the din-ing-room ; but if you were to call agam next morning you would be surprised to find that that room had disappeared and its place was occupied by prrhapß the best bedroom or a general sittingroom. For, as Sir Henry Norman pu'.s it in "The. Real Japan," "when you wish to make a new room you simply 'form square' by sliding enough panels in (heir grooves to enclose the space; or, at your pleasure, all the rooms can be thrown into one." In Japanese houses chairs and tsibli'B are quite unknown, and when you are tired you throw yourself on tiio flour, which is kept scrupulously clean, so th.it there is no danger of spoiling your white linen suit. The Japanese posture of repose is to scat oneself on one's heels, and this is very painful at first: ,

THE CHARM OF CHOPSTICKS. When you wish to retire for the night, you do not get up and go to your ln-l----room; yon merely remain where yun ,are ami slide the wall round the sp n; you have chosen for your slumber-;. Tiio most comfortable 1 way is to have a "futon," or thick quilt, and roll yourself in a rug or blanket upon it. On being invited to (line at the hou=e of a Japanese gentleman, he will greet you with: "How can you condescend to come i'> such a poor house as this?" And your reply should liP: "How can yon. indeed, be so kind r.s to receive such an unimportant person as myself under your distinguished roof?" These speeches are punctuated wil'n low bows, and the sound of breath sucked rapidly between' yonv teeth, which expresses the great honor your host feels at your condescension in visitiiijj his humble abode. Dinner begins with a kind of soup a.i.l fish in a lacquer bowl. You drink the soup, and eat the fish with your chopsticks. According to Sir Henry, it is quite easy to acquire the art of eating with chopsticks. The next course consists of four or five little heaps of food on a lacquer dish—a puree of chestnuts, a salmi of some small bird or wildfowl, a few boiled lily-roots, and h. mess of stowed seaweed.' Then follows sake, a kind of wine resembling dry sherry, which is alwins served warm. It 'idrunk from tlnv cups, each holding a tablespoonful. You r glass is continually kept full by the servants, who squat in a ring round the diners.

OBEDIENCE! Next comes a course which most I ■foreigners keep at a distance. It I consists of some pink-and-while mo'- j sels, with tiny portions of different salads, on a minute wire gridiron. They I are raw fish, which look" mucli better j than they taste. Finally come cakes | and tea. At an early stage of the meal i pipes air brought in, and yon smoke de-liriously-smelling .Japanese tobacco. Each pipe is only big enough for two whilfs, so "filling ii])" occupies a great proportion of your time. At these meals the perfect goocihnmor and camaraderie of everybody is truly delightful. The meal is punctuated j by endless jests, continual laughter, and mutual compliments all round." Tlivoujih--0111 the meal geishas, exquisitely garbed, whose dainty grace i« only rivalled by their charm of manner, entertain Hie guests w : lh song and dance. AVoman's "paramount duty" in Japan is obedience —if a daughter, to her father; if a wife, to her husband; if a widow, to her eldest son. A Japanese girl accepts her husband at the will <il her parents. At one time Japanese wives stained their teeth black on their wedding-day, and -haved their eyelivowhen the first baby was horn. Marriage is a purely civil contract, without religious or oflicial ccremonv. AVives are addressed as "a honorable lady of the house," and are accorded every respect. —Homo paper.