JAPANESE CRUELTY.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4436, 24 March 1883, Page 4

JAPANESE CRUELTY.

In Dr Fresser's" work on Japan, he girea tbe> foHowJnjr, instance of the insenßibiiifyi tor^e fcflictioff of/"ufte ring whiclfttteil»p*hesft share with "the races of Eastern Asia :—" Besfing on a large Cutane dish is a mat formed of rounds of glassheld together by plaited threads, on which is a living fish^with gills and mouth moving regularly ;;-«*& back rises a bank ' of white shreds resembling damp isinglass but in reality a colourless seaweed, while the fish itself rests; "on green algae. In front is a pile of afices of raw fish, garnished with a radiating tuft of variegated 'bamboo leave.s. A portfoujofjjhejrawfish from the pile in front of the living victim is now placeJßiiyjL'ilfiSef I^l passed to f>nt jmeß|fc r a|ia^p with the rest, till the *piM,MWQl»Boiny."jThen, to my disgust, the serving-maid, not having enough in thjPi-pite for .nil.[raised! the ( akin ofVtbe upper side of the fisb,'which I now saw, was already'loose*'and simply, picking up slice after'alice"from the living creature,' which, although ulive, had been already c*rvedi -nay/eVen the pile 6( fl/sllalready ; served consisted^ofi the lower half of the creature's body. There is a refinement of; bg&£ri£ I cnielty ;in a)V this '»^hFch with the geniality' and lovipg.^ nature., o.f „the. -Japanese, for witn consummate 'skill' the fish has t been igo carved _ that no; vital part has be^n touched; the heart, the { gills, the'llveri'and the-stomach are left intact, while the damp algte on which the fishjrests suffice to keep the lungs in' ac[Bhr~Ttfe~miserabre object with lus-' trfauseyelookSfapon n^wfailo weconsume 'its owikiibbAfi and" rarely is it giren£jto" -Any ereataVe}to<p«t in a living presence at »i^B tf#n entoDbbmitfDt ;^bat; if being eaten ' isto b»-tnrried,*-this most' miserable of Victims td'ma'n'sßengqal pleasure aetuaUy enjoyed E(P) that "rarest" of-opporttiniiies. JThis. _cxuejty J*,. _practise6!_pnly^ the ~rißS." "-