Facts about Japan

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 16, 18 April 1907, Page 30

Facts about Japan

In view of the presence- in New Zealand waters of several Japanese cruisers, the .following facts about the land of the chrysanthemum and its' people ' will be of interest :— * Japan has "nearly 50,000,000 people. The -word ' Mikado ' signifies • something . like ' the Sacred Gate ' or 'the Sublime Porte. 1 The name of the reigning Mikado is Mutsu Hito. 1 The name of the Empress is- O Haru— ' spring.' The name of the Crown Prince is Yoshi Hito. . European dress is worn at ail" court functions. Rice is the common food „ of _ the. common people. Edghtpence a "flay is now good pay for unskilled labor in Japan. Ten years ago it was threepence. " ~ Japan has few millionaires and practically no mul-ti-mi'llionair-es. * Tcikio is a hundred years older than St. Petersburg. The lovely Japanese cherry trees produce no cherries. Japanese dead are buried- in a squatting posture, chin upon knees. _ . ..Fujiyama, the- volcano that appears in all Japanese pictures, is 11,365 feet- high, and 10,000 • pilgrims ascend it every year. The Japanese people^ even the poor, travel "much in their own country. Modern Japanese coin and banknotes* bear legends in English, as well as tn Japanese. - It is quite proper, even complimentary, to ask a lady's age in -Japan. • . . The Japanese ' Hello ! ' at the telephone is £« Moshi moshaj-' or ' Ano ne,' with the- accent on the 'nay ' . Kissing and , shaking hands are rarely practised in Japan. . ' Japanese mothers do not kiss their children though they may press their lips to the forehead or cheek of a very young baby.^ , « Sewing on buttons is not a wifely duty in Japanthere" are no buttons. - — Japanese inns "furnish fresh tooi/h-brushes every morning free to every guest. The brush is of .wood, shaped hke- a pencil, and frayed to a tufty brush of fibre at the - Large- end. . < All of the food served to a- guest at a Japanese banquet and not consumed by him at the time is taken to * his liome by the servants of his host. Japanese chopsticks are delivered to the euests in a -decorated envelope. The two sticks, already shaped, form one tong-h've piece of wood-and are broken apart by the- guest. r Japan has one of the largest -steamship companies in the world, with service to the United States and to .England by way of Suez. -