[Illustration: Japanese Children.]
How would you like to ride in a wagon drawn by a man instead of a
horse? That is the way people ride in Japan. Japan is a country a
long way off, near China. You would think that a man could not run
very fast drawing a wagon. But in Japan some men can run as fast as
horses. The wagon is like a buggy, but it has only two wheels. They
call this wagon a jin-rik'i-sha.
[Illustration: A Jinrikisha.]
The streets in Japan have no sidewalks. The houses are only one or two
stories high. They are built of wood. They have no windows or doors.
Strange houses, you will think. The walls outside and inside are made
like sliding doors. They slide back so that the people can go in and
out, and from one room to another.
The Japanese have very little furniture in their houses. They have no
chairs. They do not need any, for they sit on cushions on the floor.
They also sleep on the floor. When it is time to go to bed, they
spread soft quilts on the floor, one over the other. The last quilt on
the top is the cover. These beds are very nice. But you could never
guess what kind of pillows they have. The pillows are blocks of wood
the size of a brick. You would not think them nice at all. But the
Japanese seem to sleep very well on their wood pillows.
[Illustration: A Japanese Bed.]
Many of the things in the houses in Japan are made of paper, They have
paper fans, paper lanterns, paper hats, paper cups, paper umbrellas,
paper napkins, and paper screens.
They have no stoves. Instead of stoves they have boxes lined with
brass. In these boxes they burn charcoal to heat their rooms. But
they do not cook their food in these brass boxes. They cook in little
ovens made of clay.
When it rains in Japan the people look very funny. The men wear rain
coats made of rice straw. They also have big straw hats and paper
umbrellas.
[Illustration: A Rain Coat.]
They wear blocks, three inches high, fastened to the soles of their
shoes. These keep their feet dry. So on a rainy day everybody looks
three inches taller.
In Japan they do not wear shoes in the house. When they go into their
houses they take them off. Their shoes are made of wood or straw.
Some of the people have shoes with gold braid.
[Illustration: Japanese Shoes.]
Perhaps you would like to know how they dress in Japan. Boys and girls
dress very much alike. Both wear long gowns, like skirts, of blue or
gray cotton or silk. These gowns are open at the neck. A sash is worn
around the waist. The girls tie their sashes in a bow at the back.
The children of Japan are very strange looking, not at all like you.
They are like the Chinese. Their skin is yellow, and their eyes are
slanted. Their hair is black and straight.
You will wish to know what they eat in Japan. The food is much the
same as in China. They eat a great deal of rice. They have fish, and
they drink tea. They use chopsticks in eating, as the people in China
do.
The people in Japan are very fond of flowers. Every house has a garden
around it. The boys and girls walk and play in these gardens.
[Illustration: Interior of a Japanese House.]
Boys and girls in Japan have many nice toys. One of their toys is a
little oven with real fire in it. Peddlers go round with these ovens
and with sweet dough to bake in them. For five cents the boys and
girls can get the use of an oven, and dough enough to bake little
cakes. They often make cakes shaped like animals. The peddler makes
the letters of the alphabet in dough. Then he bakes them in the oven
for the boys and girls. With these cake letters they often learn their
a, b, c.
The boys in Japan, like the boys in China, are very fond of kites. But
in Japan they have fighting kites. They mix broken fine glass with
glue, and rub it on their kite strings. When the strings become dry
they are hard and sharp. Then the boys fly their kites. One boy tries
to cross and cut the string of another boy's kite with the string of
his own. The boy who cuts down a kite gets it as his prize.
In Japan they have a day like our Flag Day. On this day the boys have
toy soldiers with swords and guns. They form these soldiers into
armies, and have battles. Then the parents and teachers tell the boys
about the great soldiers of their country, and the great battles they
fought.
The girls have a day for themselves. They call it the "Feast of
Dolls." Every girl has a set of dolls. On that day they take out
their dolls and doll houses. Then the girls play with them, and show
them to one another.
[Illustration: Japanese Girl and Doll.]
They have schools in Japan just as we have. The boys and girls must go
to school until they are ten years old. Some of their lessons are very
hard. They have forty-seven letters in their alphabet, instead of only
twenty-six, as we have. Don't you think it must be hard for the boys
and girls to learn to read?
They go to school very early in the morning. Before they enter the
school they take off their shoes. When the teacher comes, they bow
down their heads nearly to the ground and draw in their breath. This
is their "good morning." The teacher also bows to the boys and girls.
Then the children sit on the floor. They put their books on their
knees and begin their lessons. They have no pens or pencils. They use
little brushes instead. They write in lines from the top to the bottom
of the sheet of paper, instead of across from side to side as we do.
This is the way, you remember, they write in China. The books in Japan
are also like the books in China. The last page in our books would be
the first page in books in China and Japan. So their books begin at
what we would think the end. How queer this seems to us!
There are newspapers in Japan, but they are not much like ours. The
lines run up and down just as Japanese writing does. They read back
from what we would call the last page.
[Illustration: Japanese Carpenters at Work.]
A great many things that we use in America come from Japan. We get
silk from Japan, and beautiful vases and mats and screens and basket
work. The boys and girls in Japan help to make these things. For they
are bright and learn quickly how to do very nice work.