LIFE IN TOKYO
Our diplomatic visits were made within two days of our arrival, as
etiquette requires. My first visit was on the Doyenne of the Diplomatic
Corps, Marchesa Guiccioli. The French Ambassador was Doyen, but as he
was not married the Italian Ambassadress was the first lady of the
Corps. When our diplomatic calls had been made and returned, we returned
those made by the American colony in Tokyo and Yokohama.
During the winter the ladies of the Diplomatic Corps decided to have a
day "at home" each week. The period of second mourning for the late
Emperor had begun, and we all dressed in black and white. Dinners and
calling among the diplomats continued, but the official dinners between
the Japanese and the foreigners did not take place on account of the
mourning.
The diplomatic dinners were always large affairs of twenty or thirty
people, and quite formal, with the host and hostess sitting in foreign
fashion at the centre of the table, the ends filled in with young
secretaries. There were but few women present, for many of the diplomats
in Tokyo were not married. Occasionally we found one or two Japanese at
these dinners, but not often, owing to the official mourning. They might
have been given in Europe or anywhere, except for a touch of the East in
the costumes of the servants and the curios about the house.
To show how a Japanese lady or gentleman answers an Ambassador's
invitation, I give literal translations of two responses which are quite
typical.
"WORSHIPFULLY ADDRESSED.
"Having received upon my head the honourable loving invitation
of the coming 25th day, I humbly regard it as the extremity of
glory. Referring thereto, in the case of the rustic wife there
being unavoidably a previous engagement, although with regret,
(she) is humbly unable to ascend; consequently the little
student one person, humbly accepting, will go to the honourable
residence. Rapidly, rapidly, worshipfully bowing.
"Great Justice, 2d year, 2d moon, 19th day.
American Ambassador,
Beneath the Mansion.
Honourable Lady,
Beneath the Mansion."
"WORSHIPFULLY REPORTING.
"Having received upon my head the
honourable loving invitation to the
banquet of the honourable holding on
the coming 25th day, thankfully, joyfully,
humbly shall I worshipfully run.
However, in the matter of ----, although
regretting, (he) humbly declines.
The right hand (fact) upon
receiving (he) at once wishes humbly
to decline. It is honourably thus. Respectfully
bowing.
"Second moon, 20th day.
American Ambassador, Mr. Anderson,
Beneath the Mansion."
Our first reception was attended by most of the diplomats, some of the
American colony, and a few Japanese. In American fashion I had the
ladies of the Embassy pour tea at the large table in the dining-room.
There were over a hundred and fifty guests in all, many coming from
Yokohama. On another of our days at home a huge shipload of tourists
from the _Cleveland_ arrived, which made the afternoon quite gay. They
began to arrive half an hour before time, much to their dismay. It seems
that they had been put into 'rickshas and their coolies instructed to
take them to the Embassy, but when they got there they could not make
the 'ricksha-men understand that they were early and wanted to drive
about a bit until three. When my husband came down-stairs they had
camped outside in the snow, which had fallen quite heavily the day
before; he heard them talking, and, of course, asked them in at once.
One afternoon we entertained some American and English women. I was
quite amused when a missionary's wife came up to me, wagging her head
and looking very solemn about something.
"I suppose you did not know," she said, "that the singer is a very
naughty man."
"No, I didn't," I answered; "but I don't quite know what I can do about
it--" and I'm afraid I wagged my head, too, as I added, "Don't you think
we can reform him, perhaps?"
She must have seen the twinkle in my eye, for she laughed and said she
didn't believe we could. We agreed that he sang very well indeed.
Our last big reception was held at the Embassy on Washington's Birthday.
We had some souvenirs made in Japanese style, little black lacquer ash
trays with the crest of the United States in gilt upon them for the men
and fans also decorated with the crest for the ladies. A good many of
the missionaries came, not only from Tokyo and Yokohama, but also from
the interior.
On St. Valentine's day I took some presents out to Watanabe's house,
where I had asked all the children of the compound to gather. There were
about a dozen of them, sitting on mats and making a very pretty group.
They had put a carpet over the mat, so I did not have to take off my
shoes, and a chair was procured for me to sit in. Then I told Osame to
translate and tell them how, on St. Valentine's day, people in America
send each other verses--sometimes love-verses, sometimes comic
verses--but that as I couldn't write any in Japanese for them I had
brought some little gifts instead. The children all bowed to the ground,
and were very, very respectful--much better behaved than young people at
home! They seemed to be pleased, and after giving each one his present I
withdrew, telling Watanabe to give them tea and cake or whatever they
wanted. But pretty soon he asked if they might come into the Embassy and
thank us. So they filed in, bowing again, and sang a little Japanese
song to my husband and myself, which was all quite touching. We showed
them a toy tiger we had bought in Paris that would spring and jump when
wound up, and a bear that would drink water, both of which delighted
them greatly. After a while, bowing once again, they departed.
We made some very pleasant friends in Japan. Among others we met
Baroness Sonnomiya, who is herself English but married to a Japanese.
During her husband's lifetime she had great power, as she was the
intimate friend of the Empress Dowager. There were also Dr. Nitobe and
his wife, who were among the most delightful people we met. I enjoyed
his books thoroughly, as well as his address before the Japanese Peace
Society, which met at the Embassy.
This gathering had its amusing side, because the president of the
Society had made most of his money selling guns! Moreover, before I
realized that it was the Peace Society which was coming to the Embassy,
I had invited the Naval Attaché's wife and an army officer's wife to
pour tea! Just at that moment it hardly looked as if the cause of peace
was making much headway in the world, for while we were talking about
it, terrible battles were being fought in Turkey, the City of Mexico was
under bombardment, and there was talk of fighting between Austria and
Russia.
One day I called on Madame Ozaki, whom I had met in Italy when she was
Marion Crawford's secretary. Her mother was English, her father
Japanese; she is very pretty and writes charming stories. After living
in Europe for a number of years she returned to her father in Japan and
taught school, finally marrying Mr. Ozaki, one of Japan's most
conspicuous politicians to-day. When I called on her I found her dressed
in European style, but she had the true Japanese reserve; in fact was
much more Japanese than I had expected after her many years abroad. Her
house was partly European, but when the _shoji_ was thrown aside, the
little maid who received us bowed to the ground in true native fashion.
Madame Ozaki did not speak of politics, although her husband had just
made an attack on Katsura, who had been for the moment overthrown. It
was said that she had received threatening letters warning her and her
husband to flee to England.
At this time of political upheaval a curious article appeared in the
paper to the effect that three men had attended their own funeral
services, which they wished to hold because they were about to start on
a dangerous expedition. It was suggested that perhaps they might be
going to take some prominent man's life, but nothing happened, so far as
we knew, until spring, when Mr. Abe, of the Foreign Office, was
murdered.
In order to explain the political situation in Japan as we found it, I
am obliged to touch briefly on the political changes during the last
fifty years,--that is, since the time of feudalism.
After Commodore Perry's visit, the Tokugawa government, whose shoguns
had been the real rulers of the country for more than two centuries and
a half, decided to open the ports to foreigners, while officials at the
Imperial Court of the Mikado desired to continue the policy of
exclusion. Finally the reigning Shogun was brought to see that it would
be better for the country to have but one ruler, and resigned in favour
of the Mikado. This inaugurated the wonderful Meiji Era--the era of the
late Emperor.
Since they had always been men of action, it was the clever _samurai_,
rather than the old nobles, who found a chance to show their ability
under the new régime. They became prominent in both the Upper and Lower
Councils, which were based somewhat on feudalism, and yet showed
strongly the influence of Western ideas.
Political questions were freely discussed, political parties appeared,
and the first conventions were held. The first cabinet was formed in
1885, with Prince Ito as Premier.
The Administration was divided into ten departments:--The Imperial
Household, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Finance, Army and Navy, Justice,
Education, Agriculture, Commerce, and Communications. A Minister of
State was appointed head of each department. The Empire was divided into
provinces, each ruled by a governor. In 1890 a national assembly was
granted, and the first Diet was convened.
The government to-day is Conservative, and is controlled by the _Genro_,
the elder statesmen. The Progressive party, the Seyukai, is led by
Ozaki. The Socialists make a good deal of noise, but are still far from
powerful; their opposition to the Russian war weakened their influence
greatly. The Socialist party in Japan was largely responsible for the
recent anti-American demonstrations.
For many years Prince Ito was considered the ablest man in the country.
Okubo and Okuma were also noted leaders, while Prince Katsura, in recent
times, held great power. Katsura was quite unpopular with the people
while we were in Japan. It was felt that he had delayed a meeting of the
Diet in order to form a party which would be stronger and at the same
time more completely under his control. Each time when the assembly was
postponed by a command from the Emperor, the blame was placed on
Katsura. Finally Yamamoto was chosen to form a cabinet, which took a
long time to do on account of the different parties. Ozaki, as head of
the Progressives, wished to dictate to Yamamoto, but the latter would
not comply, so things came to a standstill. People seemed to think that
Ozaki was going too far, and that he had better take half a loaf instead
of insisting upon a whole one. It appeared that the Japanese were not as
yet advanced enough for his ideas, or else that he was too advanced for
theirs. Later on, his party yielded somewhat, and Yamamoto made up his
cabinet with Ozaki left out.
After the trouble had all blown over, people said that it had all been
worked out by clever Katsura. If this is true, it was one of his last
achievements, for the Prince, who is considered the greatest Premier
Japan ever had, died in October, 1913. His career was an interesting
one. His father belonged to the _samurai_ class, and the boy, Katsura
Taro, became a staff officer when only twenty-one. During the
Franco-Prussian war he was in Germany studying military tactics. Later
he was given charge of the reorganizing and modernizing of the Japanese
army. The success of the Japanese in the Chinese and Russian wars is
attributed to his genius and to his "silent and unrewarded toil." Only
after the battle of the Yalu, when he was made viscount, did his work
begin to be appreciated. Later he was created prince. After the Chinese
war he changed from soldier to statesman--was four times Prime Minister,
and "almost a whole cabinet in himself."
Internal politics do not run any more smoothly in Japan than they do in
our own country. On account of the frequent changes of cabinet there was
often rioting in front of the Diet during the winter we were at the
Embassy. Newspaper offices were attacked and burned, and the mob seemed
to have an especial grudge against the police, who were hardly able to
cope with the situation. Hearing that there was rioting near the Embassy
one evening after dinner, several of us walked to a _matsuri_ not far
away, but the crowd was dispersing when we arrived, and only the
policeman's sentry-box, which was overturned, remained to tell the tale.
* * * * *
Clubs are an important element in our modern civilization, and
especially for foreigners in the Orient, where bachelors so greatly
predominate--I believe the proportion is even more than that of forlorn
damsels in Massachusetts. At Yokohama there are two organizations, the
Yokohama United and a German club, besides the two American societies,
the Asiatic and the Columbia.
The Tokyo Club has the reputation of being the most charming in the
East. It is splendidly situated on a hill near the American Embassy. The
charges are moderate, and the service is generally good. Japanese as
well as Europeans belong to it. While we were in Tokyo my husband was
invited to become the foreign vice-president, the president being an
Imperial Prince. At first he begged off, but a committee of the club
visited him and urged him to accept the office, saying that the Japanese
were anxious to pay our country a compliment. The Tokyo Club is more
than a register of social prominence in the city--it is also important
as a political barometer, and this polite insistence upon L.'s accepting
the place was, in its way, a tribute to America.
Many adventurers come to the East to seek their fortunes, and one hears
strange stories, tragic or romantic as the case may be. A lover waits on
the dock for his fiancée on the steamer, only to find that she has
decided at the last moment to marry another whom she has met on the
voyage; a wife returns from a long vacation at home to find her husband
consoling himself with a _geisha_; a father who comes out to look for
his son discovers him deep in debt and drinking himself to death. Such
are a few of the many tales we heard.
Some differences in social customs may be noted here. It is polite, for
instance, to remove your shoes at the door on entering a Japanese home.
After you have entered it is only polite, as well as modest, to remain
near the door! When you are offered tea or anything of the sort, it must
be twice declined, but the third time it may be accepted.
In conversation one must exalt the person addressed, while everything
belonging to the speaker must be held of no value at all. A father, on
taking a bright boy to the teacher, would naturally say, "O honourable
teacher, here is my idiot son!" And a mother, no matter how deeply she
may feel the death of a child, must shed no tears but continue to smile
and say, "Oh--child no good!"
What Hearn says about poetry is also true of the Japanese smile. When in
danger, smile; when angry, smile; when sad, smile; in fact, it is
etiquette always to smile! In so many ways the Japanese are an admirable
race, and in none more so than in this. Their instincts are all for good
taste and good manners.
Speaking of manners--of course, standards vary. It used to be a common
thing in the country villages to see men and women bathing together in
large tanks, but as Westerners disapproved of this custom, a few years
ago an order went forth that men and women bathing together must put on
suits. The result is that to-day they sit on the edge of the tank, or on
the seashore, and dress and undress as they have always done, before one
another, and wonder why they are obliged to put on bathing-suits when
they go into the water! But an order is an order, they say, and must be
obeyed.
In 1897, when we were in Japan, foreign clothes and top-hats were very
popular, and to-day queer combinations of clothes are still noticeable.
The foreign cap is much worn by the men, and a sort of loose-sleeved
overcoat of English cloth, like an opera coat, is used in winter, worn
over the kimono. But the _tabis_, or linen socks made like a mitten, and
the clogs, are worn as before, while often an unmounted fur skin is
wrapped about the neck. People well dressed in European clothes are
called "high-collared"--in fact, this expression is applied to almost
anything that is Western and modern. Many of the men who have been
abroad are very correctly and smartly clad, but they usually put on a
Japanese costume in the evening, for they call the European dress an
"uncomfortable bag."
Some of the "high-collared" Japanese have at least one meal a day in
European style, and part of the house is usually devoted to foreign
furniture. They also believe that milk and meat should be eaten in order
to make the race grow larger. Most of the men are anxious to learn
Western ideas, and take great pride in showing inventions that have been
introduced. They consider themselves quite up to date, and so they are
in many ways.
When my husband was first in Japan, in 1889, a woman's highest desire
was to wear European clothes, and if she could hire a costume and be
photographed in it, she was perfectly happy. But I do not think they
feel like that to-day. The novelty has worn off. Besides, Japanese
dressmaking is a very simple matter; a kimono is made of straight
breadths of cloth basted together. Compared with that, the plainest
Western frock must offer many problems.
It is certainly better for us not to attempt to talk Japanese, for if
one cannot speak it well it is safer not to try at all. One is very
liable to address a nobleman in the language of a coolie, or to mystify
a servant by speaking to him in the tongue of the higher classes--there
are three ways of making a remark, according to the rank of the person
addressed! No one can believe the difficulties of the language till he
has tried it. To master it in any degree requires years of study.
To illustrate this I will quote from Dr. Gordon, the missionary, who
gives a bit of dialogue between teacher and pupil during a lesson. "The
pupil says,'The child likes _meshi_.' 'No,' says his mentor, 'in
speaking of a child's rice it is better to use the word _mama_--the
child likes _mama_.' Undiscouraged, the student tries again: 'Do you eat
_meshi_?' But his teacher stops him and tells him that it is polite, in
speaking to another of his having or eating rice, to call it _gozen_.
Having taken this in, the student goes on with his sentence-building:
'The merchant sells _gozen_.' Again the teacher calls a halt, and tells
him that _meshi_ and _gozen_ are used for cooked rice only, and that for
unboiled rice _kome_ is the proper word. Feeling that now he is getting
into the secrets of the language, he says, '_Kome_ grows in the fields,'
but he is again stopped with the information that growing rice is called
_ine_."
More than one scholar in European tongues has declared Japanese to be
the most difficult language in the world. One has said that a man "can
learn to understand as much of Spanish in six months as he can of
Japanese in six years." Chinese ideographs are said to outnumber the
Japanese characters to-day, and in numerous instances have actually
displaced them, even among the common people. Many characters have two
meanings and only in combination can you know which is intended. There
are no pronouns in the language, nor are there any "swear-words" or
imperatives, the people are so polite.
Family names are also very confusing--to the Japanese themselves, I
should think, as well as to us--because of the frequency of adoption.
Each family feels that it must have an heir to take care of the aged
members while they live and to pray for them when they die, so a child
is adopted and given the patronymic. Blood doesn't seem to count at all,
for even if a son is born later, it is the adopted child who inherits.
Sometimes children brought up in foreign countries take foreign names. A
naval officer told me of a charming Japanese girl whom he knew, named
Bessie. One day she confided to him that she was going to marry Charlie.
"Marry your brother!" exclaimed the astounded officer. "Yes," replied
Bessie sweetly, "you not know--I not father's real child, and Charlie
not father's real child. Charlie and I, we no relation--both adopted!"
Adoption is not always necessary, however, for if a man has no children
he can easily divorce his wife, simply by telling her to return to her
father's house, and he may then marry another woman. The modern law also
gives this privilege of divorce to the wife, but custom is so strong
that she never leaves her husband of her own accord.
Marriages are generally arranged by the parents, with the assistance of
a mutual friend. The man and girl are allowed to see each other, but
although they are not actually forced into marriage, few would dare to
disobey their parents' wishes in the matter. They have a wedding feast,
at which the bride and groom sit on the floor facing each other. The
ceremony sometimes consists of their both drinking from a two-spouted
tea-pot. The bride is clad in a white kimono and veil, which she keeps
all her life, and wears once more when she is dead. Many presents are
received, but the gifts of the groom, which are as costly as he can
afford, are offered by the bride to her parents in gratitude for all
that they have done for her in the past.
After the wedding the husband takes his bride to his home, no doubt to
live with his father and mother. The wife must not only obey her
husband, but is also much under the rule of her mother-in-law. A man
sometimes brings his concubine into the house, and often her children as
well, and these his wife is obliged to adopt. If husband and wife
disagree, the go-between is usually consulted, and occasionally succeeds
in arranging matters.
Japanese ladies, as a rule, do not go about very much, except those who
have married foreigners or have lived abroad. A few ladies appear at
foreign dinners with their husbands, but very often the men have dinners
at which their wives do not appear. This may be partly owing to their
inability to speak English.
But, as a whole, the women have little pleasure. When the man of the
house entertains, he either takes his guests to a tea-house or calls in
a _geisha_ to help him do the honours, while his wife sits apart in a
room by herself and is neither seen nor heard. The diversions, even of
the well-to-do, are few, comprising the arrangement of flowers, the
composition of poetry, and an occasional visit to the theatre.
Women are employed in manual work, in the fields, and in the loading of
coal in the big ports, and more and more in the new industries. The
kitchen-standard of wifehood is disappearing. Last winter a woman made a
speech in public; this caused great excitement--in fact, it was said
that she was the first Japanese woman to do such a thing. In spite of
the many changes which are coming about, they are as far from being
suffragists as we were a hundred years ago. The sex as a whole are a
long way from anything like economic freedom.
A woman has recently been made bank-president in Tokyo--a quite
unheard-of innovation. She is Madame Seno, a sort of Japanese Hetty
Green. In spite of the fact that she is over seventy, she goes to her
office every morning punctually. Her tastes are very frugal. She wears
plain cotton kimonos, and travels third-class. At the outbreak of the
Russian war, however, she was the first to offer her subscription to the
Government.
The children have a very good time, spinning tops, flying kites, and
playing battledore and shuttlecock. In the life of Japan everything has
its place and period, and the children's games succeed one another in
such due order that it is almost impossible to buy the toys of one month
when the season has passed into the next month. It is extraordinary how
the little people combine their work and play, for you see a small boy
carrying a baby on his back staggering around on stilts, and another
small boy pulling a loaded cart and rolling a hoop at the same time, and
little girls with littler girls on their backs tossing balls into the
air or bouncing them in the streets. It is really an unusual thing to
see a woman or young girl in the street without a baby attached to her.
I think one of the reasons why the Japanese race has not grown larger is
because the children from a very early age carry such weights on their
backs.
[Illustration: "_Little girls with littler girls on their backs_"]
Mr. Brownell tells a story of a Japanese girl which shows the filial
duty and faithfulness that prevail. It seems she fell in love with a
foreigner, and he with her. His intentions were good, and, although he
was obliged to go away on a trip, he wrote her that he would soon be
back to make her his wife. During his absence, however, her parents
arranged another marriage for the girl, and on his return he found this
letter from her:
"SIR:--
"I am married and is called Mrs. Sodesuka, and by our Japanese
morality and my natural temperament I decline for ever your
impoliteness letter."
"SODESUKA OTOKU."