The Real Japan. By Henry Norman. (T. Fisher trnwin.)— This
is a remarkable book, which appears not inopportunely in
the wake of Sir Edwin Arnold's "Lands and Seas." This it supplements, and, it would not be too much to say, corrects. It contains the impressions of an observer who was not content to let experiences come to him, but sought them for himself. Mr. Norman, himself a member of the craft, gives a chapter to "Journalism," beginning with a dascription of the "Japanese interviewer," a troublesome if not a noxious species of the genus. But native journalism is still far from being developed. "Japanese Justice" is necessarily a somewhat gloomy chapter. The prisoners
work at trades, and receive a tenth of their earnings for them- selves. Of the education in the country it must certainly be said that vast pains have been taken, and no small sacrifice made, and that, considering the short time that the system has been at work, very fair results have been attained. We have information given about the naval and military resources of the country, and chap- ters, which are of course the cream of the volume, about its social life. Here we get the side that Sir E. Arnold shows us, and another side which, except for the briefest and most obscure hints, he carefully conceals. The fact is, that there is no country where vice is more systematised than in Japan. The hetairai of Ancient Greece have their parallel in the geishas. But far worse than this is the system of the Joshiwara. This is a legalised sale of daughters by their parents, and practically there is no return to decent life for the poor creatures who are thus given over. Exceptional cases there may be, but the rule is no return. Of course there are no reforming agencies. Mr. Norman has some amusing stories,—one of an American Minister who thought the people "darned clever," because they greeted him with cries of ohayo ! (pronounced " 0-hei-o.") "How the deuce did they know I was from Ohio ?" We are reminded of the story of a worshipful Alderman who, sitting in state to hear, on some school speech- day, a Greek oration, bowed whenever he heard the equivalent for "nothing," which corresponded to his name.
Previous page
