A curious account of Japanese topsy-turveydom is given in Saturday's
Times, drawn from a work entitled "Things Japanese," published in Japan by Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain, a well-known scholar. The number of things which, according to our notions, the Japanese do upside-down, are innumerable. "Japanese books begin at the end, the word finis coming where we put the title-page. The footnotes are printed at the top of the page, and the reader puts in his marker at the bottom. Men make themselves merry with wine, not after, but before dinner, and sweets come before the principal dishes. A Japanese mounts his horse on the right side, and when the animal is brought home, his head is put where his tail ought to be. They address a letter the reverse way to us, putting the name last, the country and city first, going from the general to the particular. Japanese keys turn in instead of out; Japanese carpenters saw and plane towards, not away from themselves. In keeping accounts they write the figures first, the item corresponding to them next. Politeness prompts them to remove, not their head covering, but that of their feet. The impulse of Japanese girls is to sew on cuffs, frills, and the like, topsy-turvy and wrong side out." It is curious to reflect that though it matters so little which way these unimportant things are done, the native way of doing them will be the last thing revolutionised in Japan. With us, arts, commerce, letters, and learning would perish long before the rule of the road.
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