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Bidding us follow him he led the way upstairs. I simply could not keep the slippers on my feet so took them off and carried them, one in each hand. At the top of the stairway a door slid open and a Japanese lady began laughing. I expect she is telling yet about a foreigner who once came to the hotel who thought slippers were to wear on his hands. On reaching the rooms, amidst profuse apologies, he named the price which was double the amount named on the printed card. When my friend called his attention to his published prices he said: "Yes, but I will make you fine gentlemen a discount," and proceeded to discount the price to that named on his card.
The city of Tokyo is a little world in itself. It contains nearly three million people. It covers more than twenty-eight square miles of territory. Its streets are generally narrow and in much of the city there is practically no sewer system. The refuse and night soil is all saved and sold for fertilizer. If a fire should get well started it looks like a great portion of the city would go up in smoke for most of the houses are of flimsy material and would burn like haystacks.
They have no system of numbering houses and to hunt for some certain one is like hunting for a needle in a haymow. Like in all cities the people are pleasure loving and the parks and shows are well attended. In the very heart of the city is a square mile of territory given entirely up to the lowest form of evil. It is undoubtedly one of the most wicked spots on the globe.
One must not judge the Japanese people or even the people of Tokyo by this standard, however, for no people ever made such tremendous strides as have the Japanese nation since the days of Commodore Perry. The great Imperial University of Tokyo makes one think of Yale or Harvard. The buildings are modern and the campus beautiful and well kept. Passing through these grounds a friend pointed out the most noted buildings. Entering them I found the most modern and up-to-date equipment. One large building is devoted exclusively to the study of earthquakes. The Japanese know more about earthquakes than any other people.
The students are taught how to erect buildings earthquakeproof. The most powerful seismographs in the world are in this university. I saw a record of the San Francisco earthquake that was made by these instruments—just when it started, when it was at the worst, length of time it lasted and all about it. Here in this building is a picture of a place where, during an earthquake, the ground was opened and a lot of people had fallen perhaps a hundred feet down. The photograph was evidently taken just as the ground was closing and the people below were waving good-bye to those above as they were going to their death.
Japan has been called the land of flowers and cherry blossoms or The Flowery Kingdom. It is one of the most interesting countries on the globe to visit. While shut away to themselves these people developed a civilization of their own which is far superior, in most respects, to that of other oriental peoples. Their experience with Christianity, corrupt though it was, no doubt gave them the start. The entire area of Japan is but little larger than California and most of it is very mountainous and yet so wonderful are they in the development of agriculture that nearly sixty million people live upon the products of their soil.
The Japanese people think a lot of America for they recognize the fact that to America they owe more than to any other nation. Their friendship for us is real too, if one can judge anything by mingling with the people. All this talk about Japan attacking America is too ridiculous to think seriously about, even though we have not treated them as we should in all cases. If you were in Tokyo today you would see the stars and stripes just below their own flag, and you would see more American flags than of all other nations combined, barring of course, their own.
CHAPTER IV
The Transformation of a Nation—Korea
The Palestine of eastern Asia is Korea. While called the "Land of the Morning Calm," it has been the battleground of the eastern world for centuries. Japan on the east has looked upon Korea as a "sword pointed at her heart." China on the south has always felt that Korea practically belonged to her, while the Great Bear on the north has looked longingly for ages toward this coveted land. The same can be said of Manchuria as well.
Until recent years the world knew but little of this country. It was really a "Hermit Nation." The people lived in walled cities and allowed no outside people to come in. Less than a half century ago signboards could be seen along the highways upon which was written: "If you meet a foreigner, kill him; he who has friendly relations with him is a traitor to his country." It is said that they actually kept the country along the sea shore barren and unattractive while in the interior the people lived on the fat of the land. The mountain peaks were great beacon towers lighted up every night to signal to the capital that no danger threatened and all was well along the borders.
In area, Korea is about as large as Minnesota. The population is more than fifteen millions. Except in the northern part, which is as cold as Minnesota, the climate is delightful. Nearly everything that will grow in Japan will grow in Korea. The surface is largely mountains and plains. In the mines are gold, copper, iron and coal, as well as other minerals. The silk industry is becoming one of great value and although every mountain forest has been cleared, some paper is made.
Perhaps in no other country in the world has such an effort been made to keep men and women apart as in this strange land. In Seoul, the capital city, they used to toll a bell at eight in the evening which meant that men must go indoors and let women on the streets. Blind men, officials, and certain others were exempt. Any man with a doctor's prescription was allowed on the streets, but so many of these were forged that much trouble resulted. At midnight the bell tolled again and after that hour men could circulate on the streets freely without danger of arrest.
The people in Korea nearly all dress in white no matter what their work may be. Men and women dress much alike. A curious custom among married women is the wearing of waists that expose the entire naked breasts. This is all but beautiful and as some one says, gives the appearance of a shocking show window. The theory is, so they say, that to cover the breasts is to poison the milk. No man really amounts to much in Korea until after he is married, but that is largely true in our country. There, however, silence is the wife's first duty. Marriage customs are much like those in Japan where parents make the matches. It is said that often the husband never hears the voice of his wife until after marriage and even then she keeps silent for as long as a month.
The Korean people have some happy times together in spite of some of these strange customs. One of their national festival days is called "Swing day." Swings are prepared nearly everywhere and people drop their work and swing. The Koreans are different from any other people in the far east and when they play they play with all their might. Men and boys love to hunt the swimming holes along the streams and they seem to enjoy this sport as do our own men and boys in America.
While Korea has been a battleground for ages yet it was opened up to modern civilization by Japan something like America, through Commodore Perry, opened up Japan. Later on Korea paid tribute to China. The great crisis came in 1894 when the battle royal was waged between Japan and China for this land. On September 15th of that year a great battle occurred on land and two days later, in the mouth of the Yala River occurred what is said to be the first great naval battle of history in which modern warships were used. In this battle the Chinese fleet went to the bottom of the sea and soon Port Arthur was besieged and taken and the Japanese army started across the country with the cry, "On to Peking." This opened the eyes of the Chinese and Korea was surrendered and was practically annexed by Japan and its name changed to Chosen. Since that time Korean civilization has gone forward by leaps and bounds and is fast becoming a country that has to be reckoned with. The story of Japan's dealings with Korea during these years contains some mighty dark spots. These things have aroused the indignation of the whole civilized world and the end is not yet.
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