Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 291, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1910 — LIFE IN YOKOHAMA [ARTICLE]

LIFE IN YOKOHAMA

Sights in Thoroughfares of City Interest Strangers. Old-Time Courtesy of Little People Seems to Be Wearing Away in Seacoast Cities —Shopper Needs Full Purse. Chicago.—Yokahoma is very European. There are stately banks, marble office buildings and large hotels and business houses, and in some streets you could easily imagine yourself in any western city were it not for the whirling jlnrlkishas and the natives in kimonos, says a Yokohama

correspondent of the Chicago Daily News. z It is hard to believe that only a little over 50 years ago Commodore Perry found Yokohama an Insignificant fishing village. In those days Kanagawa across the bay was the main port, but as it was on the main road, the Tokaido, and meetings between foreigners and the armed trains of the Daimyos passing to and from the capital were to be apprehended, Yokohama was brought into the foreground. Much of Yokohama is, of course, truly Japanese, and we reveled in the quaint shops on the Motomachi, where there are no sidewalks and life goes on in true native fashion. There in the silk stores we sat on

matted floors to examine the goods presented for our inspection with deep bows or wandered among the toy shops as delighted as children over the many quaint contrivances. One night every other week the Motomachi Is brilliantly lighted with strange little lanterns and the passing throngs carry others, so that the effect from the distance is entrancing, On these nights,booths are arranged all along the street and you can finger anything without annoying the salesmen. We fell in love with the dwarf trees and with the tiny urchins having their mouths stuffed full of spun sugar by the candymaker, who bristled with pride when we tarried long beside him. strange beads and potted flowers were offered to us by shy little girls and all around us was a'gay hubbub, every one good natured, every one out to enjoy life, laughing and nudging and scraping sandaled feet On Benton-dorl our hands ran to our purse strings constantly, so fascinating were the shops there. At Yamamotos wb were shown the most superb old embroideries, and It was hard to make a selection, as we wanted all of them. Nozawaya's is a modern department store, and the curio shops drive one distracted. Wonderful bits of old Imarl, cabinet pieces too precious for nomads like ourselves and old daggers and Dalmyo hats tempted us on every side. At a big silk store on Honcho-dori the proprietor and his little wife bowed to the ground and offered us “o cha” (tea), which we drank out of consideration for them. There Is something very charming about the old-time courtesy of these little people, and one is sorry to see it wearing away in the seacoast towns, where we learned to despise the stamp of modernism in Japan. Like most people who spring suddenly into prominence, they are becoming arrogant and showing an overpowering sense of their own Importance and a vanity not at all In proportion to their size. Tourists are doubtless largely responsible for this. Their manners shock even our hardened western sense of pn> prlety and to the courteous, gentlemannered native their brusque ways and loud voices, their harsh com. ments and loud laughter must strike home painfully. There is not much sightseeing to be done in Yokohama; the ride to Mississippi bay, to Mlkusu’s porcelain factory and to the little tea house on the bluff, which is reached by ascend-, Ing 100 steps and is hallowed by the memory of Perry’s visit to it, are the chief points of interest. It is the street sights, the shops and the comforts of living which hold the visitor Jn Yokohama. During our stay we had three hideous days and nights to live through, during a Buddhist feast, when up and down the native streets ran crowds of rough boys fancifully attired, carrying josses on long poles and screaming and beating tomtoms and making life a burden to every one In the neighborhood. We were told that no policeman would dare to stop them while they carried josses, and in consequence they sometimes became dangerously excited and do all sorts -of wild things.