186 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, 1905. 



bell in the temple of Moho-in, visited the Buddhist, Shinto, and 

 Zend temples until, satiated with bronzes, paintings, and sight- 

 seeing, we rode back to the hotel for rest and dinner. Later 

 we took a funny little sleeping car and started for Yokohama. 



In the morning we said Ohio to each other and looking out 

 saw the holy mountain, Fujiyama, and half an hour later had 

 breakfast in Yokohama. It was then that my friend, Mr. Oka- 

 da, of the Fujikura Insulated Wire and Rubber Co., of Tokio, 

 looked me up and took charge of my itinerary. With such a 

 guide the whole of Yokohama and the nearby great city of Tokio 

 was most interestingly and 

 easily developed. We visited 

 temples, places of amusement, 

 and shopped, and he capped it 

 all by inviting me to dinner 

 li la Japonaise. One of the 

 pleasantest memories of my 

 trip is that meal served in an 

 elegant tea house where ser- 

 vants knelt and bowed them- 

 selves to the floor as we rode 

 up, took ofl our shoes and 

 shod us with gaily colored 

 socks, then led us up a stair- 

 case of teak, polished like a 

 mirror, into a dining room, 

 carpeted with squares of straw 

 matting inches in thickness 

 and as soft as velvet. There 

 seated on the floor, with a pair 

 of chopsticks in one hand, I 

 enjoyed a meal that for serv- 

 ice and cooking cannot be sur- 

 passed anywhere. Nor must 

 I forget the two charmingly 

 dressed Geisha girls that were 

 summoned by my host to 

 dance typical Japanese dances, 



which he described to me so that they were not only under- 

 standable but most modest and beautiful. 



My visit to Tokio, accompanied by Mr. Okada, was primarily 

 to view his rubber factory and also to meet other members of 

 the firm. My courteous host was full of regret that the factory 

 was not at its best, as only a little while before my arrival a 

 hurricane had demolished many of the buildings. However, 

 he showed me what he had, and as repairs were being rushed 

 rapidly, it was easy to see that it would soon be in first class 

 shape again. I was very much interested to know about office 

 hours, etc., and my host was exceedingly frank. His day's 

 work began at 6 o'clock, with 

 one-half hour for breakfast at 

 the factory, another one-half 

 hour for lunch in the middle 

 of the day and an hour, still at 

 the factory, for dinner in the 

 evening, followed by work in 

 the factory until 10 o'clock at 

 night. This was his daily rou- 

 tine, and he had followed it 

 for three years, with no Sun- 

 days or holidays out, and as far 

 as I could see he was in the 

 pink of condition. 

 ft His review of the rubber in- 

 dustry in Japan was most in- Japanese rubber mixing mill. 



BAMBOO LINED ROAD NEAR KYOTO 



teresting. Seven companies are engaged in the manufacture of 

 rubber and are as follows : Tokyo Gomu Seyzo Kaisha, The 

 Meiji Rubber Manufacturing Co., Mitado Rubber Co., Nippon 

 Rubber Co., and Fujikura Insulated Wire and Rubber Co., in 

 Tokio; the Yokohama Insulated Wire Co., in Yokohama, and 

 the Osaka Jushi Sheizosho, in Osaka. 



The largest of these is the Tokyo Gomu Seyzo Kaisha. It 

 is also the oldest, being nearly 2^ years old and employing 

 some 250 hands. Their lineof manufacture is mechanical rub- 

 ber goods such as valves, gaskets, packing, and hose, their Paia 



rubber coming from NewYork, 

 while some other grades are 

 imported directly from Java, 

 Sumatra, Borneo, and Saigon. 

 All of the machinery was made 

 in Europe. In this connection 

 it may be of interest to recall 

 that some of the first rubber 

 machinery made in Japan was 

 designed by an ambitious rub- 

 ber manufacturer there from 

 illustrations he found in a me- 

 chanical dictionary. In the 

 washer roll the corrugations 

 were finer than is usual, but it 

 washed rubber perfectly. The 

 mixer would mix a small 

 batch, but as no provision was 

 made for heating or cooling 

 the rolls, and as they were not 

 proportioned as well as they 

 might be, the machine could 

 hardly be called a perfect one. 

 Considering the material with 

 which the manufacturer 

 worked, however, both washer 

 and mixer are veritable tri- 

 umphs. 

 The rubber industry is not a large one. There are no boots 

 and shoes manufactured, no clothing, very few druggists' sun- 

 dries, and no hard rubber. Insulated wire is the chief product, 

 followed by minor mechanical rubber goods, mold work, and 

 some of the smaller novelties: for example, the Nippon Rubber 

 Co. manufacture the rubber soled shoe shown in the illustra- 

 tion. There are, by the way, three types of shoes worn by the 

 Japanese; the zori ox straw sandal ; tabi, or stockings, with a 

 separation between the great and the other toes; and the setta, 

 or wooden clogs. The rubber sole was made by some enter- 

 prising Japanese for the straw sandal and was really a good 

 piece of mold work. The most interesting bit 



JAPANESE RUBBER WASHER. 



