FUR FACTS 299 



Mr. Ahem left Vancouver for Yokohama on April 12. He began 

 his return journey about the first of September. "The traveler from 

 St. Louis to the Far East," said he to a representative of AMERICA 

 AT WORK, "is impressed at the outset by the magnificence of the dis- 

 tances. After more than 2,000 miles travel to reach Vancouver, 

 you have 4,600 miles journey to Yokohama and 1,100 from Yokohama 

 to Vladivostok. In short, the ocean gateway of Eastern Siberia is 

 something like 8,000 miles from St. Louis. 



Japanese Energy 



"The first impression which Japan makes on an American business 

 man is that of tireless and ceaseless energy. Once a week the wheels 

 of American commerce and industry come to rest. But the Japanese 

 week knows no Sunday or rest day, and the Japanese population toil 

 long hours, the vision of a possible six-hour day and five-day week 

 not having entered their heads. A day's work in agricultural Japan 

 is fourteen hours. You see the laborers going into the rice fields 

 before sunrise by the light of dawn, and they work steadily on till 

 sunset. 



Much Beside Cherry Blossoms 



"The visitor to Japan who imagines Japanese life to be all cherry 

 blossoms and formal observances over delicate porcelain on lacquered 

 tables is headed toward a rude awakening. My hotel commanded a 

 view of the harbor. Along the curving shore in one direction stood 

 great industrial structures with a sky-line broken by the cranes, 

 furnaces and stacks of a vast steel plant. In the other direction was 

 another factory district. It is 20 miles from Yokohama to Tokyo 

 and a row of factories extends all the way. The traveler never knows 

 where Yokohama leaves off and Tokyo begins. 



"We all know in a general way that the war tremendously 

 stimulated Japanese commerce and industry, but here is a fact which 

 may serve as an index of the extent of that stimulus. The possession 

 of a telephone is prized by a Japanese house not only as a business 

 convenience, but also as indicating a certain standing in the com- 

 mercial world. The demand for telephones is so great that contracts 

 which promise speedy installation have a high surrender value in the 

 market. The fortunate firm that possesses one can sell it for some- 

 thing like $1,000 and there is a sort of 'curb market* where these 

 telephone contracts are dealt in. The orders for additional tele- 

 phones are so many in Tokyo that they cannot all be installed in less 

 than four years. 



