JAPANESE CUSTOMS AND HABITS. 187 



two things contrary to Buddha's precepts. But of 

 late years beef is very much appreciated, and Buddha's 

 ideas of right and wrong are thrown aside. Conse- 

 quently, well-conditioned kine are in demand, and their 

 lives, at any rate, are of shorter duration. Although 

 the Japanese are kind, considerate, and gentle in their 

 intercourse amongst themselves, I do not believe they 

 are people who have much feeling. Their kindness to 

 their children is remarkable, but it is shown chiefly 

 by allowing the little ones to have their own way, and 

 by dressing them nicely. I have never once seen a 

 mother caressing a baby or little child ; and although 

 the father or grandfather will take the whole family 

 out to fly their kites, or play at other games, it always 

 appeared to me that the men went as much to please 

 themselves as the bairns. The system of letting out their 

 daughters at an early age for a year or so, and receiv- 

 ing them back into their families, which has gone on 

 from time immemorial, is against all ideas of love and 

 tenderness ; and, doubtless, I should think, is one of the 

 chief causes of the absence of love which is so parti- 

 cularly apparent. They are a strange mixture. Girls 

 are generally called after a flower, or something 

 which has a pleasant meaning — honey, sweet, and so 

 on; men, after rougher objects. The best Japanese 



