THE JAPANESE NATION. 673 



There are few horses in Japan, and all travel is either on foot or by 

 conveyances carried or drawn by men. The norimon, or kaga, a kind 

 of sedan chair, was formerly used, but the jinrikisha is now the com- 

 mon carriage — a conveyance introduced within the life of the present 

 generation, said to be a development of a missionary baby carriage. 



The first railroad was constructed in 1870 ; now between 2,000 and 3,000 

 miles are in operation. These are largely patronized, the travel increas- 

 ing every year. Other roads are in process of construction. A few of 

 the railroads were built by the Government, most of them by private 

 companies at a small cost, as labor is cheap. 



JAPANESE CUSTOMS. 



It is impossible for the foreigner to understand the operation of the 

 mind of the Japanese, and equally difficult for the Japanese to under- 

 stand ours. Their environment, their lives, religion, customs, habits, 

 thoughts, and opinions, inherited from generations, are not only unlike, 

 but are generally opposed to ours. For instance, while we consider the 

 relation of husband and wife as the most sacred, a Japanese, in com- 

 mon with the oriental world, is taught to regard the paternal relation 

 as the most sacred. A Japanese who would leave father and mother 

 for his wife would be looked upon as an outcast; therefore the Bible, 

 teaching that u aman shall leave father and mother and cleave unto 

 his wife," is regarded as irreligious and immoral. The family in Japan 

 is not only the unit of social life, but the father as head of the family 

 exercises supreme authority over the children and grandchildren. The 

 doctrine of ancestral worship, prevalent in Japan and China, arose 

 from reverence and obedience to the head of the family ; but as it sub- 

 jects the will to another it deprives the individual of personality. 



WOMEN. 



We are told that "the Japanese women are the crowning charm of 

 Japan," and that the key to their life is obedience and subjection to 

 the will of another. For generations the women have been taught 

 that the three great religious duties of woman are obedience, as a 

 daughter, to her father; as a wife, to her husband; as a widow, to her 

 eldest son. The wife wears mourning when she leaves her parents 

 to become the member of another family, while the absolute control of 

 her life and will is transferred from her father to her husband. 



The women are not as well educated as the men, yet in the literature 

 of Japan there are many poems written by them. They mingle much 

 more in social life than in any other Asiatic countries, and the Japa- 

 nese girl is regarded by Asiatics much as the American girl is regarded 

 by Europeans. Women are. not secluded in harems, yet as in all ori- 

 ental countries their lives are spent at home, withdrawn from associa- 

 tions outside the family circle. In the upper circles the man and wife 

 neither take their meals nor appear together. 

 SM 95 43 



