Things Japanese

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: quet by a distinguished company including officials, journalists, and professors, in fact, representative modern Japanese of the best class. In returning thanks for this hospitality, Sir Edwin made a speech in which he lauded Japan to the skies?and lauded it justly?as the nearest earthly approach to Paradise or to Lotus-land?so fairy-like, said he, is its scenery, so exquisite its art, so much more lovely still that almost divine sweetness of disposition, that charm of demeanour, that politeness humble without servility and elaborate without affectation, which place Japan high above all other countries in nearly all those things which make life worth living. (We do not give his exact words, but we give the general drift.)?Now do you think that the Japanese were satisfied with this meed of praise ? Not a bit of it. Out comes an article next morning in the chief paper which had been represented at the banquet?an article acknowledging, indeed, the truth of Sir Edwin's description, but pointing out that it conveyed, not praise, but condemnation of the heaviest sort. Art forsooth, scenery, sweetness of disposition cries this editor. Why did not Sir Edwin praise us for huge industrial enterprises, for commercial talent, for wealth, political sagacity, powerful chapter{Section 4armaments ? Of course it is because be could not honestly do so. He lias gauged us at our true value, and tells us in effect that we are pretty weaklings. Yes, reader, ve?we now mean our own little "we," not the editorial "we" of the disappointed Japanese journalist?we have seen this sort of thing over and over again. We can even sympathise with it, or at least try to do so. For after all, Japan must be modernised if she is to continue to exist. Besides which, our new European world of thought, of enterpris...

Preface; Introductory chapter; Postscript; Index.