The castle of Nagoya, in which many Russian prisoners were kept
The castle of Nagoya, in which many Russian prisoners were kept
The castle of Nagoya, in which many Russian prisoners were kept
Laying out fish to dry along the river in Tokio. Japan lives principally on fish and rice
Laying out fish to dry along the river in Tokio. Japan lives principally on fish and rice
Laying out fish to dry along the river in Tokio. Japan lives principally on fish and rice
“Why for?†inquired the Jap, while the company squatted along the wall.
I explained my objections and pushed them out one by one. The proprietor was the last to go.
“Why for you so damn selfish?†he growled. “Why you not make bath if ladies here? They not hurt you. They come see if you white all over. You come see ladies make bath they not give damn kick. Damn selfish American!â€
I closed the panels and returned to my tub. But the curiosity of the unselfish ladies was not so easily overcome. As I ceased my splashing a moment, a poorly suppressed cough sounded above me, and I looked up to see the entire party gazing down upon me from an upper balcony. I caught up a cobblestone and they withdrew; but, though callers innumerable dropped in during the evening, the proprietor never tired of relating the story of my unprecedented selfishness.
Two policemen interviewed me on my way to the station next morning, a third was in waiting when I descended at the village of Gotemba, and a spy dogged my footsteps during the day’s tramp among the foothills of Fujiyama. It is the ambition of the Mikado’s government to “keep tab†on every foreigner from the day of his arrival in the country until his departure; and local officers strive diligently to supply the information demanded. But the system is something of a farce. The most tolerant tourist is apt to tire of being incessantly interviewed and, in a spirit of retaliation or merely for the sake of variety, to try his hand at fiction. As for beachcombers, there are few indeed who do not take delight in weaving “fairy tales†for gullible officials.
In the open ports of Japan I scraped acquaintance with more than a score of white sailors who had journeyed across the country afoot or “on the cushions.†They passed for Americans, nearly every man of them, though three-fourths were Europeans and at least four, to my knowledge, Russians. But the point of nationality aside, there was not one of them who told police interpreters the same story twice. The Jap finds great difficulty in pronouncing the letter “L.†Jocular beachcombers of my acquaintance swore on their discharge books that they had lain awake nights to piece together names unpronounceable for the next policeman. Hence it was that the traveler who announced himself at one station as “Alfred Leland from Lincolnlane,â€assured the officers of the next that he was “Lolo Lipland Longlock from Los Angeles.†It mattered little what the wanderer dubbed himself; a police interpreter could not tell an American from a Zulu name, and though “Lolo Lipland Longlock†spoke only a half-hundred words of English, the name, alleged nationality, and “fairy tale†were solemnly inscribed on the records. That was well enough for the gullible interpreter; but what of the puzzled government bookkeeper at Tokyo, who poured over volumes of reports from the rural districts, seeking in vain to find out what had become of “Alfred Leland of Lincolnlane?â€
I reached Yokohama that night and, having deposited my bundle in the Sailors’ Home, continued next day to Tokyo. Financially I was near the end of my rope. My daily expenditures in Japan had barely averaged twenty-five cents; but even at that rate the fortune arising from the gratitude of the “jungle king†of Kung Chow and the generosity of theFausang’scaptain had been gradually dissipated. Bankruptcy mattered little now, however, for Tokyo was the last city in my itinerary. Once back in Yokohama, it would be strange if I could not soon sign on some craft homeward bound. I squandered the seven yen that remained, therefore, in three days of riotous living in the capital; and, on a morning of late July, wandered out along the highway to the neighboring port.
An employee of the Tokio-Yokohama interurban, and some street urchins
An employee of the Tokio-Yokohama interurban, and some street urchins
An employee of the Tokio-Yokohama interurban, and some street urchins
Fishermen along the bay on my tramp from Tokio to Yokohama
Fishermen along the bay on my tramp from Tokio to Yokohama
Fishermen along the bay on my tramp from Tokio to Yokohama