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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1902)
Shops and Shoppers in the Mikado's Empire raft & 1' """XT VENDORS OF (Copyright, 1902, by Douglas Sladen.) I I simplest thing in the world. You arrange your worldly possessions on the floor. Japanese floors are rained off the street, though nothing is raised off them. Tin- transient customer sits on the edge of the iloor sidesaddle. A real shopper, who means to do the thing prop erly, like a pleasant buying jewelry in Italy, climbs uin the floor, which Is also tho counter, and squats on his heels. Heal Japanese shops don't have doors er windows or counters. Shop windows In ness. New York don't leave much wall in a It is better, however, to sit on your twelve-foot frontage; but even an American heels and drink cups of Japanese tea than shop window does not take the whole front to stand about bars drinking whiskies, of the house. Once upon a lime I published a book In The Japanese don't have many regular Japan. I was only 30 then, and had my shops. There are very' few streets of shop life before me. I called in on my way even in Tokyo, which is as large as Berlin, to the exhibition to ask when 1 might ex Forelguers never buy anything but curios pect some proofs which had been due a and knick-knacks at Japanese shops; if month. I had to go upstairs and take they are fools they deal with shops kept by tea on the floor, and eat an orange, and Europeans; If they want good bargains they some bean-flower sweets before I could ask deal with Chinamen. There are many Chi- the question, lest I should hurt the pub nese Bhops in treaty ports. The Chinaman Usher's feelings. It took half an hour, is cheaper and more reliable than the Jap- but tho time was not wasted, because he anese. European shopkeepers do not set sent his foreman to the exhibition with up in Japan for philanthropic reasons. Jap- me to get a free lesson in English. If you anese shopkeepers are the lowest class of nave a good riksha boy, he goes In with the population except the outcasts. Serv- ou to tell you how to behave, ants and laborers take precedence of them I made up my mind only to deal with in society, and precedence is the hobby of pawnshops, unless I was buying camphor the Japanese wood boxes or paper umbrellas. hen You have a different bow and a different Vu direct from the manufacturer salutation for a man who ts below you or "'B are simplified a bit, as his whole your equal, and several for the people stock may be under twenty shillings value, above you; you have even a different tan- IVrhapi the Japanese don't really have guage for each, and Japanese writing wrlg- pawnshops, but the places which look like gles like the carvings on their temples, them are the only shops where it is any Just as debutantes have to learn how to f"n buying things; and tho th.nga you bow and kick away their trains before they buy are worth so much more when you are presented at courts. Japanese infants ft England, because they were made , .i. oihht f Tt th., 'n the days when the Japanese did not go i , , . . , , . , )V, only alphabet they have to the Japanese J ' all the world is a court. This makes it a serious matter going to a Japanese Bhop, unless you are going to buy silk handkerchiefs, the only thing for eigners buy often enough to spoil the man ners of the shopkeeper. You get out of your riksha and the riksha boy li-s about you. All the attendants In the shop salaam till you wish they would get up and let you catch their eye and explain what you want. Vht--i they do get up, instead of haxlng a "shop-walker and four counter-jumpers asking you to repeat vour order, you are offered five cups of tea Japanese tea with- out milk or sugar but you can have salted cherry blossoms if you want, when it is a good shop. This is the Japanese way of asking you to take a diiuk. Good Japanese shops contain nothing ex- m JPn. mey were maue m me ccpt the proprietor. When you have got Uaiwio days when a thing had to be as far as explaining what you want he gives perfect of its kind, and laiug-l cnipped and orders to attendants, who hiss as if they worn and discolored, their elegance of form were brushing a horse and trying to keep "! ingenuity of design make them master- the hairs out of their mouths, while they Pieces of art. rub their knees and bob their heads. I do not only refer to the buttons which 0T they go at a run good servants al- they do not use for buttoning (netsukre), ways run and bring back goods tied up In the four-trayed medicine -h.ists which faded green silk handkerchiefs, or gre.n would go inside of a cigar case (inro), and cotton cloths. The goods are kept In the the pipe tubes and tobacco purses, wh'ch godown, but the customer is never taken are all the Japanese has in the way of Jew there lest he should choose right away ard elry, but tho folding and telescoping can have done with it, instead of being etl iue'- dlesticks of bronze and iron, the finger bells tlcally worked up for half a day with and gongs priests take out lor walk;, ihop enough tea for a bath. sticks and amulet cases, solemn tea cad A Japanese godown has no windows, rnd dies, dressing cases for carrying In your only one door, and looks like a black or sleeve, looking-glasses male of brone aw white plaster coffin with a heavy gabbid ivory card cases for holding Hp paint roof and a enst which fills the whole gable. The Japanese do sell some things too Its thick walls are made of compressed large to go in a woman's muff. For mere plaster, covered with lacquer, and the songs one can pick up wonderfully elegant Japanese believe it to be fire and burglar and decorated finger stoves, smoker' Hoves, proof. It looks like meerschaum or ebony, kitchen ranges made of wood which you All Japanese houses of any importance have could put In your portmaniovj, antique godowns. screens a foot and a half lilga whi.h are ' The Japanese keep all their things only meant to look at, Daimios' trunks of put away, and have them out (except black lacquer which open and shut like bis- VEGETABLES AMI THEIU STOCK. their wives) one nt a time to admin. to their wives. This method of shop. guaritehy books or choice curios I tired of it. The right way would be to have an eliciuctte servant, like a parson editor, to start an hour before you and get ar- through the gymnastics before you rived. You could choose one who held plenty of tea, because if you don't drink tea you are charged more as a worthless person or a barbarian with no knowledge of bust In for shops, but alll lived in big families . uli ch Rnmpt mes ran into thousands, il which sometimes ran into thousands, in the establishment of a noble whose In come was reckoned in rice. This sounds as bad as having your name writ in water, but it isn't really, for the daimlo's income would have run into the millions if it hadn't been reckoned In rice. The daimio paid salaries, also in rice, to every kind of workman to take the proper leisure over making things. One wonders how much time a Japanese would take under those favorable circumctances; the only thing he hurries over is fetching. In the humble second -hand shops which 1 1 1 ot.ti.jV . T' , 1 . . . n I 1,. ;,in.l '"" '""V" ' '" ,no Theater street at Yokohama, one buys fr coppers lit'.le gems of articles of do- mestlc ubo which are the most lovable i i ' i ?V: ft- - 'r ' 1 ' - y . v ! r IK? THE JAP AND THE SOKOADAN. cuit tins, and are slung on bamboos, tea baskets, without any sides, made of c.M red lacquer with fine metal fittings; quaint lea- cups with metal or wooden or even coeoaTiut ehell saucers, square iron kettles aa deco- rated as temples, rich old lacquer writing cases used, not for containing iho writing materials, but the letter whon it is written; temple banners, images cf Buddha and countless other objects of groat age, high beauty and imperishable solidity, sacrificed for coppers at the first chip, for the ld Japanese workmanship was so good that the lacquer lost its value with a scratch. Ar.- other favorite line, second-hand, are rietes of silk which have been priests' or aetois' or geishas' dresses; ladies nn 1 centl ;men do not use gay materials The Japanse second-hand shop, like other -.ops, no uoors or vw,mo. or couo- Jn,,aI1,,BO yenus, hns most of his shop taken ters, but differs in needing to display all w,)h (hp Bt(llrcasP of wbi(.h he 9 B0 Its goods to catch the passing riksha. For nn(, us(,s h flfJor f()r h counter; BO this the vendor uses receding shelves, such takp off boo(8 ,nHt,ad of your nat as we use In our greenhouses; you see ' , M ... i , ,, . ,.0. it.. 1 when you go Into his shop. Borne tit-bit and call out Stop a little . . , to your riksha Npxt to tne Bilk Bhol'8- transient foreign Then, if you are new to It and have an "S patronize the Kwankobas. or bazaars, hour to spare, you say, "Ikura?" (How where they sell rubbishy lacquer and sham much?) He names a fancy price. You aP. ew P'Pe ca8P antl f 'BD?; lrU ba r" reply "amarl takal" (far too high.) Ho P" that no geisha would be seen In. comes down a little. You name a price These are generally kept In temples the for which you have no hope of getting it. b"KfBt ' all being In the t'yeno park at He raises you. as if you were playing Tokyo. The Japanese holiday maker is al poker. You refuse to be raised and then ways buying knick-knacks for his baby or spilt the difference. All the time you are paying your riksha boy 7' pence (worth nniv 3V. nence In debased dollars) an hour. fif .r.nrse if von understand tho snrobnn the abacus of moving beads on which he does his counting, you have him at your m,.r.y He always calculates what a thing cost him on his soroaban and if you watch that 1 r.mn in- ho thinks that a foreigner is too big a fool to understand It I was too big a fool, but Mr. Landor. the Thibetan traveler, un- derstood it. I had a better plan, not to ask the price. I computed the sum at which an article would be a gift, took it FLOWEUS FOU SALE. up ami made my offer. If the proprietor said lift, contemptuously, I put It down and told the riksha boy to dilvo on to the next second-hand shop. I returned by tho same route as I went out on these shopping expeditions and on the drive back was saluted the whole way by little boys running from their masters to say "yoroshii!" (good), which Is the Japanese way of saying yes. They have no proper word for "yes" and "no; It Is not polite to be too definite and the Oriental never knows when he may regret a promisi-. If the proprietor showed a willingness to do bi'simss by only raising me a little, 1 made ne freivh offer, supposing I really wanted the thing. Before I had tieen living in Tokyo u month all the t-hops in my favorite haunts knew me for a man of my word and also knew, with Oriental Intuition, if I really wanted a thing or would only take is as a bargain. In this way purchases were made like lightning. If my price paid them they Jumped at it; If it didn't, they told me their lowest price and shook their heads sadly when 1 would not be raised. This shopping from a riksha was fresh air and poker combined. Those were the most exhilarating days I ever spent. I adorned my sitting rooms at Tokyo while I was living tnero wun my trophies, and when I left Japan sent them all to England, in live cases largo enough for me to stand In. They are all in my Japanese room. Whether you are a lady or a gentleman. If you live long in Japan you have yourself refitted by a Chinese tailor on the model of your own or your most recently arrived friend's garments. But I must not discuss tho humors of dealing with Cock Eye & Co., who keep their word and excellent mu- terlals; nor those of the camphor wood box and basket chair makers. If a foreigner has only one day in Yokohama and goes to only one shop. It will be to the silk hand- kerchief shop of one Shobey, who was so impressed by the importance which tho English attach to well known brands that he used to label his boxes of handkerchiefs with the name of a well known British flrm. He sells excellent handkerchiefs at fairly moderate fixed prices, also silks by n,e piPCe; but foreigners in tho know do not DUy 8n Vc by the piece, or in a Bhop whle'h has a door and counter; they buy jt weight from a Chinaman If they want whlte or natural colored silk, or from Noza- wnya if they want the gay light Japanese NoMwnyR who ,ive8 , (ho street of the "- Re A few foreigners discover tho charm of Japanese paper shops, where you buy en velopes a foot long and two Inches wide with cranes straggling across them, and unrohlea notepaper 01 aosuru snapeu wnn a whole landscape painted on It in colors as faint as water-marks. They write to all their friends and think themselves desper- aIpIv .TnnflnpBo. Instead of "new chums" of the deepest dye. The Japanese writes his letters on a roll of wrapping paper six Inches wide and many yards long. He be- gins on the right-hand top corner of the end, writes on it with a paint brush be- fore it Is unrolled, unrolls the part he has "written on and. when ho has finished, tears it oil. Mis letters are a yard long; Units why liis envelopes are such a funny shape. Mental Hxcrtion Ball Inu re American: In the halls of the vast in-it itut ioi.s of learning they warn us to tread lighlly as we pass the seat of the ; 11 id youth who Is moodily composing something upon a sheet of puro white paper. We see his knitted brow; his air of In- ,.nH(. thought; his every evidence of great mental strucgle. "Ah," we whisper, "Is he preparing some weighty treatise on political economy; or some thesis which shall show the nations ,,f tni, world the proper system of govem- n,ent? "No," whispers the guide in reply. "He 8 dilng up the new class yell." Short on Advertising Atlanta Constitution: "Is your new book a success?" "No; my publisher's too poor to adver tise It." "Can't you get up any excitement to help (( nnK?.. ..T.,,.,, (, iml ftlod. Had two ribs l)rok,,n , n raliroad wreck tho other day .iM( )Jmt ,,,,.,, Homo 1)Ut not murh." v,i ,i ti t you manage to fall from a steeple get the fall broken by the electric w jr,.H m,,) coine to earth in a sheet of Ore? ()r y()U might fall overboard and bo saved ,y your mother-in-law Just ns you had risen t, t birl time!" t ftor a second or two of profound thought the author replied sadly: "But, the old lady wouldn't!" 'J'oq SllOI't f()l (JOlllfort Chicago News: Goodwin (after tho serv- ice)- Seems to me tho minister preached an awfully short sermon tills morning, Mr8 Goodwin Well, what if he did? You (,,t through it from beginning to end. Goodwin Yes; that's Just the trouble. I ,iu't feel as if I'd had enough sleep, l()illtCU 1'araUrapllS Chicago News: Things that make a woman cry make a man swear, Natives of Greenland are a cold and dis- ti,nt people. Beware of the man who owns a soft, per- vol,.(. A spoiled chilil Is to be pitied because of Its fool parents. You can never tell what a woman in love or a balky horse will do next. All the world's a stage and all the women thereon want speaking parts. He Is a wise son who knoweth when his own father will stand for a touch. An evening call Is productive of pleasure either when you come or when you go. That woman doesn't live who ran lose at a social card game without getting mad. When a short young man gets sweet on a tall girl he Immediately buys a high silk nat Taint looks all right on an old house, but on .".11 old woman well that's quite another blory It makes a spinster grit her teeth every time she encounters a widow who has plnnted three husbands. If a man knew what his acquaintances reallv thought of him he would go away n.ewhere and do the hermit act. A woman's Idea of a dutiful husband is one who will stay at home and look after the baby while she spends the afternoon shopping.
