It is a great mistake to think of the Chinese and Japanese as much alike; they are really vastly different. The Japanese is smaller, more delicately built, quicker, and more lively than the Chinese; he delights in novelties and borrows them from everywhere and from everybody. The Chinese language consists chiefly of words of one syllable; the Japanese have many long words of many syllables. While unlike in body, disposition, and language, the Chinese and Japanese are alike in many customs, arts, and ideas. For long centuries the Japanese borrowed much from China, or from Corea, which had learned from China. The Japanese owe their writing, the cultivation of tea, silk raising and weaving, lacquer work, porcelain, metal working, and many religious ideas to China. But lately, in their hurry to borrow all sorts of things from the European and American whites, they have become ashamed of many of their Chinese ideas and customs.

On the seventh day of a Japanese baby’s life, the little head is shaved clean except for a tuft on the nape of the neck. From that time on, the head is shaved until the boy goes to school, but tufts are left here and there, according to the fancy of the mother. After a boy begins school, his hair is left to grow. Japanese children have many sports and games, but they are quiet and gentle in them all. The older children carry their baby brothers and sisters strapped firmly on their backs. There are many interesting things for Japanese children to see on the streets. There is the sand painter; he sweeps a space clean and then opens several bags of different colored sand; he sprinkles handfuls of it here and there on the ground until he has made a pretty picture. There is the man who moulds and blows rice paste into all sorts of queer shapes, while the little buyers look on with delight; his sweet stuff is shaped into rabbits, foxes, monkeys, flowers, jinrikishas, fans, umbrellas, etc. There is the man who sells sugared peas, candied beans, and other sweets; he beats a drum and sings a song as he walks, so as to attract a crowd of children, and when he stops he tells a story, or does some trick, to amuse them. Then there is the little old woman of the batter cakes; she carries a little earthenware stove with a fire of charcoal in it; this she hangs at one end of a pole balanced upon her shoulder, and at the other end hang a griddle, ladles, cake turners, a jar of batter, and a sauce of salt and beans to eat with the cakes; the children pay five cents, and the old lady sets everything down, whereupon the children have great fun making their own cakes and eating them on the street.

Japanese children are ever gay and happy, but there are two days in the year of especial joy. The third day of the third month is the Dolls’ Festival. This is the day for the little girls. At that time dolls and all sorts of toy tools, implements, vessels, and dishes are for sale. The Japanese are fond of dolls, and in some families they have dolls that have been kept more than two hundred years. In some families they will have dozens or scores of dolls. Among these there is always one that represents the Emperor, another the Empress, and others the courtiers. At the time of the festival all these dolls are carefully arranged on a stepped platform. The Emperor and Empress are given the seats of honor, and the rest are grouped around them. With these are arranged all the toy objects. The fifth day of the fifth month is the Boys’ Festival. Then they are selling bows and arrows and other toy weapons everywhere. Everywhere they hang out great paper fishes, shaped like carp, and brightly painted. These are hung to tall bamboo poles of which there is one set in front of every house where they have a boy in the family. One fish is hung for each boy, and it is a gay sight to see the hundreds of bright fish waving and tossing in the wind. The reason why the carp is represented is because it swims up the river against the current; so it is hoped “the sturdy boy, overcoming all obstacles, will make his way in the world and rise to fame and fortune.”

Japanese houses consist of a light framework supporting a heavy thatched or tiled roof. The sides of the house are wooden slides, which are usually removed in the daytime, leaving the sides open. In cold weather, slides consisting of frames covered with paper can be fitted in to form walls. The house is divided into rooms by sliding screens of paper, which can be easily removed so as to join two, three, or more rooms into one. There are no tables or chairs. The floors are covered with thick mats. At night quilts are brought in and laid down for beds; in the morning these are rolled up and stored away.

Japanese gardens are curious and beautiful. They may be small, and frequently they contain no flowers. Sometimes a pretty landscape is built of rocks and water: there are little mountains and hills, valleys, streams, waterfalls, lakes. Wonderful in such gardens are the dwarfed trees. They may be pine trees, fifty or one hundred years old, flourishing and perfect in form, but not more than a foot in height.

While Japanese gardens frequently contain none, the people are wonderfully fond of flowers. Among the favorites are the chrysanthemum, plum blossoms, and cherry blossoms. When these are in bloom every one goes to the places where they grow and delight in their beauty. These flower picnics are looked forward to for months. The cherry and plum trees are covered: “You see no leaves—only one great filmy mass of petals. Japanese chrysanthemums are wonderful; there are many strange or beautiful varieties. At one place in Tokyo, these flowers are wrought into all sorts of curious compositions—men and gods, boats, bridges, castles, etc.”

The Japanese love to hear stories. There are fairy stories for the little people and tales of adventure and history for the larger ones. There are men whose business is story telling. Some of these wander about until they find a good spot, when they will stop and begin the tale; a crowd soon gathers to listen. Others are hired to tell their stories in a story-telling house, where people gather every evening, just as at the theatre.

We have said so much about amusements and festivals that you may think the Japanese are always playing. No indeed, they are hard workers. They cultivate their fields industriously; they have many trades; they are great traders; they are fine artists. Their silk weaving, their metal work, their lacquer work, and their porcelains are famous.

In these last years Japan has made great changes. She has borrowed so much from the whites that they have little left to teach her. To-day she has all our great inventions—telegraphs and telephones, electric lights and railroads; and in borrowing so much that is new she has lost and is losing much—very much—of the happy old life.