Many died on the voyage,
and I think the Indian Government should look into the question of their
export very narrowly.
JAPAN
INTRODUCTORY
I ought not to write about Japan at all, for I was there but three short
weeks, and rain or snow fell almost all the time, and I sailed for
America on the very day that the cherry blossom festivities began. But--
well, there is only one Fujiyama, and it is surpassingly beautiful and
satisfying--the perfect mountain--and I should feel contemptible if I
did not add my eulogy of it--my gratitude--to all the others.
Since, then, I am to say something of Fuji, let the way be paved.
THE LITTLE LAND
One is immediately struck, on landing at Kobe--and continually after--by
the littleness of Japan. The little flimsy houses, the little flimsy
shops, the small men, the toylike women, the tiny children, as numerous
and like unto each other as the pebbles on the shore--these are
everywhere. But although small of stature the Japanese men are often
very powerfully built and many of them suggest great strength. They are
taking to games, too. While I was in the country baseball was a craze,
and boys were practising pitching and catching everywhere, even in the
streets of the cities.
Littleness--with which is associated the most delicate detail and
elaborate finish--is the mark also of modern Japanese art. In the
curiosity shops whatever was massive or largely simple was Chinese.
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