The following sketches of life in Japan and the voyage there and back are taken from a diary which I kept during my travels. Since writing my little book of personal reminiscences, which, thanks to indulgent readers and kind friends, is now republished in a second edition, many and great changes have taken place in the Far East. Japan has now become a great Power--not only in the East, but also in the West. It is little Japan no longer; or, rather, its greatness is now understood and acknowledge

As Japan and its wonderful little people have come so much before the world during the last few years, and especially at this time are one of the chief factors in the crisis in the Far East, I thought that these reminiscences and anecdotes taken from real life might be of interest. I am indebted to the editors of the Cornhill , Sketch , Sunday , and the Buenos Aires Standard for the reproduction of some of the following sketches. 1904....

I start on my travels--A fair Theosophist--Life on an American liner--Arrival at New York--Delmonico’s--The Hotel Waldorf--Niagara Falls--Across the Lakes--The prairies--A quiet Sunday. The visit to the Far East, where my father had business in Japan, was taken when I was only eighteen. Being an only child, I had been his constant companion since the death of my mother nine years previously. I was never sent to school, and, after a succession of governesses, my education was put into the hands o

First sight of the Rockies--Stay at Banff--Indians and salmon--Arrival at Vancouver--The Empress of India --Chinese passengers--The missing day--A court-martial--First sight of Japan. After leaving the prairies the scenery became more hilly and the country wooded and fertile. The maples had just turned, and their gorgeous colouring of crimson and gold made the landscape appear like a gigantic flower-garden. Ill as I felt, the beauty of the scene so fascinated me that hours passed like minutes. G

A new friend--A Japanese dinner--Japanese temples--An earthquake--A fire in Yokohama. The first few weeks after our arrival in Japan would have been rather dull, as my father had to leave at once for Tokio on business, had I not made the acquaintance of a girl staying in the hotel who was also travelling with her father in Japan. Pauline, as she was called, was a few years older than myself, a clever girl with very decided opinions on most subjects. She was also an only child, and her father, wh

A trip to the Japanese Harrogate--A curious travelling companion--A Japanese inn--A mountain ride--At the sulphur springs--A sulphur bath--A night in a tea-house--Sad news. As our passports seemed to permit us to go anywhere we liked, except to a fire on horseback, we decided, after much consultation with Idaka, to go by train to Karuizawa, and from there to visit the hot sulphur baths at Kusatzu, a place not generally known to globe-trotters, where we were told we should see much to interest us

Silk dresses and frock-coats--A disappointed Colonel--The Royal procession--The chrysanthemums--I am presented--A Japanese play--Japanese royal sport--The Mikado and his subjects. We had been in Japan nearly three months when we were invited to attend the chrysanthemum garden-party given by the Emperor and Empress each November in honour of His Majesty’s birthday. Invitations are sent but a few days beforehand, as the date of the party depends on the state of the chrysanthemums. Only the Corps D

Their habits and ways--Home life--The Honourable Bath--Count Ito and his wife--Old Japan--Loyalty to husbands--A mixed marriage--Curious customs--Japanese sayings. The fair sex in Japan are the most simple and, at the same time, the most complicated creatures imaginable. In their general ideas and knowledge of the world they are like children--delightful children, too--and in their love of enjoyment and simple pleasures they retain their youthful simplicity all their lives. But, on the other han

Boys and girls--Games--The Feast of Dolls--School life--The ‘Hina Matsuri’--The Feast of the Carp--The ‘Bon Matsuri,’ the festival for dead children. There is nothing more delightful in Japan than the children. Japan has been called ‘the Paradise for Babies,’ and the Japanese ‘a nation at play.’ Certainly these titles seemed to me appropriate as I took my first drive through the narrow Japanese streets, and saw at every turn the crowds of happy-faced little beings, either flying huge kites--whos

Their politeness--Frequency of their baths--Always ready for a nap--Mrs. Peter Potts. The Japanese make good servants--willing and obliging and quick to learn English ways. They cost very little to feed, living chiefly on rice and vegetables, although they are fond of European food when they can get it. Their honesty depends chiefly on their masters and mistresses. Where they attach themselves they are faithful and trustworthy. On the other hand, an unpopular English house is often servantless,

The Imperial Silver Wedding--Parade of the troops--The wedding feast--The Chinese ball in Tokio--A gay assembly--A Royal funeral--Strange customs. It seems curious at first to think of an Emperor with six wives having a silver wedding, but, as I have previously mentioned, His Majesty has but one wife who is recognised officially--the present Empress of Japan. My father and I were staying at Tokio at the time of this ceremony, and were fortunate in receiving invitations, as, out of the three thou

His first appearance--Adventures and mishaps--Companions in Hospital--Chang goes to Church--Facing the enemy. Among all the reminiscences of my life in Japan I think those in which my Chinese chow dog played a part are perhaps the most vivid in my memory. We had some good times together, Chang and I, and I fear the chief blame lies at his mistress’s door for not training him up in the way he should go. But who can teach a chow what he doesn’t want to learn? A cleverer person than I. How well I r

There is one more reminiscence of that happy summer I must recall; I recollect it very nearly ended disastrously for my hero. We started one morning at sunrise, a party of four foreigners, twelve coolies, a guide, and one wildly-excited yellow dog, to the little island of M----, where there is a curious old monastery inhabited by Buddhist monks. After a steep descent of nearly two hours, we reached the valley, and drove off gaily, three coolies to each rickshaw, two pulling tandem in front and o

Life on a tea-estate--My animal friends--Two brown bears--Brutus, the monkey--Always in mischief--The Brazilian Macaw. At Colombo I basely deserted Chang, leaving him to the charge of his kind friend the butcher, who dispatched him, on the steamship Kaiser’s arrival at Southampton, to my cousin at Aldershot; and for some weeks I heard no more of my old favourite. We stayed a few days at Colombo, and from there took a small steamer up to Assam, where my father had a tea-estate, which needed his p