religions is over all the
lands. The temple is the keynote of each race. And religion with the
Oriental is not a matter of one day's worship in seven: it is a vital,
daily function into which he puts all the dreamy mysticism of his race.
The first sight of several Mohammedans bowed in the dust by the
roadside, with their faces set toward Mecca, gives one a strange thrill,
but this spectacle soon loses its novelty. Everywhere in the Far East
religion is a matter of form and ceremony: it includes regular visits to
the temple and regular prayers and offerings to the deities enshrined in
these houses of worship. But it also includes a daily ritual that must
be observed at certain fixed hours, even though the believer may be in
the midst of the crowded market place. The spiritual isolation of an
Oriental at his prayers in any big city of the Far East is the most
significant feature of this life--so alien to all the mental, moral, and
religious training of the Occident. Vain is it for one of Anglo-Saxon
strain to attempt to bridge this abyss that lies between his mind and
that of the Burman or the Parsee. Each lives in a spiritual world of his
own and each would be homesick for heaven were he transferred to the
ideal paradise of the other. So the traveler in the Orient should give
heed to the temples, for in them is voiced the spiritual aspirations of
the people, who have little of comfort or hope to cheer them in this
world.

JAPAN, THE
PICTURE COUNTRY OF
THE ORIENT

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF JAPAN AND THE LIFE OF THE JAPANESE

Yokohama looks very beautiful to the traveler who has spent over two
weeks on the long sea voyage from Seattle; but it has little to commend
it to the tourist, for most of its native traits have been Europeanized.
It is noteworthy, however, as the best place except Hongkong for the
traveler to purchase an oriental outfit and it is probably the cheapest
place in the world for trunks and bags and all leather goods. Its bund,
or water-front, is spacious and its leading hotels are very comfortable.

Of Japan and the Japanese, all that can be given are a few general
impressions of the result of two weeks of constant travel over the
empire and of talks with many people.

Of the country itself, the prevailing impression of the tourist, who
crosses it on the railroad or who takes rides through the paddy fields
in a rickshaw, is of a perennial greenness. Instead of the tawny yellow
of Californ