The Boy Travellers in the Far East [Part First]: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Japan and ChinaKnox, Thomas Wallace
General
The Boy Travellers in the Far East [Part First]: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Japan and China
Knox, Thomas Wallace
China -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature; Japan -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
Uyeno is not by any means the only elevation in Tokio from which a good
view can be had of the city and surrounding country. There are several
elevations where such views are obtainable, and in nearly all of them
the holy mountain, Fusiyama, has a prominent place. A famous view is
that of Atago Yama, and another is from Suruga Dai. Both these places
are popular resorts, and abound in tea-houses, refreshment booths,
swings, and other public attractions. On pleasant afternoons there is
always a large attendance of the populace, and it is interesting to see
them amusing themselves. There are old people, middle-aged people,
youths, and infants, the latter on the backs of their nurses, where
they hang patiently on, and seem to enjoy their share of the fun. The
quantity of tea that the natives consume in one of these afternoon
entertainments is something prodigious; but they do not seem to suffer
any injury from what some of us would consider a wild dissipation.
[Illustration: A CHILD'S NURSE.]
Not far from where the Doctor and his young friends were seated was an
enclosure where was held the First National Fair of Tokio in 1877. The
enclosure was still standing, and it was the intention of the government
to hold a fair there annually, as it fully recognized the advantages of
these exhibitions as educators of the people. The Japanese are not
generally well informed as to the products of their own country outside
of the provinces where they happen to live. A native can tell you what
his own district or province produces, but he is often lamentably
ignorant of the resources of other parts of the country. It is to break
up this ignorance, and also to stimulate improvements in the various
industries, that these national fairs have been established.
As the description of the First National Fair at Tokio may not be
uninteresting, we will copy from a letter to a New York paper, by one of
its correspondents who was in Japan at the time. After describing the
opening ceremonies, which were attended by the emperor and empress,
together with many high dignitaries of the government, he wrote as
follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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