Kenneth Whiting (AV 14) - Naval Cruise Book

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to you too, Iio icy : One Of tlic worla s greatest copy artists — caiiqnt m t ic act. QiiaraiilccJ lOO ' O Qcisha QirU, oi volu nionev back ! Typical 7iativc Jrcs l J .h.uh .iwr m jay Colorful Lira ia I ' malc in 1 akarazuka 1 hcairc.

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JAPAN Japan lias ona nccii a lavontc ihciiy coinilry for )iavynici!, ana a arcal pari of the reason Jor (Ins lias rccii I lie JnciiJ incss oj llic people in Japiin. lis may PC parl y aue lo the jacl llial ajler llie Secona Wor J War ihe aovernina mi ilary forces aid )iol p ay llie part oJ aoniinating conquerors, at east not on tlie inJiviJiia eve . Our occupation jorces niaJe a sincere effort to unJerstana tlie Japanese. o i iese peop e, a s:inJ or a po ite wora or ijesture is oJ iitniost wort i. I le variance in customs ana traaitions oj tlie Japanese peop e are readily apparent. A ai ' cat westernisation trena has reen sweepina Japan at an ever increa- sina rate. An example oJ this may he seen in the younaer aeneralion oJ the Japanese people. I heir taste in wearina apparel has chanaca Jroin the traJitional getas {wooden sandals) ana himonos to peaal pushers ana nohhy sox. I ' or ihe most part, the Japanese people lead a simple lije. One oJ the Jirst thincjs a visitor notices in a visit to a Japanese home is the almost complete ahsence oJ Jiirnitiire. About the only Jurniture he will JinJ in a home is a dressinq table and a small, low dinner table, hoth oJ which are movea out oJ the way when not in use. Ihe Jamily hneels around the tahle when eatinq their meals Jrom tiny dishes which would seem more in place in a doll house. Meals are coohed over a small charcoal burner called a hibachi. In t ie winter t ie libachi serves t ie purpose oJ centra heatinq Jor the lome. Carpets are non-existant and their place IS taken ny woven straw mats called tatamis, wliich are always hept scrupulously clean. 1 his cleanliness is insured hecause shoes are never worn in the house, neinq deposited on the stoop hejore enterinq. One doesn t lean aqainst the wall in a Japanese home cither, because it would be very easy to jah an elbow throuqh the rice paper wall. Japanese people are very hard workinq, and necessarily so, hecause oJ the Jairly inhospitable land in which they live. Centuries oJ Jeudalistic lije have linked them to the land or the sea, and every available Joot oJ land is under cultivation. Japanese people are traders too. hecause Japan has always had to survive; shrewd- ness IS another oJ their inqrained qualities. I he hard lives the people lead has never kept their spirits down, and it seems that they are the happiest people in the Orient. Perhaps it is hecause the sim- plicity oJ their lives has made it possible Jor them to enjoy to the utmost the pleasures and heauty oJ their land.

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