L I F E    I N    J A P A N

Life in Japan

My grandmother, Rose Mary (nee Caldwell) Bruce, spent years in Japan on and off between 1911 and 1923. My grandfather, Sydney Bruce, worked as an accountant in Yokohama. This is a speech (incomplete) Rose Mary gave to a women’s group in England. Her notes are undated, however it’s clear the speech was given before the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1, 1923, possibly in August, 1923, just after her return to England alone in July of that year.  Here are Rose Mary’s observations of Japanese life.

Lady President and friends, it gives me much pleasure to welcome you this evening and I trust you will find interesting what I have termed  “Experiences in Japan.” Let me say at the outset, the years spent there were some of the pleasantest of our lives. I thought it would be as well to give you at first some rough idea of the country and people, and particularly of our city of Yokohama, the chief port of Japan, although not the first, as this honour is held by Nagasaki.

As you know, the Japanese islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Yeddo, Kyushu, Shikoku, are extremely volcanic throughout, and as they stretch for such a distance from North to South, the climate is somewhat varied. Perhaps the most volcanic and hottest part is the southern portion, Kyushu. Beppu (sp), Sakurajima, Yokohama and Tokyo, the capital, are centred on Tokyo Bay about 18 miles apart.

If you set out for Tokyo [from elsewhere], you would disembark at Yokohama and take the train, either steam or electric, to Tokyo. These two cities differ much in character and the same is noticeable in the other chief cities – Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto.

Yokohama assigned its best [land, a ridge overlooking the city and known as the] Bluff, to the use of foreigners, who are most fortunate in this respect, it being the choicest residential situation with splendid views. Here were houses much in the style of those we occupy [in the west] with well-kept [private] gardens, hotels, public gardens, churches (different denominations), hospitals [and] public hall. One could walk to the shopping district in town or take a ricksaw or car [known as a] motomachi.

Parallel to [and just below] this Bluff, was a most interesting native shopping street, and one could spend a pleasant time looking at the various wares displayed. Some of the workers could be seen at their work, as most of the shops were open-fronted. They were of all descriptions, a medley of food shops interspersed with silversmiths, brassworkers, umbrella and fan [workshops], china goods, toys, tea, geta [shoes], milk and other materials, curios and many others. The horses hauling loads were small and very thin, a great contrast to the very fat, black oxen also used.

Trams [ran] to various parts of the city and the beach, and the canals and creeks served as useful waterways for the many native boats. The floor of the shop would in most cases be raised and covered with tatami – straw mat on which the natives would not walk without first removing his geta, or shoes. This rule was also strictly enforced in the case of foreigners entering Japanese temples or homes, where a covering was usually slipped on in the place of the shoe. At a Japanese entrance, therefore, it was quite usual to notice a collection of shoes or getas.

Benten Dori and Theatre Streets were also most interesting streets. The former, Benten Dori, was the chief curio centre, not exclusively, of course, as it also contained stores of silk goods, lacquer eggshell china, silver goods, stores of foreign goods, also furs, which were excellent. But the curio collections were particularly engrossing.

In many parts of the city are temples of both Buddhist  and Shinto religions, the former introduced.Flowers play a great part in the lives of the Japanese, the most painstaking of gardeners and farmers. The Japanese have quite a distinctive style in their flower arrangements, an art which must be acquired. The earliest flowering branches of plum, almond (about 3 feet in length) brought to one’s door by the flower women were a welcome after the winter.

And the azaleas, camelias and irises of summer deserve special note. In one park in Tokyo, ivy [varieties] produce such long trails of flowers attract[ing] many sightseers, and the cherry blossoms on the banks of the Sumida River do likewise. Where cherry blossoms beautify any particular spot, will be the rendezvous of many crowds throughout the season.  I should mention here that the national flower of Japan is the chrysanthemum, and the imperial emblem must always have sisetee (sp) petals, and exclusive right is reserved.

One does not see many maple trees except the dwarf variety in gardens. But they are conspicuous on the mountainsides in the autumn, and an attraction for the tourists.

The chief mountain resorts convenient from Tokyo were Nikko, Miyanoshita and Hakone. At Nikko is to be seen the fine old temples and the Sacred Bridge of red lacquer, only open on rare occasions and I believe, reserved for the use of the Imperial family. The highest trees in the country, the [2000-3000 year old] cryptomerias are there.