The Korean has by no means the courtesy towards strangers of the Japanese, but it is said that once you show yourself their friend they go further in their cordiality and are far more unselfish in their devotion.
The less attractive qualities of the Koreans have been greatly overdrawn. They are kindly and attractive, the women especially so, even winsome, graceful, and possessing that dignity and poise, partly characteristic of the British Indian and partly of the Mohammedan. They are sticklers for tradition and punctilious in etiquette, and like such people usually are rather more anxious for the “letter” than the “spirit.” Sensitive to the feelings of a stranger as the Japanese are, they certainly are not. The prosperity of Korea is tempting to the avaricious Japanese, and they have been guilty of such transactions as are some of the monopolies of America, crushing to the wall the less clever. It is an old story; Japan can show England and America nothing new in greed. We have exhausted the repertoire!
Seoul is one of the most enchanting cities in the world; its situation is marvelous, its picturesqueness only Constantinople can rival.
Korea is a land of stupendous beauty and attractiveness, the kingdom of toil, and it is to this they are looking. To the onward marching lines of men who see the future, Korea and Manchuria are the stepping stones. The wide fields extend in every direction, the hills “rejoice on every side.” Japan marches her soldiers at every station, law and order go with her, and out of chaos, Asiatic chaos, she will bring—who that sees her at work can doubt—civilization in the modern sense.
TOKYO AND ITS MAYOR
One of the most interesting experiences of my stay in Japan was my visit to the parliament, where I was privileged to have as a guide the mayor of Tokyo, Mr. Ozaki, a man who has had a seat in that body every year since it has had its existence.
The buildings are not in the least imposing. They show the same paradoxical simplicity which we find in so much of this most stately people’s ways.
Over the president’s desk hang eight portraits in oil and on a raised platform under them a group of distinguished workingmen, whom I took to be in part officials and visitors.