When I Was a Boy in Japan

by Sakae Shioya

Where We Settled—A Police Stand—Stores—“Broadway”—Illumination—The Foreign Settlement.

About two years after I entered the village school I had to leave it for good and all. My father, as I have said, was in mid-air between the heaven of old Japan and the prosaic earth of the new institution. He would fain have remained there, had he had a pillar of gold to support him. And it is wonderful to see how this glittering pillar does support one in almost any place. It was a very serious matter for him to launch in the new current without any helpful equipment. But he had to do it, and made up his mind to try his fortune at the very centre of the new civilization, Tokyo. And so one day we said good-by to our friends who came to see us off, and started for the capital. “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” as the poet sang, but I hardly remember now whether I shed tears or not. As I, however, look back to the day, I cannot but be grateful for the new move, for the immeasurable benefit it brought at least to us children.

In Tokyo we settled very near where my aunt lived. The street was by no means in a noisy quarter, but I can hardly think of anywhere in the city which was so well situated for being in contact with so many places of interest, at least for a boy just from the country. It was near to the “Broadway” of Tokyo, and just as near to the foreign settlement and to the railroad station, the only one of the kind in the city in those days. And if I wanted a touch of the old order of things, there was a big temple, a block on the east, which made its presence known to the forgetful people by striking a big bell every evening. I cannot say they rang the bell, because the bells at Buddhist temples do not chime, but boom. They are so big—bigger than a siege-gun. I liked the sound very much, as it brought to me like a dream the vision of a hillside sleeping under the setting sun. But I must not forget to mention a large piece of grassy ground very near us, where we could romp, fly kites, or play at a tug-of-war.

Now the first thing I did when I came to the new place was to familiarize myself with the neighborhood for the sake of running errands, or just to keep myself informed. First I started eastward and turned the corner to the left, where I found a wee bit of a house, or rather a box, six feet by nine, where two policemen were stationed. It was the first time I had ever seen any of them, and I thought they were a queer sort of people, who looked at me suspiciously whenever I looked at them in that way. But I thought as long as I did not do anything wrong, they would have no reason for coming at me. I also had great faith that if a thief should break into our house, they would soon come to our help. So I made several trials to see how quickly I could cover the distance to give them notice. They must have thought me a strange boy as I came panting to the police stand and stopped short to look at the clock inside.

A little beyond began the market. First a grocery store, then a fish stall, a bean-cake shop, and so on. I remember that the house I most frequented was a sweet potato store. I could get five or six nice hot baked pieces for a penny. And how I liked them! At regular intervals fresh ones were ready and we waited for them, falling into a line. When we got as much as we wanted, we would run a race lest they should get too cold. At the end of the street, just opposite a tall fire-ladder, standing erect and with a bell on the top, was a big meat store. Beef, pork, everything, they had, and sometimes I found a bill posted saying, “Mountain Whale, To-day.” Whatever that might be, I never cared to eat such doubtful things. You never tried sea-horse or sea-elephant, did you?

Then, going in another direction from my house, I made my way to “Broadway.” I first crossed a bridge which spanned a canal and came to an object of much interest. It was a telegraph-pole. I was never able to count the wires on it unless I did it by the help of a multiplication table, as there were so many of them, coming from all parts of the country to the central station. A strange thing about them was that they sang. When I put my ear to the pole, even on a windless day, I could hear a number of soft voices wailing, as it were. I thought they must come from messages running on the wires, many of which were indeed too sad to describe. And then there was something which made me think that boys in that vicinity had a very hard time. Many a time I saw kites with warriors’ faces painted on them, entangled in the wires. The faces which looked heroic, now seemed only grinning furiously for agony! But I must not be musing on such things, for if I did not take care in that crowded thoroughfare, a jinrikisha man would come dashing from behind with “Heigh, there!” which took the breath out of a country boy.

The Japanese “Broadway.”

Broadway was built after a foreign style,—I don’t know which country’s, though. There were sidewalks with willow-trees,—and there are no sidewalks in ordinary Japanese roads,—and brick houses, two stories high, and with no basement. Horse-cars were running, but they would not be on the track after ten in the evening. Many jinrikishas were running, too, and some half a dozen of them were waiting for customers at each corner. But not a shadow of a cab was to be seen anywhere. To tell the truth, I never thought of finding one then, its existence in the world being unknown to me at that time. There were a good many wonders in store for me in the shops, and I never grew tired of inspecting them. One curious thing was that here and there at the notion stores boys were playing hand-organs, probably to draw customers in. So I thought, anyway, and every time I passed I obliged them awhile by listening to their music. As I strolled on, I came across a sign with “Shiruko” in large letters on it. Shiruko is a sort of pudding, made of sweet bean sauce and rice dumpling, and served hot. To be sure, it made my mouth water, but I went on reading a bill over the wall. There were twelve varieties of shiruko, it said, styled after the names of the months, and any one who could finish eating all of them at one time, would get a prize besides the return of the price! How I wished that I had a big stomach!

The sight of Broadway was prettier in the evening, when the sidewalks would be lined with hundreds of stalls. I shall have occasion to describe them later, and so let me now mention one thing which I never remember without a smile. It was an illumination on a holiday evening—not of the whole street, but of only one building, and that of two stories, I remember. It was a newspaper office. And as newspapers are always giving us something new, this building, I think, awoke one morning to give us what was very new at that time. It girdled itself just once with an iron pipe half an inch in diameter, which twisted itself into some characters in the front, and awaited a holiday evening. The paper advertised that everybody should come to see how they were going to celebrate the holiday evening. So the whole city turned out, and all my folks, too. Hand-organs in the stores around began a concert, and people waited with their mouths open. The time came, and lights were seen running from both ends like serpents, closing up in the centre. Wonder of wonders! “DAILY NEWS OFFICE” in gaslight appeared!