Part 2

Progress a modern conception and ideal--How was the "cake of custom" broken?--"Government by discussion" an insufficient principle of progress--Two lines of progress, Ideal and Material--The significance of Perry's coming to Japan--Effect on Japan of Occidental ideas--The material element of progress--Mistaken praise of the simplicity of Old Japan, L. Hearn--The significance of the material element of civilization--Mastery of nature--The defect of Occidental civilization, 61

V. JAPANESE SENSITIVENESS TO ENVIRONMENT

Our main question--Illustrations--Japanese students abroad--Sensitiveness to ridicule--Advantages and disadvantages of this characteristic--National sensitiveness to foreign criticism--Nudity--Formosa--Mental and physical flexibility--Adjustability--Some apparent exceptions--Chinese ideographs--How account for these characteristics, 72

VI. WAVES OF FEELING--ABDICATION

The Japanese are emotional--An illustration from politics--The tendency to run to extremes--Danger of overemphasizing this tendency--Japanese silent dissent--Men of balance in public life--Abdication--Gubbins quoted--Is abdication an inherent trait? 82

VII. HEROES AND HERO-WORSHIP

Popular national heroes--The craving for modern heroes--Townsend Harris's insight into Oriental character--Hero-worship an obstacle to missionary work--Capt. Jaynes--An experience in Kumamoto--"The sage of Omi"--"The true hero"--Moral heroes in Japan--The advantage and disadvantage of hero-worship--Modern moral heroes--Hero-worship depends on personality and idealism--The new social order is producing new ideals and new heroes, 89

VIII. LOVE FOR CHILDREN

Japanese love for children--Children's festivals--Toys and toy-stores--Do Japanese love children more than Americans do?--Importance in Japan of maintaining the family line--The looseness of the Japanese family tie--Early cessation of demonstrative affection--Infanticide, 96

IX. MARITAL LOVE

Affection between husband and wife--Occidental and Oriental estimate of woman contrasted--This a subject easily-misunderstood--Kissing a social habit unknown in Japan--Demonstrative affection a social, not a racial characteristic--Some specific illustrations, Dr. Neesima--A personal experience--Illegitimate children--Fraudulent registration--Adult adoption--Divorce--Monogamy, polygamy, and prostitution--Race character, social order, and affection--Position of women--The social order and affection--The social order and the valuation of man and woman--The new social order and the valuation of man--The spread of Christian ideals and the re-organization of the family, 102

X. CHEERFULNESS--INDUSTRY--TRUTHFULNESS--SUSPICIOUSNESS

Japanese cheerfulness--Festivals--Pessimism existent, but easily overlooked--The ubiquity of children gives an appearance of cheerfulness--Industry--Illustrations--Easy-going--Sociological interpretation--Mutual confidence and trustfulness--Relation to communalistic feudalism--Changes in the social order and in character--The American Board's experience in trusting Japanese honor--The Doshisha and its difficulties--Suspiciousness--Necessary under the old social order--The need of constant care in conversation, 115

XI. JEALOUSY--REVENGE--HUMANE FEELINGS

Jealousy particularly ascribed to women--How related to the social order--Is jealousy limited to women?--Revenge--Taught as a moral duty--Revenge and the new social order--Are the Japanese cruel?--First impressions--Treatment of the insane--Of lepers--The cruelty and hardness of heart of Old Japan--Buddhistic teaching and practice--Buddhist and Christian Orphan Asylums--Treatment of horses--Torture in Old Japan--Crucifixion and transfixion by spears--Hard-heartedness cultivated under feudalism--Cruelty and the humane feelings in the Occident--Abolition of cruel customs in ancient and in Old Japan--Cruelty a sociological, not a biological characteristic--The rise of humane feelings--Doctors and hospitals--Philanthropy, 127

XII. AMBITION--CONCEIT

Ambition, both individual and national--The "Kumamoto Band"--Self-confidence and conceit--Refined in nature--Illustrations in the use of English--Readiness of young men to assume grave responsibilities--A product of the social order--Assumptions of inferiority by the common people--Obsequiousness--Modern self-confidence and assumptions not without ground--Self-confidence and success--Self-confidence and physical size--Young men and the recent history of Japan--The self-confidence and conceit of Western nations--The open-mindedness of most Japanese, 137

XIII. PATRIOTISM--APOTHEOSIS--COURAGE

"Yamato-Damashii": "The Soul of Japan"--Patriotism and the recent war with China--Patriotism of Christian orphans--Mr. Ishii--Patriotism is for a person, not for country--National patriotism is modern--Passionate devotion to the Emperor--A gift of 20,000,000 yen to the Emperor--The constitution derives its authority from the Emperor--A quotation from Prof. Yamaguchi--Japanese Imperial succession is of Oriental type--Concubines and children of the reigning Emperor--Apotheosis, Oriental and Occidental--Apotheosis and national unity--The political conflict between Imperial and popular sovereignty--Japanese and Roman apotheosis--Prof. Nash quoted--Courage--Cultivated in ancient times--A peculiar feature of Japanese courage--"Harakiri"--E. Griffis quoted--A boy hero--Relation of courage to social order--Japanese courage not only physical--modern instance of moral courage, 144

XIV. FICKLENESS--STOLIDITY--STOICISM

Illustrations of fickleness--Prof. Chamberlain's explanation--Fickleness a modern trait--Continuity of purpose in spite of changes of method--The youth of those on whom responsibility rests--Fluctuation of interest in Christianity not a fair illustration--The period of fluctuation is passing away--Impassiveness--"Putty faces"--Distinguish between stupidity and stoicism--Stupid stolidity among the farmers--Easily removed--Social stolidity cultivated--Demanded by the old social order--The influence of Buddhism in suppressing expression of emotion--An illustration of suppressed curiosity--Lack of emotional manifestations when the Emperor appears in public--Stolidity a social, not a racial trait--A personal experience--The increased vivacity of Christian women--Relations of emotional to intellectual development and to the social order, 159

XV. AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS

The wide development of the æsthetic sense in Japan--Japanese æsthetic development is unbalanced--The sense of smell--Painting--Japanese art pays slight attention to the human form--Sociological interpretation--The nude in Japanese art--Relation to the social order--Art and immorality--Caricature--Fondness for the abnormal in nature--Abnormal stones--Tosa cocks--Æsthetics of speech--The æsthetic sense and the use of personal pronouns--Deficiency of the æsthetic development in regard to speech--Sociological explanations--Close relation of æsthetics and conduct--Sociological explanation for the wide development of the æsthetic sense--The classes lived in close proximity--The spirit of dependence and imitation--Universality of culture more apparent than real--Defects of æsthetic taste--Defective etiquette--How accounted for--Old and new conditions--"Western taste debasing Japanese art"--Illustration of aboriginal æsthetic defects--Colored photographs--Æsthetic defects of popular shrines--The æsthetics of music--Experience of the Hawaiian people--Literary æsthetic development--Aston quoted--Architectural æsthetic development--Æsthetic development is sociological rather than biological, 170

XVI. MEMORY--IMITATION

Psychological unity of the East and the West--Brain size and social evolution--The size of the Japanese brain--Memory--Learning Chinese characters--Social selection and mnemonic power--Japanese memory in daily life--Memory of uncivilized and semi-civilized peoples--Hindu memory--Max Müller quoted--Japanese acquisition of foreign languages--The argument from language for the social as against the biological distinction of races--The faculty of imitation; is not to be despised--Prof. Chamberlain's over-emphasis of Japanese imitation--Originality in adopting Confucianism and Buddhism--"Shinshu"--"Nichirenshu"--Adoption of Chinese philosophy--Dr. Knox's over-emphasis of servile adoption--Our ignorance of Japanese history of thought--A reason for Occidental misunderstanding--The incubus of governmental initiative--Relation of imitation to the social order, 189

XVII. ORIGINALITY--INVENTIVENESS

Originality in art--Authoritative suppression of originality--Townsend Harris quoted--Suppression of Christianity and of heterodox Confucianism--Modern suppression of historical research--Yet Japan is not wholly lacking in originality--Recent discoveries and inventions--Originality in borrowing from the West--Quotations from a native paper, 203

XVIII. INDIRECTNESS--"NOMINALITY"