Accompanying ambition is a group of less admirable qualities, such as self-sufficiency and self-conceit.  They are seldom manifested with that coarseness which in the West we associate with them, for the Japanese is usually too polished to be offensively obtrusive.  He seldom indulges in bluster or direct assertion, but is contented rather with the silent assumption of superiority.

I heard recently of a slight, though capital, illustration of my point.  Two foreign gentlemen were walking through the town of Tadotsu some years since and observed a sign in English which read “Stemboots.”  Wondering what the sign could mean they inquired the business of the place, and learning that it was a steamboat office, they gave the clerk the reason for their inquiry, and at his request made the necessary correction.  A few days later, however, on their return, they noticed that the sign had been re-corrected to “Stem-boats,” an assumption of superior knowledge on the part of some tyro in English.  The multitude of signboards in astonishing English, in places frequented by English-speaking people, is one of the amusing features of Japan.  It would seem as if the shopkeepers would at least take the pains to have the signs correctly worded and spelled, by asking the help of some foreigner or competent Japanese.  Yet they assume that they know all that is needful.

Indications of perfect self-confidence crop out in multitudes of ways far too numerous to mention.  The aspiring ambition spoken of in the immediately preceding pages is one indication of this characteristic.  Another is the readiness of fledglings to undertake responsibilities far beyond them.  Young men having a smattering of English, yet wholly unable to converse, set up as teachers.  Youths in school not infrequently undertake to instruct their teachers as to what courses of study and what treatment they should receive.  Still more conspicuous is the cool assumption of superiority evinced by so many Japanese in discussing intellectual and philosophical problems.  The manner assumed is that of one who is complete master of the subject.  The silent contempt often poured on foreigners who attempt to discuss these problems is at once amusing and illustrative of the characteristic of which I am speaking.[P]

We turn next to inquire for the explanation of these characteristics.  Are they inherent traits of the race?  Or are they the product of the times?  Doubtless the latter is the true explanation.  It will be found that those individuals in whom these characteristics appear are descendants of the samurai.  A small class of men freed from heavy physical toil, given to literature and culture, ever depending on the assumption of superiority for the maintenance of their place in society and defending their assumption by the sword—­such a class, in such a social order, would develop the characteristics in question to a high degree.  Should we expect an immediate change of character when the social order has been suddenly changed?