JAPAN

[Illustration:  Japanese Children.]

How would you like to ride in a wagon drawn by a man instead of a horse?  That is the way people ride in Japan.  Japan is a country a long way off, near China.  You would think that a man could not run very fast drawing a wagon.  But in Japan some men can run as fast as horses.  The wagon is like a buggy, but it has only two wheels.  They call this wagon a jin-rik’i-sha.

[Illustration:  A Jinrikisha.]

The streets in Japan have no sidewalks.  The houses are only one or two stories high.  They are built of wood.  They have no windows or doors.  Strange houses, you will think.  The walls outside and inside are made like sliding doors.  They slide back so that the people can go in and out, and from one room to another.

The Japanese have very little furniture in their houses.  They have no chairs.  They do not need any, for they sit on cushions on the floor.  They also sleep on the floor.  When it is time to go to bed, they spread soft quilts on the floor, one over the other.  The last quilt on the top is the cover.  These beds are very nice.  But you could never guess what kind of pillows they have.  The pillows are blocks of wood the size of a brick.  You would not think them nice at all.  But the Japanese seem to sleep very well on their wood pillows.

[Illustration:  A Japanese Bed.]

Many of the things in the houses in Japan are made of paper, They have paper fans, paper lanterns, paper hats, paper cups, paper umbrellas, paper napkins, and paper screens.

They have no stoves.  Instead of stoves they have boxes lined with brass.  In these boxes they burn charcoal to heat their rooms.  But they do not cook their food in these brass boxes.  They cook in little ovens made of clay.

When it rains in Japan the people look very funny.  The men wear rain coats made of rice straw.  They also have big straw hats and paper umbrellas.

[Illustration:  A Rain Coat.]

They wear blocks, three inches high, fastened to the soles of their shoes.  These keep their feet dry.  So on a rainy day everybody looks three inches taller.

In Japan they do not wear shoes in the house.  When they go into their houses they take them off.  Their shoes are made of wood or straw.  Some of the people have shoes with gold braid.

[Illustration:  Japanese Shoes.]

Perhaps you would like to know how they dress in Japan.  Boys and girls dress very much alike.  Both wear long gowns, like skirts, of blue or gray cotton or silk.  These gowns are open at the neck.  A sash is worn around the waist.  The girls tie their sashes in a bow at the back.

The children of Japan are very strange looking, not at all like you.  They are like the Chinese.  Their skin is yellow, and their eyes are slanted.  Their hair is black and straight.