I. THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF JAPAN II. THE WIDE-OPEN DOOR. ILLUSTRATIONS Trumming the Shamisen Third-Class Passenger Car On the Way to Worship the Fox God A Model Japanese Family . Image of Buddha in the Mountains Bronze Buddha in Ueno Park, Tokyo A Sunday School in Kofu A Sunday School in Tokyo FACING Title God} 128 Some of the Five Hundred Boys at Aoyama Okayama Orphanage and Its Children A Buddhist's Grave Gateway into Asakusa Temple Selections from Buddhist Scriptures Map of Japan 226 246 274 302 NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF JAPANESE WORDS Sound the vowels and diphthongs as in Italian, that is (approximately), a as in "father." e men." " as in 46 ai the "y" of "my." ei the "ay" of "may.” " " au the ow" of COW." Distinguish long vowels from short, as in Latin; thus tori, bird," but tōri, street; zutsu, "[one, etc.] at a time," but zutsu, "headache." " Sound the consonants as in English, noting only that g never has the "j" sound. At the beginning of a word it is pronounced as in give; "in the middle it has the sound of English ng. Note, too, that z before "u" is pronounced as dz, thus Kōzu (ko-dzu). Consonants written double are distinctly pronounced double, as in Italian. Thus amma, a shampooer," sounds quite different from ama, a nun." (Compare such English words as "one ness," shot-tower.") There is little if any tonic accent, all syllables, except such as have long quantity, being pronounced evenly and lightly, as in French. For instance, the word ama given above sounds almost exactly like the French word "amas," and would not be understood if pronounced like English armour."-From Things Japanese," by BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN. Our country was the first Western friend to Japan, and means to be the last.-Andrew CarneGIE, Founders' Day, 1912, p. 36. At every moment of our lives, we should be trying to find out not in what we differ from other people, but in what we agree with them.-RUSKIN, "Sesame and Lilies." Geographically, Japan and America are neighbours. Our shores are washed by the same great sea. The Pacific is happily named in that it characterizes the friendly relations of our respective countries.-VISCOUNT SUTEMI CHINDA, Japanese Ambassador to the United States. There is no danger of war, but there is grave danger because the war debts are 26,000,000,000 dollars. One-third of all the money of the world is due on the war debt of Europe alone.DAVID STARR JORDAN. The best gift the New Year could bring the American people would be a strict obedience to the divine injunction, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." -GOVERNOR COLE L. BLEASE, Christian Herald, January 3, 1912. The old isolation is gone forever for every people; and there is no greater obligation upon every nation to-day than to try to understand, and to enter into sympathy with, that which is finest and best in every other nation.-SETH LOW, Hudson-Fulton Celebration, p. 44. Off the coast of Asia, 'mid the mighty ocean, Lies an Island Kingdom, strangely fair and bright; -WILLIAM E. GRIFFIS, Japan Evangelist, Vol. X, p. 20. What then is our neighbour? Thou hast regarded his thought, his feeling as somehow different from thine; thou hast said, "A pain in him is not like a pain in me, but something far easier to bear." He seems to thee a little less living than thou; his life is dim, it is cold, it is a pale fire beside thine own burning desires. Thou hast made of him a thing, no self at all. Have done with this illusion. . Pain is pain, joy is joy, everywhere, even as in thee.-JOSIAH ROYCE. |