There are so many things to tell you about “Nippon,” as the Japanese call their country, that I do not know where to begin.

But first of all I must tell you how we landed. There were six of us,—Charlotte and Alice and Fred, their father and mother, and I,—and we had come all the way across the Pacific Ocean in a big ship.

Our ship was anchored out in the harbor, and we were told we might go ashore.

We wondered if we were expected to swim, but it seemed too far for that.

You can imagine how glad we were when we looked over the side of the ship and saw a great many little boats waiting for us.

A stairway was hung out over the side of the ship, and we walked down into the little boats, just as we walk down stairs in our houses.

Then the trunks were lowered by ropes into littledecoration119decoration Japanese rowboats, called sampans, and we waved “good-by” to the captain and all our friends on the ship.
woman with parsol in rickshaw

Did you ever go to sleep and dream you were in a doll’s country, where you seemed like a giant? Alice said she knew now just how that other Alice felt in her visit to Wonderland, for she never saw such tiny little people, and such tiny little houses, and even such tiny little trees.

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When we got on shore we found queer little two-wheeled carriages, drawn by men instead of horses. The carriages are called jinrikishas, and are just big enough for one person.

We each got into one of these carriages and the jinrikisha boys picked up the shafts and trotted off like nice little ponies.

These boys wear dark-blue trousers that fit their legs very tightly, and a short blue jacket with flowing sleeves, and on their back is a Chinese letter painted in white, which is their employer’s name.

On their feet they wear straw sandals which they kick off, when they are worn out, as a horse casts his shoe. The hat is a funny round straw disk, covered with white, which makes them look like toadstools.

The houses, as I said, are very tiny, not much larger than your playhouses, and the walls are all made of sliding screens that can be pushed aside, leaving the house open.

The floors are covered with matting, which is asdecoration121decoration soft as cushions, but there is no furniture anywhere to be seen, for the Japanese sit on the floor and sleep on the floor, and their tables are tiny little trays.

The houses are spotlessly clean, for no Japanese would think of going into a house with his shoes on, any more than you would walk over your mother’s chairs and cushions in your shoes.

One day we went to see a wonderful image. We rode out to it in jinrikishas, and we each had two ’rikisha boys to pull us. We sped along at a rapid pace, for the boys are so well trained that they make nearly as good time as............