from Australia. Practically the only difference between winter and summer diets is that in the former the food is used to obtain heat, hence more fish is used in winter. Rice is more frequently served in baked or toasted cakes. The fruits are dried for winter use. Hard-boiled eggs are much eaten as heating food. The amount of food is slightly increased in winter, but at first the beef-eating Caucasian would find any Japanese meal too light. The Japanese believe that at all seasons we eat too much, give the stomach too much work to do, and therefore cannot develop the utmost strength. Undoubtedly they are right; at least they have proved the value of their own system of feeding.
Meat is not used as a heating food even in the coldest days of winter. Neither are potatoes. The Japanese do not heat their houses. If they are cold they dress to meet the requirements of the outside weather. On rare occasions they light hibachi. These are little charcoal stoves that do not add greatly to the heat of a room, and are used principally as a means of lighting pipes or cigarettes. The
