Yet their task must be other than is that of the Western doctors! To begin with, they have not to face dreadful conditions of body, and uncleanness. It seems that in Japan even the poorest are clean, and the care of the skin and of the hair is not only brought to perfection, but it is quite general. It is an instinct of the entire race. The little dainty houses, too, that look like toys, are clean, and only the rich attempt to bar out the light and air a little. Everything is renewed continually, and Nature's changes and upheavals are always in evidence. Terrible spring cleanings are Nature's in Japan. There is a regular course arranged in every town for the study of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and the scholars learn how to build a little house that will rock safely without falling.[1] Hygiene is already so far advanced in some ways that one might feel the people had little to learn. Yet in spite of all there is a shadow side. The diet, the feeding of infants, seem to leave a great deal to be desired. It is hinted that the Japanese physique is a thwarted product—like their miniature trees!
In a Report published in 1904, the doctors' report
- ↑ All this is very practical. For, as many writers have shown, the face of the land and the shapes of the mountains change as the result of earthquakes and eruptions. Now and then there is a tremendous upheaval. One of these destroyed 14,000 little houses.
