y earnest
Buddhist. Being the ideal and the actual effort of life, it does
affect the faces of the people. Lack of expression, however, does not
prove absence of desire.

Every foreigner has had amusing proof of this. A common experience is
the passing of a group of Japanese who, apparently, give no heed to
the stranger. Neither by the turn of the head nor by the movement of a
single facial muscle do they betray any curiosity, yet their eyes take
in each detail, and involuntarily follow the receding form of the
traveler. In the interior, where foreigners are still objects of
curiosity, young men have often run up from behind, gone to a distance
ahead of me, then turned abruptly, as though remembering something,
and walked slowly back again, giving me, apparently, not the slightest
attention. The motive was the desire to get a better look at the
foreigner. They hoped to conceal it by a ruse, for there must be no
manifestation of curiosity.

Phenomena which a foreigner may attribute to a lack of emotion of, at
least, to its repression, may be due to some very different cause. Few
things, for instance, are more astonishing to the Occidental than the
silence on the part of the multitude when the Emperor, whom they all
admire and love, appears on the street. Under circumstances which
would call forth the most enthusiastic cheers from Western crowds, a
Japanese crowd will maintain absolute silence. Is this from lack of
emotion? By no means. Reverence dominates every breast. They would no
more think of making noisy demonstrations of joy in the presence of
the Emperor than a congregation of devout Christians would think of
doing the same during a religious service. This idea of reverence for
superiors has pervaded the social order--the intensity of the
reverence varying with the rank of the superior. But a change has
already begun. Silence is no longer enforced; no profound bowings to
the ground are now demanded before the nobility; on at least one
occasion during the recent China-Japan war the enthusiasm of the
populace found audible expression when the Emperor made a public
appearance. Even the stoical appearance of the people is passing away
under the influence of the new order of society, with its new,
dominant ideas. Education is bringing the nation into a large and
throbbing life. Naturalness is taking the place of forced repression.
A sense of the essential equality of man is springing up, especially
among the young m