llustration: Japanese Shoes.]

Perhaps you would like to know how they dress in Japan. Boys and girls
dress very much alike. Both wear long gowns, like skirts, of blue or
gray cotton or silk. These gowns are open at the neck. A sash is worn
around the waist. The girls tie their sashes in a bow at the back.

The children of Japan are very strange looking, not at all like you.
They are like the Chinese. Their skin is yellow, and their eyes are
slanted. Their hair is black and straight.

You will wish to know what they eat in Japan. The food is much the
same as in China. They eat a great deal of rice. They have fish, and
they drink tea. They use chopsticks in eating, as the people in China
do.

The people in Japan are very fond of flowers. Every house has a garden
around it. The boys and girls walk and play in these gardens.

[Illustration: Interior of a Japanese House.]

Boys and girls in Japan have many nice toys. One of their toys is a
little oven with real fire in it. Peddlers go round with these ovens
and with sweet dough to bake in them. For five cents the boys and
girls can get the use of an oven, and dough enough to bake little
cakes. They often make cakes shaped like animals. The peddler makes
the letters of the alphabet in dough. Then he bakes them in the oven
for the boys and girls. With these cake letters they often learn their
a, b, c.

The boys in Japan, like the boys in China, are very fond of kites. But
in Japan they have fighting kites. They mix broken fine glass with
glue, and rub it on their kite strings. When the strings become dry
they are hard and sharp. Then the boys fly their kites. One boy tries
to cross and cut the string of another boy's kite with the string of
his own. The boy who cuts down a kite gets it as his prize.

In Japan they have a day like our Flag Day. On this day the boys have
toy soldiers with swords and guns. They form these soldiers into
armies, and have battles. Then the parents and teachers tell the boys
about the great soldiers of their country, and the great battles they
fought.

The girls have a day for themselves. They call it the "Feast of
Dolls." Every girl has a set of dolls. On that day they take out
their dolls and doll houses. Then the girls play with them, and show
them to one another.

[Illustration: Japanese Girl and Doll.]

They have schools in Japan just as we have. The boys and girls must go
to school until they