house that I paid
a second visit to Japan, being convinced that it was possible to handle
the labour there at a cheaper rate and with finer results than in
Europe. My experience proved that I was right. Before leaving England,
however, I was carefully informed by all my friends of the exceedingly
bad reputation that the Japanese have gained commercially. I was told
that they were treacherous and unscrupulous in their dealings, and that
I was, above all, to beware of the Japanese merchant. As it happened, it
was through making a friend of one particular little Japanese
merchant--through concentrating my attention upon him, and studying him
continually--that I was enabled to gain a real insight into the life of
the people, and to tear away that impenetrable veil which, to the
Westerner's eyes, always hangs before them.

When you get to know a Japanese merchant well, a man who has studied our
methods, you will find that he talks openly and frankly about his
dealings with the European globe-trotter. He will tell you that he
cheats you and charges you high prices because the average Westerner has
got no eye. The Westerner does not appreciate the really fine and
beautiful articles that the Japanese soul worships; therefore the
merchant gives him what he thinks the Westerner wants, and asks the
price that he thinks the traveller will give. When we first came into
touch with the Japanese we began by cheating them and foisting
deceptions upon them, and now they simply turn the tables upon us and
cheat us to the best of their ability. The only difference is that the
Japanese have more intelligence about wrong done them, and their motive
for cheating is thus resentingly greater. I have had many dealings with
the Japanese myself, and have always found them just. To be sure, I have
never come into touch with the treaty-port merchants, who have been more
or less tainted by the Westerner; but I have come into touch with, and
studied, the genuine workers of Japan.

[Illustration: A LITTLE JAP]

My first object on arriving in Tokio was to find some Japanese who would
be capable of gathering together a series of splendid craftsmen to work
for me. As luck would have it, I found my man--a perfect little genius
of a fellow--on the evening of my first day in Japan, and in a most
unexpected manner. I was sitting in the reading-room of the hotel, with
my plans spread out before me, dreaming of the Japanese glories that
were to decorate my L