Chapter I: Preface

Japanese boys have not been introduced very much to their little American friends, and the purpose of this book is to provide an introduction by telling some of the experiences which are common to most Japanese boys of the present time, together with some account of the customs and manners belonging to their life. I can at least claim that the story is told as it could be only by one who had actually lived the life that is portrayed. I have endeavored to hold the interest of my young readers by bringing in more or less of amusement. The little girl companion is introduced to widen the interest and add somewhat more of the story element than would otherwise be present. The sketches composing the various chapters are necessarily disconnected, but they form a series of pictures, priceless at least to the author, which foreign eyes have seldom been allowed to see.

SAKAE SHIOYA.

YALE UNIVERSITY, 1905.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.: MY INFANCY.
How I Looked--My Name--Walking--In Tea Season--My
Toys--“Kidnapped”--O-dango 9

CHAPTER II.: AT HOME.
Introduction--Dinner--Rice--Turning to Cows--A Bamboo
Dragon-fly--A Watermelon Lantern--On a Rainy Evening--The
Story of a Badger 23

CHAPTER III.: THE VILLAGE SCHOOL.
A Mimic School--Preparations--The School--How Classes Are
Conducted--Out of Tune--A Moral Story--School
Discipline--Playthings--“Knife Sense” 35

CHAPTER IV.: IN TOKYO.
Where We Settled--A Police Stand--Stores--“Broadway”--
Illumination--The Foreign Settlement 51

CHAPTER V.: MY NEW SCHOOL.
Tomo-chan--The Men with Wens--A Curious Punishment--How I
Experienced It--Kotoro-Kotoro 62

CHAPTER VI.: CHINESE EDUCATION.
My Chinese Teacher--How I Was Taught--Versification--My
Uncle--Clam Fishing--A Flatfish 76

CHAPTER VII.: AN EVENING FÊTE.
My Father--His Love for Potted Trees--A Local Fête--Show
Booths--Goldfish Booths--Singing Insects--How a Potted Tree
Was Bought 91

CHAPTER VIII.: SUMMER DAYS.
A Swimming School--How I Was Taught to Swim--Diving--The Old
Home Week--Return of the Departed Souls--Visiting the Ancestral
Graves--The Memorable Night--A Village Dance 102

CHAPTER IX.: THE ENGLISH SCHOOL.
A Night at the Dormitory--Beginning English--Grammar--
Pronunciation--School Moved--Mother’s Love 114

CHAPTER X.: A BOY ASTRONOMER.
What I Intended to Be--My Aun View--My Parents’ Approval--My
Uncle’s Enthusiasm--The Total Eclipse of the Sun 128

CHAPTER XI.: IN THE SUBURBS.
A Novel Experiment--Removal--Our New
House--Angling--Tomo-chan’s Visit 143

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

SAKAE SHIOYA _Portrait Frontispiece_

A JAPANESE HOUSE 22

A JAPANESE SCHOOL SCENE 40

THE JAPANESE “BROADWAY” 56

A TYPICAL JAPANESE STREET 90

A JAPANESE SCHOOL OF THE PRESENT DAY 120

WHEN I WAS A BOY IN JAPAN