When I Was a Boy in Japan

BY
SAKAE SHIOYA

ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

BOSTON
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.

---

Published, August, 1906.

All Rights Reserved.

When I Was a Boy in Japan.

Norwood Press
Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U. S. A.

---

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