Japanese people

"The Musmee has brown velvet eyes Curtain’d with satin, sleepily; You wonder if those lids would rise The newest, strangest sight to see; But when she chatters, laughs, or plays Kôto, biwa, or samisen, No jewel gleams with brighter rays Than flash from those dark lashes then.The Musmee has a small brown face, “Musk-melon seed” its perfect shape: Jetty arch’d eyebrows; nose to grace The rosy mouth beneath; a nape, And neck, and chin, and smooth, soft cheeks Carv’d out of sunburn’d ivory, With teeth, which, when she smiles or speaks, Pearl merchants might come leagues to see!The Musmee’s hair could teach the night How to grow dark, the raven’s wing How to seem ebon! Grand the sight When, in rich masses, towering, She builds each high black-marble coil, And binds the gold and scarlet in; And thrusts, triumphant, through the toil The Kanzâshi, her jewell’d pin.The Musmee has wee, faultless feet, With snow-white tabi trimly deck’d, Which patter down the city street In short steps, slow and circumspect; A velvet string between her toes Holds to its place th’ unwilling shoe: Pretty and pigeonlike she goes, And on her head a hood of blue.The Musmee wears a wondrous dress— Kimono, obi, imoji— A rosebush in Spring loveliness Is not more colour-glad to see! Her girdle holds her silver pipe, And heavy swing her long silk sleeves With cakes, love-letters, mikan ripe, Small change, musk-bag, and writing-leaves.The Musmee’s heart is slow to grief, And quick to pleasure, dance, and song; The Musmee’s pocket-handkerchief A square of paper! All day long Gentle, and sweet, and debonair Is, rich or poor, this Asian lass: Heaven have her in its tender care, O medetó gozarimas!"

"The education of the whole Japanese people, beginning at home and continued at school, was based on a patriotic and warlike spirit. That education, combined with the rapidly acquired successes in culture and warfare, aroused in the Japanese a marvellous confidence in their own strength. They served with pride in the ranks of the army, and dreamed of heroic deeds. ... All the thoughts of the nation were turned towards the coming struggle, while in the course of several years they had spent their last farthing in the creation of a powerful army and a strong fleet. ... The day when the young Japanese enlisted was observed as a festival in his family."

"We Germans have a far greater and more urgent duty towards civilization to perform than the Great Asiatic Power. We, like the Japanese, can only fulfil it by the sword."

"How courteous is the Japanese; He always says, “Excuse it, please.” He climbs into his neighbor’s garden, And smiles, and says, “I beg your pardon”; He bows and grins a friendly grin, And calls his hungry family in; He grins, and bows a friendly bow; “So sorry, this my garden now.”"

"I think in Japan, people are more aware. I once was in Japan and eating alone. A Japanese couple came and wanted to practice their English. They asked me what I did. I said I was a mathematician but could not get the idea across until I said: “Like Hironaka”. Wow! It’s as though in America I’d said “Like ”, or , or . Perhaps Hironaka’s name is ... the only one known, but in America I don’t think any mathematician’s name would get any response."