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A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN

you any good."[1] Yet, in time foreigners learn to like many parts of a Japanese bill of fare; and when travelling about the country, by carrying with them bread, butter, jam, and canned meats, can get along with rice, eggs, vegetables, and chicken or fish to complete the daily fare. In the summer resorts frequented by foreigners there are always hotels and restaurants where only European cooking is served. With the introduction of Western civilization came wine, ale, beer, etc., which are extensively used by the Japanese.

Indeed, we must not fail to take notice of the change that is taking place in the diet of the Japanese. Bread and meat, which were long ago introduced into the diet of the army and the navy, are pretty generally popular; and many other articles of "foreign food" are largely used. It is quite a common custom in well-to-do families to have at least one "foreign meal" per day; and "foreign restaurants," especially in the large cities, are well patronized. It is said, indeed, that first-class "foreign cooking" is cheaper than first-class "Japanese cooking." The standard of living has been considerably raised within the past decade.

It is important to touch briefly on the subject of costume, though it will not be possible or profitable to describe minutely every garment. It may not be

  1. ↑ For descriptions of Japanese meals or banquets, see Miss Scidmore's "Jinrikisha Days in Japan," passim; "The Yankees of the East" (Curtis), vol. ii. chap. xiv.; and Norman's "Real Japan," chap. i.
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