Books & Writing
Japanese books commence at what we should call the end -the reader turns over the leaves from left to right, and the word “Finis” is found where we have the title-page.
What we term the “footnotes” are put at the top of the page, while the reader inserts his marker at the bottom; and the leaves, which are always double, are never cut.
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Japanese letters are written on long narrow strips of very light semi-transparent paper, with a brush held quite vertically in the hand-not slanting, as we are taught to hold our pens.
The writer commences at the right-hand end of the strip, and writes down-wards in lines from right to left.
Superscriptions are exactly the opposite in style to ours, the name being written last.
The accompanying illustration is a fair sample of a Japanese address.
This cannot fail to strike us as very odd at first, but upon reflection it will be found a far more sensible mode of address than ours, because it certainly is of more importance that the country, city, street and number, should all meet the letter-sorter's, and postman's eye, before the name of the individual, which certainly is the last thing wanted.
Another custom which might be adopted by us with advantage is, that the sender's address and name are always written on the reverse of the cover, so that in the event of a letter requiring to be returned from the Post-Office, it can be done without violating the privacy of correspondence by having to break open the letter to ascertain the sender's name and address.
In making out a bill, the Japanese write the figures first, and afterwards the items corresponding to the figures.
A person who has been engaged to perform certain duties for a fixed term and remuneration, besides signing the usual preliminary agreement, is required to sign another document at the conclusion of his engagement, stating that his contract has expired.
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