The Seaforth News, 1958-09-11, Page 2Tae Your Gad Luck
To A Tree !
Tokyo has beenthe capital
of Japan for less than a hundred
years. It has grown to its vast
size within that short time and
is now linked completely with
'Yokohama, Japan's biggest sea-
port, which is seventeen miles
from the centre of Tokyo,.
Previously, for more than a
thousand years, the capital of
the country was Kyoto, right in
the heart of the main island. The
journey by air from Tokyo took
me more than three hours. It is,
in fact, half as far again as Paris
is from London.
This ancient capital is today
full of priests and pagodas and
shrines. There are 1,540 Buddhist
temples and 231 Shinto shrines.
Shintoism is a secondary religion,
but an extremely active one.
It should not, however, be
supposed that Kyoto is now a
dead city — a museum piece. It
is the second largest city in
Japan, ranking next to Tokyo,
with a population al a million
and a quarter and hae a great
many industries, such as lacquer
ware, porcelain, silk -weaving,
brocades and bronze. Most of the
loveliest kimonos of Japan are
made there.
The town is surrounded by
hills which are dotted by cha-
lets very much like those you
see in Switzerland. In fact, but
for the pagodas which lift their
many -serried roofs above the
trees, you might think you
were in Europe,
When I was there John Wayne,
the American film actor, was in
the same hotel, with a company
of thirty artists and about fifty
film technicians, They were mak-
ing a film about an American
consul -general who, a hundred
years ago, fell in love with a
geisha girl. It is called "The
Barbarian and the Geisha."
In addition to this enormous
American invasion there were
large numbers of American tour-
ists in the town, most of them
elderly women, writes R. J. Min-
ney in "Tit -Bits."
A wonderful sight is the
mountain of Fujiyama, only
sixty miles outside Tokyo. My
plane passed fairly close to it
and it is quite awe-inspiring
from the air. It is nearly 12,500
feet high, the highest mountain
in Japan. It is almost a perfect.,.
ly symmetrical cone and the
people regard it as sacred. They
make pilgrimages to its top when
it is free of snow, which is for
Gnty two months of the s-ymmer,
11 is in fact an extinct vol-
cano; the crater is 2,000 feet
across, but you get no hint of
this from the drawings of the
mountain which are put out in
pictures and are used also to
decorate many articles manu-
factured in Japan.
You can see too many shrines
and temples. Your mind gets
muddled with it all, so I refused
to do the full escorted tour by
bus. I selected instead the four
most interesting places and went
to then by myself.
One of them was the house of
a nobleman, built of wood and
paper 800 years ago, with a moat
all round it. Very few private
houses of that age survive in
Europe; here was a perfect ex-
ample and I could visualize ex-
aetly how people lived at that
time.
About an hour away by bus is
a still earlier capital of Japan
called Nara. This is a place
chiefly of shrines and temples,
and has the atmosphere of one
orf our smaller cathedral towns.
Right in the middle of it is
a vast unfenced deer park,
stretching for 13,000 acres, The
deer come out of it and roam
through the streets, nuzzling up
against you, hoping to be fed.
You can crick your neck in
Nara by gazing up at the largest
bronze Buddha in the world, It
is seventy-one feet high. The
face is three times as tall as the
average man's height — seven-
teen feet; each eye is nearly
four feet wide; the thumb is 5
ft. 3 im long. The devout were
lighting joss sticks and setting
them up in front of the Buddha,
much as one lights candles in.
France and Italy.
But the Shinto shrines are the
most picturesque. Each is ap-
proached through at least one
saffron -coloured wooden arch-
way, about ten feet high, made
not circular but of cross bars.
One of the shrines has a thous-
and such arches, each put uo by
a man hoping to acquire merit.
The arches are called Tories and
the _ vista provided by them is
most attractive and colourful.
All the Shinto shrines, which
are in fact temples, have girls
who sing and dance as part of
the service, Some of the girls are
extremely pretty; they acsom-
pany themselves by beating on
arums and cymbols.
All round, on bushes and trees,
one can see little knots of paper
— they look like the twists of
paper some women in England
ase for curling their hair. All
these papers represent bad luck.
The people of the East are
extremely superstitious; they
frequently consult astrologers,
Whenever they are told of some
ill fortune that is likely to befall
them, they instantly write out
the evil tidings, go to a temple
and tie the paper on to a tree or
a bush. That is their way of get-
ting rid of it.
Japanese pronunciation of aur
language differs from the Chin-
ese in a curious way. The Chin-
ese turn all our r's into l's. The
Japanese do the opposite. They
turn all the l's into r's. A cloak-
room becomes a "Croakroom."
An assistant in the BOAC office
was talking to me about my
"Fright" As I wasn't nervous
1 wondered what he meant and
then realized he was talking
about the time of my flight! At
the camera shop I was offered
"A wide surrection"—meaning
selection. But the word "grass-
es" puzzled me in the 'plane, The
Japanese sitting beside me meant
he had to put on his glasses to
read the menu.
The Japanese language is apt
to puzzle a foreigner. I picked up
a few essential words so that I
gould order a meal in a restaur-
ant, but the words I learnt were
inadequate. They required an
"0" to be stuck in front of them.
"What's the '0' for?" I asked a
friend. "Oh, that's for 'Honour-
able.' You can't just order an
egg or a plate of ham. You have
to say 'Bring me an honourable
egg and an honourable plate
of ham'."
From this journey into the
interior I returned to Tokyo by
train. I found the train extreme-
ly clean (as in China) and sup-
erbly comfortable, All the attend-
ants were girls, They were dress-
ed in sky-blue uniforms, close
fitting, with white overlapping
collars and cuffs.
The meals were swiftly serv-
ed, for there was one attendant
for each passenger in the dining
car. As a result they got three
services in within the hour. A
slow eater seated beside me had
nis plate snatched away before
he was finished; they could not
afford to wait!
Then there's the student who
changed his major from dentistry
to real estate. He still want to
drill -but for oil,
WASH DAY—A tree grows in Brooklyn, all right, but it's almost
*Wallowed up by. the jungle of clotheslines on wash clay. Help-
ing out the lady of the house, a husband hangs out a few
things to dry from the fire escape of a house on McDonough St..
SUMMER TRAGEDY AVERTED—Another in the annual long list
of summer drowning tragedies was averted when six young
swimmers went to the aid of Judy McKenna in Boston, The
South Boston girl is lifted over a fence into the waiting arms
of police.
'TABLE TALKS
clam
Castroville, a small commun-
ity situated in Monterey Coun-
ty, Calif., has a truly significant
claim to fame—it's called "The
Artichoke Centre of the World."
Only two places are known td
grow this rich, delicately fla-
vored vegetable, commercially;
Italy and Central California,
In Castroville, 20 feet above
sea level, within a few miles of
the Paciflc Ocean, are found
ideal climatic conditions — fre-
quent fogs, soft sea breezes, and
rich coastal soil.
* A *
It is the Globe or French arti-
choke, a thistlelike perennial
that covers almost 0,000 acres of
this fertile land. In 1922 the first.
plants were introduced. Today
three packing houses are needed
to pack and ship the abundant
crop. The harvesting season be-
gins about Sept, 1, and continues
until about April 15, with two
main crops during these months
—one about Oct. 1, another near
Jan. 1. a ,k s
The fresh vegetable is often
passed by f or, to many, it seems
difficult to prepare, when actu-
ally the preparation is very
simple. Trim the top third with
a sharp knife (Or scissors),
which will remove the thorny
tips. Then remove the outer
course leaves and trim stem to
within an inch of the cluster.
* d 5
Wash thoroughly in cold, salt-
ed water, then place in a full
kettle of boiling, salted water.
Cook the large artichokes from
30 to 45 minutes, smaller ones
15 to 20 minutes. Remove from
water. Turn upside down to
dra!n. Serve either hot or cold.
_ a * *
Many are the tempting ways
that artichokes may be served:
in salads, soups, stuffed with
meat, poultry, or shellfish, with
scrambled eggs, crisp fried, or
pickled, Individuals have even
made desserts of this remark-
able vegetable.
* d b
After having cooked a num-
ber of the small chokes, one
may mash the leaves into a pulp,
then make a pie by following a
simple recipe, as for pumpkin
pie. Using the pulp in a cake
mixture results in a moist, deli-
cately flavored cake.
The Central California Arti-
choke Growers Association sug-
gests:
Stuffed Artichokes, Baked
6 medium-sized or large arti-
chokes
Si pound ground lean beef
% cup chopped onion
Oil (olive or salad oil)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
?e cup soft bread crumbs
1 egg
Salt
Pepper
Dash of allspice
1 tomato
2' tablespoons lemon juice
After trimming and washing,
spread artichokes open by plat-
ing upside down on table and
pressing stem ends firmly. With
teaspoon, dig out centre leaves
and fuzzy portions, Brown .beef
and onion in about 2 tablespoons
olive or other cooking oil, Re-
move fromheat,, stir in parsley,
bread crumbs, egg, 1 teaspoon
salt, pepper, and allspice. Fill
centres of chokes with meat
mixture. Place artichokes in
deep baking dish; top each with
thin slice of tomato. Put eine-
inch boiling water in baking
pan; add lemon juice, Stand
artichokes in pan, top gener-
ously with salt and oil; cover
closely. Bake in moderate oven
(350'F.) about 1 to 11/2 hours or
until tender, Serves 6,
Western Salad Bowl
8 small cooked artichokes
1 small head lettuce
1 bunch Romaine
2 green onions
Y cup salad oil
2 tomatoes
2 tablespoons garlic - flavored
vinegar
Salt
Pepper
1 hard -cooked egg
After trimming and washing,
place in boiling water with 3/a
teaspoon of salt. Cover closely
and cook 15 to 20 minutes, Drain
upside down and chill. Break
salad. greens in bite -sized pieces
into salad bowl. Add halved
artichokes and thinly sliced on-
ion. Sprinkle with oil and toss
lightly until greens are thor-
oughly coated. Add tomato
wedges, sprinkle with vinegar
and salt and pepper to taste.
Toss again. Top with wedges or
slices of egg. Serves 8.
5 5' *
Artichoke Egg Scramble
3 small artichokes
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped onion.
6 eggs
Vs teaspoon salt
Si cup milk
After trimming and washing,
cut trimmed artichokes into thin
lengthwise slices. Melt butter
and add artichokes. Cover and
cook slowly until tender, about
15 minutes. Stir frequently to
prevent browning. Add onion a
few minutes before artichokes
are tender. Beat eggs with salt
and milk and pour over arti-
chokes. Cook slowly until set,
stirring from the bottom as mix-
ture cooks, Serves 3 to 4.
REAL ROLE — Suzanne Vayda,
17, in a Toronto play, takes the
role of a Hungarian refugee
trying to adjust to life in Can-
ada. It should be a cinch`—she's
a refugee from the l9' 5 Hun-
garian revolt.
Broken Leg
Brought Romance
Bells of the ivy -clad church
s h 1 m e d cheerfully and the
August sun shone fiercely as
the bride emerged oh the arm
of her groom and walked to
their waiting car.
On the fringe ;of the boisterous
crowd was a pale -faced, lovely
girl of twenty-four. She waved
as the car slid away in the di-
rection of the railway station,
but the couple, engrossed in each
other, did not see, her.
For a few xnoments the girl
gazed wistfully after the car,
then she walked slowly back to-
wards her cottage home at the
other end of the French village,
to her ailing, bedridden mother.
As she walked in the intense
heat she reflected that but for
her mother's ill health, she
might have been the bride of
the wealthy market gardener
whowas now on his way with
his wife to the French Riviera
for a fortnight's honeymoon.
The girl could not help think-
ing that fate had been rather
hard on her, She had lost a
husband because of her mother's
illness — and everybody in the
little French village knew it.
"How unlucky she is," they
murmured. They knew what it
must have cost the girl to say
to the ardent sweetheart who
had proposed to her in the
moonlight close to the cottage:
"No, dear, I can't marry while
mother is alive. She needs my
constant care. It's been like that
ever since father died in a road
crash seven years ago."
Since turning down the mar-
riage proposal, two other ba-
chelors from surrounding vil-
lages had tried in vain to woo
her.
As she approached the cot-
tage the girl was suddenly startl-
ed into action by seeing that
the thatched roof was alight,
She rushed to the home of the
nearest village fireman. Soon the
brigade and farmhands were
fighting the flames and rescuing
the girl's seventy -year-old mo-
ther who was taken to a neigh-
bour's cottage.
Their own cottage was gutted,
The girl wept as she contem-
plated their grim future. This
new misfortune seemed t o 0
much.
A friendly farmer's wife a
mile away took pity on them
and provided them with rooms
at the farmhouse next day.
But yet another misfortune
awaited the girl. She was cross-
ing a rustic bridge later that
week when a rotten plank gave
way and she broke a leg.
Then her luck began to turn.
The young doctor who tended
the leg was a substitute for the
usual village doctor who was
on holiday. He fell in love with
his fair-haired patient.
He proposed a week later And
when the girl explained that she
could not marry him because
of her mother, he merely smiled.
"I love you, Marie," he said,
"and I will wait until you are
free, if necessary, but perhaps
I can persuade your mother to
alter her mind and come and
live with us. My sister, a skilled
rurse, will 'look after her,"
And so it was that the girl
who seemed to be always dog-
ged by misfortune found hap-
piness in love and marriage. To-
day, the mother of three ehil-
dren, she declares she's the hap-
piest woman in France. And her
mother, well cared for, is con-
tented, too, although still bed=
Adder:.
The American millionaire
miner Nicholas Creede used to
say that he owed his fortune
to an accident.. He was down
on his luck when one afternoon
while toiling up a steep slope,
the mule he rode slipped and
trying to recover itself, over-
turned a large piece of rock.
Creede was amazed to find
that the underside of the rock
glistened 'with- specks of silver.
He pegged a 'claim and. in less
than a year had made a silver
fortune of $600,000.
SIMA THESE DAYS
When AI Sims pitched for the
Senators and Gene Woodling
played for the Yankees, the boys
lived fairly close to each other
in nearby New Jersey suburbs.
When Washington came to New
'York, Sima used to drive Wood -
ling to the park, then drive him
home after the game.
One day, the Yanks and Sena-
tors were embroiled in a tight
2-1 ball game. In the bottom of
the ninth, Sima was just one out
Isom victory. With two men on
base, Woodling was sent up to
pinch hit. You guessed it, Wood -
ling hit one over the fence.
The Yankee secretary rushed
out and asked Gene if he would
take a bow on the post -game TV
show. Gene said sure.
"But what about Sima?" ask-
ed the secretary.
Woodling's eyes twinkled. "I'
don't think he'll wait for me
this afternoon.
What did the ocean say to the
airplane as it flew over?
Didn't say nuthin'. Just waved.
Younger Set Fashion Hint