Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/280

 Itagaki Cabinet and the resolution of the Constitutionalists into their original elements, the nation recognised in Mr. Hoshi Tōru the man of the hour. It soon appeared, however, that, whether by natural inclination or as the result of observations made during his residence in America, he had become a practical believer in the methods of the "Tammany-Hall boss." There is an old and still undecided controversy among foreign observers as to bribery in Japan. Many Japanese romancists introduce the douceur in their plots as though it had a natural place in every drama of life, and historical annals show that from the seventeenth century downward Japanese rulers legislated against bribery with a degree of strenuous persistence which seems to imply conviction of its prevalence. Not only were recipients of bribes severely punished, but informers also received twice the amount in question. Japanese social relations, too, are maintained largely by the giving and taking of presents. Visits to make or to renew an acquaintance are always accompanied by gifts; the four seasons of the year are similarly marked; even deaths call for a contribution to funeral expenses; nearly all services are "recognised," and guests carry back from their entertainer's house a box of confectionery or other edibles in order that their households may not be entirely excluded from the feast. The uses of such a system evidently verge constantly on abuses, and prepare the observer to find that if the