>
One fact is at once apparent ; there is a universal air of good humour. Nothing is more noticeable among the crowd than this. The cares of the world evidently press lightly upon them ; they seem less alive than Europeans to the stern realities of life.
None wears that intense distracted look so common in a Western city throng. They form a smiling, contented crowd, from the shaven-headed old grand-dame to the crowing baby. To look at them — man, woman, boy, girl alike — one might fancy there was no such thing as sorrow in the world.
…
It is not by any means contended that the Japanese may never look miserable. But the fact remains, that among this people there is nothing which so strikes and so wins a stranger as this aspect of geniality.
>The land of the morning
An account of Japan and its people,
based on a four years' residence
in that country
including travels into the remotest parts of the interior
by William Gray Dixon
Edinburgh
James Gemmell, 11 and 15 George IV. Bridge
1882