THE SPY SYSTEM--THE BATH-HOUSE.


There are two Japanese customs so diametrically opposed to English
ideas, and so materially affecting the national character, that it is
necessary to call special attention to them.

The espionage system is perhaps the strangest, as every one in the
country is subjected to it, from the Mikado and Tycoon, or spiritual
and temporal emperors, to the humblest of the people.

All offices of importance are double; that is to say, every governor
of a town or district is associated with a vice-governor, who is an
'ometsky,' or 'spy,' upon him, and is in turn spied upon by others. In
this way a constant check is kept upon the executive of the empire.

In addition to this acknowledged system, government officials are
frequently watched by secret spies, who, for aught they know, may be
some apparently trusty friend: so that, even in the absence of their
double, they can never be certain that they are free from supervision.

In private life families spy on each other, for which purpose they are
divided into coteries of five households, the heads of which are not
only responsible for themselves, their families and servants, but also
for the other members of the coterie; and any wrong-doing in one
household must be immediately reported to the proper authorities, to
secure the rest from sharing in the punishment of the offence.

To such an extent is this system of responsibility carried, that a
whole district sometimes suffers for the offence of one of its