Upon the feet are worn the tabi--thick white socks, which may be called
foot-gloves, for there are separate divisions for the toes.

These serve both as stockings outside the house and slippers inside, for no
boots are worn in a Japanese house. When a Japanese walks out, he slips his
feet into high wooden clogs, and when he comes home he kicks off the clogs
at the door, and enters his home in tabi alone. The reason for this we
shall hear later on. In Japanese clothes there are no pockets. Whatever
they need to carry with them is tucked into the sash or into the sleeves of
the kimono. The latter are often very long, and afford ample room for the
odds and ends one usually carries in the pocket.

But fine kimonos and rich obis are for the wealthy Japanese; the poor
cannot afford them, and dress very simply. The coolie--the Japanese working
man--goes almost naked in the warm weather, wearing only a pair of short
cotton trousers, until he catches sight of a policeman, when he slips on
his blue cotton coat, for the police have orders to see that he dresses
himself properly. His wife wears a cotton kimono, and the pair of them can
dress themselves handsomely--for coolies--from head to foot for a sum of 45
sen, which, taking the sen at a halfpenny, amounts to 1 S. 10-1/2d. in our
money.




CHAPTER III

BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_)