Colporteur Work in Japan
By H. Stacey
In this fair land our colporteurs have difficulties to face and obstacles to overcome that perhaps are not to be found in some other countries. In the first place, it cannot be said that the Japanese are a businesslike people. Their education has not been such as to develop this quality. In the past the merchant and the shopkeeper have been looked down upon by the better class of people, and even today business life in Japan is vastly different from what it is in Western countries. One may walk down a business street, and in practically every shop he will see the proprietor and his assistants leisurely smoking over a hibatchi (a box-shaped vessel containing a few hot coals). When a customer arrives and finds what he wants, he is invited to join the proprietor with pipe or cigarette; and as time is of little consequence to the Japanese mind, this invitation is rarely declined. The customer is seated but a few minutes when the servant appears with O cha (honorable tea), and gracefully bowing to the floor from a kneeling position, places a small bowl in front of the customer, and another in front of the proprietor. This is business life in Japan; and when our colporteurs go from door to door pushing their business, they are looked upon by many as little more than beggars. Japan, however, in her intense eagerness to keep pace with the Western world, is discarding many of her old-time customs and adopting Western ideas and methods. The colporteur work should therefore become easier. At present we have only two permanent colporteurs in the field. They are meeting with good success; and with what our Bible workers are doing in this line, a goodly amount of truth-laden literature is finding its way into the hands of the people. In our mission training school there are twenty-one students who have stepped out from darkest heathenism to walk in the light of the third angel's message. Anxious to have a part in this last great work committed to man, they have entered the mission school to receive the necessary preparation. About fifteen of this number will enter the canvassing field for the six months' vacation beginning in April. In the meantime we are giving them a few days' practical work each month in the city. This is preparing them to face the difficulties every colporteur has to meet, and is also revealing what help they especially need. It does one good on each of these monthly excursions to see the students setting out from the office each with a bundle of papers under his arm. So far success has attended the efforts put forth, and we expect some good work during the vacation. We pray that the Lord will abundantly bless the colporteur work in this heathen land.