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Tie Your Bad Luck To A Tree! Tokyo has been the capital of Japan for less than a hundred years. It has grown to its vast size within that short time and is now linked completely with Yokohama, Japan's biggest seaport, which is seventeen miles from the centre of Tokyo. Previously, for more than a thousand years, the capital of the country was Kyoto, right in the heart of the main island. The journey by air from Tokyo took me more than three hours. It is, in fact, half as far again as Paris is from London. This ancient capital is today full of priests and pagodas and shrines. There are 1,540 Buddhist temples and 231 Shinto shrines. Shintoism is a secondary religion, but an extremely active one. It should not, however, be supposed that Kyoto is now a dead city -- a museum piece. It is the second largest city in Japan, ranking next to Tokyo, with a population ol a million and a quarter and has a great many industries, such as lacquer ware, porcelain, silk-weaving, brocades and bronze. Most of the loveliest kimonos of Japan are made there. The town is surrounded by hills which are dotted by chalets very much like those you see in Switzerland. In fact, but for the pagodas which lift their many-serried roofs above the trees, you might think you were in Europe. When I was there John Wayne, the American film actor, was in the same hotel, with a company of thirty artists and about fifty film technicians. They were making a film about an American consul-general who, a hundred years ago, fell in love with a geisha girl. It is called "The Barbarian and the Geisha." In addition to this enormous American invasion there were large numbers of American tourists in the town, most of them elderly women, writes R. J. Min-ney in "Tit-Bits." A wonderful sight is the mountain of Fujiyama, only sixty miles outside Tokyo. My ^plane passed fairly close to it and it is quite awe-inspiring trom the air. It is nearly 12,500 feet high, the highest mountain Jn Japan.. It is almost a perfectly symmetrical cone and the people regajd it as sacred. They make pilgrimages to its top when it is free of snow, which is for only two months of the summer. It is in fact an extinct volcano; the crater is' 2,000 feet across, but you get no hint of this from the drawings of the mountain which are put out in ^•(■pictures and are used also to decorate many articles manufactured'in Japan. You can see too many shrines and temples. Your mind gets muddled with it all, so I refused to do the full escorted tour by bus. I selected instead the four most interesting places and went to them by myself. One of them was the house of a nobleman, built of wood and paper 800 years ago, with a moat all round it. Very few private houses of that age survive in Europe; here was a perfect example and I could visualize exactly how people lived at that About an hour away by bus is a still earlier capital of Japan called Nara. This is a place chiefly of shrines and temples, and has the atmosphere of one «f our smaller cathedral towns. Right in the middle of it is a vast unfenced deer park, stretching for 13,000 acres. The deer come out of it and roam through the streets, nuzzling up against you, hoping to be fed. You can crick your neck in Nara by gazing up at the largest bronze Buddha in the world. It is seventy-one feet high. The face is three times as tall as the average man's height -- seventeen feet; each eye is nearly four feet wide; the thumb is 5 ft. 3 in. long. The devout were lighting joss sticks and setting them up in front of the Buddha, much as one lights candles in France and Italy. But the Shinto shrines are the most picturesque. Each is approached through at least one saffron-coloured wooden archway, about ten feet high, made not circular but of cross bars. One of the shrines has a thousand such arches, each put uo by a man hoping to acquire merit. The arches are called Tories and the vista provided by them is most attractive and colourful. All the Shinto shrines, which are in fact temples, have girls who sing and dance as part of the service. Some of the girls are extremely pretty; they acecm-pany themselves by beating on arums and cymbols. All round, on bushes and trees, one can see little knots of paper -- they look like the twists of paper some women in England use for curling their hair. All these papers represent bad luck. The people of the East are extremely superstitious; they frequently consult astrologers, Whenever they are told of some ill fortune that is likely to befall them, they instantly write out the evil tidings, go to .a temple end tie the paper on to a tree or a bush. That is their way of getting rid of it. Japanese pronunciation of our language differs from the Chinese in a curious way. The Chinese turn all our r's into l's. The Japanese do the opposite. They turn all the l's into r's. A cloakroom becomes a "CroakrOOm." An assistant in the BOAC office was talking to me about my "Fright." As I wasn't nervous 1 wondered what he meant and then realized he was talking about the time of my flight! At the camera shop I was offered "A wide surrection"--meaning selection. But the word "grasses" puzzled me in the 'plane. The Japanese sitting beside me meant he had to put on his glasses to read the menu. The Japanese language is *apt to puzzle a foreigner. I picked up a few essential words so that I could order a meal in a restaurant, but the words I learnt were inadequate. They required an "O" to be stuck in front of them. "What's the 'O' for?" I asked a friend. "Oh, that's for 'Honourable.' You can't just order an egg or a plate of ham. You have to say 'Bring me an honourable egg and an honourable plate of ham'." From this journey into the interior I returned to Tokyo by train. I found the train extremely clean (as in China) and superbly comfortable. All the attendants were girls. They were dressed in sky-blue uniforms,' close fitting, with white overlapping collars and cuffs. The meals were swiftly served, for there was One attendant for each passenger in the dining car. As a result they got three services in within the hour. A slow eater seated beside me had his plate snatched away before he was finished; they could not afford to wait! Then there's the student who changed his major from dentistry to real estate. He still want to drill--but for oil. WASH DAY-A tree grows in Brooklyn, all right, but it's almost swallowed up by the jungle of clotheslines on wash day. Helping out the icdy of the house, a husband hangs out a few things to dry from the fire escape of a house on McDonough St. SUMMER TRAGEDY AVERTED--Another in the annual long list of summer drowning tragedies was averted when six young swimmers went to the aid of Judy McKenna in Boston. The South Boston girl is lifted over a fence into the waiting arms of police. J TABLE TALKS daite Andrews. Castroville, a small community situated in Monterey County, Calif., has a truly significant claim to fame--it's called "The Artichoke Centre of the World." Only two places are known to grow this rich, delicately flavored vegetable, commercially; Italy and Central California. In Castroville, 20 feet above sea level, within a few miles of the Pacific Ocean, are found ideal climatic conditions -- frequent fogs, soft sea breezes, and rich coastal loil. It is the Globe or French artichoke, a thistlelike perennial that covers almost 6,000 acres of this fertile land In 1922 the first plants were introduced. Today three packing houses are needed to pack and ship the abundant crop. The harvesting season begins about Sept. 1, and continues until about April 15, with two main crops during these months --one about Oct. 1, another near Jan. 1. » » . The fresh vegetable is often passed by for, to many, it seems difficult to prepare, when actually the preparation is very simple. Trim the top third with a sharp knife (Or scissors), which will remove the thorny tips. Then remove the outer course leaves and trim stem to within an inch of the cluster. Wash thoroughly in cold, salted water, then place in a full kettle of boiling, salted water. Cook the large artichokes from 30 to 45 minutes, smaller ones 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from water. Turn upside down to drain. Serve either hot or cold. Many are the tempting ways that artichokes may be served: in salads, soups, stuffed with meat, poultry, or shellfish, with scrambled eggs, crisp fried, or pickled. Individuals have even made desserts of this remarkable vegetable. After having cooked a number of the small chokes, one may mash the leaves into a pulp, then make a pie by following a simple recipe, as for pumpkin pie. Using the pulp in a cake mixture results in a moist, delicately flavored cake. The Central California Artichoke Growers Association sug- Stuffed Artichokes, Baked 8 medium-sized or large artichokes Vi pound ground lean beef Vz cup chopped onion Oil (olive or salad oil) 2 tablespoons chopped parsley % cup soft bread crumbs 1 egg Salt Pepper Dash of allspice 1 tomato 2 tablespoons lemon juice After trimming and washing, spread artichokes open by placing upside down on table and pressing stem ends firmly. With teaspoon, dig out centre leaves and fuzzy portions. Brown beef and onion in about 2 tablespoons olive or other cooking oil Remove from heat, stir in parsley, bread crumbs, egg, xk teaspoon salt, pepper, and allspice. Fill centres of chokes with meat mixture. Place artichokes in deep baking dish; top each with thin slice of tomato. Put one-inch boiling water in baking pan; add lemon juice. Stand artichokes in pan, top generously with salt and oil; cover closely. • Bake in moderate oven (350°F.) about 1 to 1% hours or until tender. Serves 6. Western Salad Bowl 8 small cooked artichokes 1 small head lettuce 1 bunch Romaine 2 green onions M cup salad oil 2 tomatoes 2 tablespoons garlic - flavored vinegar Salt Pepper 1 hard-cooked egg After trimming and washing, place in boiling water with % teaspoon of salt. Cover closely and cook 15 to 20 minutes. Drain upside down and chill. Break salad greens in bite-sized pieces into salad bowl. Add halved artichokes and thinly sliced onion. Sprinkle with oil and toss lightly until greens are thoroughly coated. Add tomato wedges, sprinkle with vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Toss again. Top with wedges or slices of egg. Serves 8. Artichoke Egg Scramble 3 small artichokes 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons chopped onion 6 eggs Vi teaspoon salt cup milk After trimming and washing, cut trimmed artichokes into thin lengthwise slices. Melt butter and add artichokes. Cover and cook slowly until tender, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent browning. Add onion a few minutes before artichokes are tender. Beat eggs with salt and milk and pour over artichokes. Cook slowly until set, stirring from the bottom as mixture cooks. Serves 3 to 4. REAL ROLE - Suzanne trying to ac'just to life adr. It shou'd be a cinch a refugee from the If r-rian -evolt. Vayda, kes the Broken Leg Brought Romance Bells of the ivy-clad church chimed cheerfully and the August sun shone fiercely as the bride emerged on the arm of her groom and walked to their waiting car: On the fringe of the boisterous crowd was a pale-faced, lovely girl of twenty-four. She waved as the car slid away in the direction of the railway station, but the couple, engrossed in each other, did not see her. For a few moments the girl gazed wistfully after the car, then she walked slowly back towards her cottage home at the other end of the French village, to her ailing, bedridden mother. As she walked in the intense heat she reflected that but for her mother's ill health, she might have been the bride of the wealthy market gardener who was now on his way with his wife to the French Riviera for a fortnight's honeymoon. The girl could not help thinking that fate had been rather hard on her. She had lost a husband because of her mother's illness -- and everybody in the little French village knew it. "How unlucky she is," they murmured. They knew what it must have cost the girl to say to the ardent sweetheart who had proposed to her in the moonlight close to the cottage: "No, dear, I can't marry while mother is alive. She needs my constant care. It's been like that ever since father died in a road crash seven years ago." Since turning down the marriage proposal, two other bachelors from surrounding villages had tried in vain to woo her. As she approached the cottage the girl was suddenly startled into action by seeing that the thatched roof was alight. She rushed to the home of the •nearest village fireman. Soon the brigade and farmhands were fighting the flames and rescuing the girl's seventy-year-old mother who was taken to a neighbour's cottage. Their own cottage was gutted. The girl wept as she contemplated their grim future. Thit new misfortune seemed too much. A friendly farmer's wife a mile away took pity on them and provided them with rooms at the farmhouse next day. But yet another misfortune awaited the t "1. She was crossing a rustic bridge later that week when a rotten plar^k gave way and she broke a leg Then her luck begs.n to turn. The young doctor who tended the leg was a substitute for the usual village doctor who was on holiday. He fell ir love with his fair-haired patient. He proposed a week later And when the girl explained that she could not marry liin because of her mother, he merely smiled. "I love you, Marie," he said, "and I will wait until you are free, if necessary, b.it perhaps I can persuade your mother to alter her mind and come and live with us. My sisUr, a skilled rurse, will look after her." And so it was that the girl who seemed to be always dogged by misfortune found happiness in love and marriage. Today, the mother of three children, she declares shi;'s the happiest woman in Fran:e. And her mother, well cared for, is contented, too, although still bed- The American millionaire miner Nicholas Creede used to say that he owed his fortune to an accident. He was down on his luck when one afternoon while toiling up a sleep slope, the mule he rode slipped and trying to recover itself, overturned a large piece of rock. Creede was amazed to find that the underside of the rock glistened with specks of silver. He pegged a claim and in less than a year had made 3 silver fortune Of $600,000. S1MA THESE DAYS When Al Sima pitched for the Senators and Gene Woodling played for the Yankees, the boys lived fairly close to each other in nearby New Jersey suburbs. When Washington came to New York, Sima used to drive Wood-ling to the park, then drive him home after the game. One day, the Yanks and Senators were embroiled in a tight 2-1 ball game. In the bottom of the ninth, Sima was jus.t one out from victory. With t*rp men on base, Woodling was up to pinch hit. You gaes>eo it, Woodling hit one over the fence. The Yankee secretary rushed out and asked Gene if he would take a bow on the post-game TV show. Gene said sure. "But what about Sima?" asked the secretary. Woodling's eyes twinkled. "I don't think he'll wait for me this afternoon." What did the ocean say to the airplane as it flew over? Didn't say nuthin'. Just waved. Younger Set Fashion Hint