27 May 1907 - Atami

27 May - Atami

Walked to the top of Uomi-Saki (or ‘fish-look out’) as in the fishing time a man was stationed at the spot and when the fish came into the bay, he communicated by means of a primitive megaphone the news to the fishing village below.  I have a photograph of his cabin and the megaphone. 

There is really a fine view of Atami bay and one can see the smoke issue from the top of Oshima.  Atami is rather peculiarly situated in the fact that it is shut in from the rest of the province by the hills, leaving only an opening out to sea. 

The outlook from the fishing station extends from Manadzu to Ajiro - a sweep of at least fifty miles. 

The son of the landlord is of the most enquiring mind.  As soon as we come back from our walks he comes into the room armed with a dictionary, but I am able to run him into use as in a few minutes quietly answer him in Japanese, but try to get him to explain his difficulty to me in his own language.  He did not mind a bit as long as I gave him a little help with his English.  He tried hard to talk exclusively in English the first day, and I to make it Japanese, but the next day we tacitly divided the time fairly.

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