3 1 2 D O C . 3 7 9 T R A V E L D I A R Y D E C E M B E R 1 9 2 2 problem. Thanks from registered students.[108] Huge dinner at hotel. Entire intel- lectual elite in attendance. After the meal I had to deliver an address (after Yama- moto) and—play violin (Kreuzer sonata). (In the morning, visit by chemist Tamaru in hotel).[109] 2nd. Visit in the School of Technology. Student reception. Address Takeuchi.[110] Drive to Sendai (1–9). Honda & Aichi drive 4 hours to join us.[111] Arrival. Fellow academics, university president at train station, botanist Molisch as well. Life-threatening crowds on the way to facing hotel. There reception by authorities.[112] 3rd. In morning, lecture ½ past 9 until 12 & 1–½ past 2.[113] Trip with Yam., the caricat. painter Okamoto to pine island.[114] Spectacular coastal landscape. Stop in Japanese restaurant, Japanese-style. Dinner with physicists at the hotel. Acquain- tance of the poet Tsuchii. Gave me sketchbook by Hokusai and a book of Italian poems he had written himself.[115] In the evening, moving reception at the univer- sity. Student assembly. Then with professors. Sat beside Molisch and dean of the med. faculty. Had to write name and date in ink on wall.[116] 4th) Departure for Sendai Nikko with In., Yam., und Okamoto.[117] Honda came along for 1 hour.[118] Superb persons. Humorous, modest lovers of nature and art. Unforgettable. Splendid mountainous landscapes seen from train. Yesterday and today everywhere special favors by railway officials. Women lost along the way, because they missed the train in Tokyo.[119] Picturesque trip. Conversation with semi-Americanized German-American silk-stocking manufacturer. Through the village Nikko with Inag. and Okamoto by foot to hotel. The latter sketched a number of very charming caricatures that same evening.[120] 5th. Hard to get Inag. out of bed because reunited with his wife.[121] Around ½ past 9 set out for the temple lake lying at 1,300-m altitude.[122] Car ride up to actual climb. Then hike through magnificent forests with splendid views onto mountains, narrow valley, and plateaus. At top, hefty snow storm in raw cold that loyally accompanied us to the bottom. Okamoto, poor blighter, in straw sandals, but always full of humor and mischief. In the evening xth telegram from the German society in Kobe. At least in Japan, I much prefer dealing with Japanese. They are more sim- ilar to Italians in temperament, but even more refined, still entirely drenched in their artistic tradition, not nervous, full of humor. Along the way conversations about Buddhist religion. Educated Japanese flirt with primitive Christianity. Addi- tionally, conversation about Japanese worldview prior to contact with Europe. It seems that the Japanese never thought about why it is hotter on their southern islands than on their northern islands. Nor do they seem to have become aware that the height of the sun is dependent on the north-south position. Intellectual demands [p. 22] [p. 22v] [p. 23]