Tokyo Japan 

Outside the moat surrounding the palace grounds there had been erected a great pavilion. Promptly at 10 o'clock the ambassadors and ministers accredited to the Japanese Court entered the side door of the pavilion, were served tea, and were then escorted to their seats on the platform.

Never, I think, have I seen a more impressive sight than the one which met us there. On the open field in front of the pavilion were standing some sixty thousand men, rank upon rank of them, all dressed in frock coats or morning coats, their silk hats in their hands. They had been assembling since daylight. They were silent, motionless, as only a Japanese crowd can be.

There was no drifting tobacco smoke, no sound of talking, no restlessness after the long hours of waiting. These men were waiting reverently to receive their sovereign, the descendant of the Imperial House which has ruled Japan without a break for twenty-five hundred years.

In a few minutes the Imperial Princes filed in and took their seats at the right. And then came the Emperor himself, in full uniform, quick in his movements, alert, but always dignified. As he stepped onto the dais, all those in the pavilion rose and the multitude in the field bowed in acknowledgment of his presence. Looking down on them as we were, I had the impression of a breeze across a great field of corn where the stalks bowed in successive waves. Still there was no sound. It seemed as if even the distant city noises had ceased.

The Minister of the Interior slowly ascended the long flight of steps until he stood before the Emperor. He bowed low three times, read from a roll the record of the reconstruction, again bowed low, and backed down the steps.

The Emperor rose and read a short acknowledgment. The vast throng remained silent and motionless. But, finally, the Prime Minister advanced to the foot of the steps and raised his hat. Then, at last, the silence was shattered, as sixty thousand men shouted, Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!

Once more, in the reestablished silence, the vast audience bowed as the Emperor left, followed by the Imperial Princes and the diplomatic corps. The ceremony had lasted for fifteen intense minutes.

The Mayor gave a luncheon to more than a hundred thousand people, in Hibiya Park, where the red and white awnings seemed to cover acres of ground. People sat on benches as they would have in the United States, but in America they would not all have carried away with them, as is the custom in Japan, neatly packed parcels of food they could not eat…"