A Strange Environment
In the Far East one meets certain expressions the significance of which may be described as adamantine. Each represents a racial attitude against which it is useless to contend. In Japan it is the equivalent of it cannot be helped; a verbal shrug of the shoulders with which the Japanese tosses off all minor and many grave annoyances. “ Masqui ,” down the China coast, has the same import, but with the added meaning of “what difference does it make.” In the Philippines the phrase which must be met and which cannot be overcome by any system of reform is “ el costumbre del pais ”—the custom of the country.