A white man pulls a jinrikisha at the California MidwinterInternational Exposition (1894).The jinrik

A white man pulls a jinrikisha at the California MidwinterInternational Exposition (1894).The jinrikishas were brought over from Japan by George Marsh,who had commissioned the Japanese Tea Garden.  Marsh and others hopedthat they would be pulled by Asian men to provide a form oftransportation in keeping with the Sunset City’s Orientalist theme. However, according to one guidebook, it was “very unpopular withthe natives of Japan” because it was “regarded as a dreadfuldegradation to be impelled to haul one.”  The Japanese community ofSan Francisco sent a petition to the fair’s executive committee:There can be no valid objection urged to the mere exhibition of thejinrikisha at the Midwinter fair, but there are other circumstancesin this connection of which in all probability you are notadvised…The custom of requiring the jinrikisha to be drawn by meninstead of animals is degrading and should not be encouraged in acivilized Christian country like America.  We, consequently,respectfully and earnestly protest against its use in this manner inthe Park or upon public streets during the Fair.The jinrikishas were still used for transportation, however. White men were hired to pull them, wearing face paint and Japaneseclothing.  According to one newspaper article, “At a distance of ahalf a mile a jinrikisha runner might be taken, possibly, for aJapanese, but at nearer view disenchantment must follow.  The broadHibernian face and the characteristic roll of the large figure arerendered grotesque by the tiny cap and skin-tight suit.”  OnJapanese Day, many Japanese women rode in jinrikishas, as didChinese men and women.  The San Francisco Chronicle statedthat it “increased the standing of a swell Mongol to be seenscudding along through the rain in the vehicle, smoking an EarlyGrave five-cent cigar.” -- source link

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