SCORCHY SMITH
f
if.
IB
I
£
i
1
i
_L
- --|
Russian Language
Booming Again
In Japan Seaport
TSURUGA, Japan, OR—The Rus
sian language is booming again in
this seaport, once called “the
north gate to Soviet Russia.”
With diplomatic relations re
stored between Japan and the So
viet Union, a class in Russian con
versation has an enrollment of
80. Students include city officials,
dock workers, shopkeepers, busi
nessmen and coffee shop wait
resses.
The instructor is 45-year-old
■Masao Fuchimoto, who returned
last year from a 10-year stay in a
Russian prison camp.
Printing shops are buying Rus
sian type for expected orders of
calling cards. Tailors are scan
ning style books in search, of Rus
sian fashions.
Merchants are putting up Rus
sian signs, but haven’t found
many sign painters who can han
dle the Russian language.
Before World War II, ships
made regular runs between Tsu
ruga and Vladivostok, the big
Russian port in Siberia. Tsuruga
is midway along the northern
coast of Japan’s main island of
Honshu.
Parisians Seek Warmth
In Snow-Capped Alps
During Holidays
PARIS, Iff)—A lot of Parisians
began a Christmas holiday rush
Saturday to the snow-capped
mountains—the luxuries in the
Alps looked increasingly attrac
tive as the government announced
further cuts in the fuel oil for
homes and apartments.
Ski lodges laid in their fuel
early and are now warm as toast.
Some 300,000 Parisians are
heading for the mountains, com
pared with 200,000 last year. Rail
road stations are jammed.
The government announced
apartments and houses would
have to get along in January and
February on 45 percent of the
fuel consumed in those months
last year.
A further reduction also was
announced in the already skimpy
gasoline ration allotted to motor
ists since the Suez crisis cut im
ports. French car owners now get
about 7Va gallons a month. This
will be trimmed to 1V* gallons
on January 1.