We could scarcely believe our ears when we heard that we could order eggs from a Japanese acquaintance in the country for only 81 sen apiece plus a tip of a bottle of sake for the total of 500 eggs. We can get the sake at the fixed price so that the savings will be considerable.
A Japanese doctor told me that most of his patients (and they are in the upper brackets of income) now suffer either from pneumonia or malnutrition. As a matter of fact the obituaries in the Times usually give pneumonia as the cause of death.
The transportation system is still clogged with refugees. I had to wait a full hour today before I could squeeze myself into a streetcar. An old man who tried to get in after me fell off when the car moved on before he could get a firm hold. I caught a glimpse of him; he looked grimy, unshaven, bewildered, a typical air-raid victim. He was clutching what looked like a charred piece of wood clumsily wrapped up in a soiled kerchief.