William Gray Dixon

One fact is at once apparent ; there is a universal air of good humour. Nothing is more noticeable among the crowd than this. The cares of the world evidently press lightly upon them ; they seem less alive than Europeans to the stern realities of life.

None wears that intense distracted look so common in a Western city throng. They form a smiling, contented crowd, from the shaven-headed old grand-dame to the crowing baby. To look at them — man, woman, boy, girl alike — one might fancy there was no such thing as sorrow in the world.

...

It is not by any means contended that the Japanese may never look miserable. But the fact remains, that among this people there is nothing which so strikes and so wins a stranger as this aspect of geniality.