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A contemporary western report described how Japanese discipline handled the billeting of Japanese soldiers in Andong. "They were billeted in every house while the Chinese inhabitants went about their daily business undisturbed. At first they concealed their goods until they found that their property was secure, then producing it to sell to their visitors at exorbitant rates. Meanwhile, sanitary precautions were not neglected. Japanese officers visited every house in which their soldiers were billeted, and coolies were sent in to give them an unexpected spring clean for their Chinese owners, sweeping out accumulated dirt from passages and courtyards, and sprinkling disinfectants.'
Another western correspondent attached to the Japanese described one of the Russian towns near Port Arthur as 'suggestive of a French village. The railway station was solidly and picturesquely built of brick and illuminated by oil-lamps. The streets were broad, though in the autumn became rivers of mud. The houses, for the most part, were built of brick, as were the extensive barracks. After the battle, the barracks and many of the houses were adapted as storehouses by the Japanese. The native Chinese village, half a mile from the station, had been forsaken by its inhabitants who had a strong commercial instinct and had adopted temporary habitations of matting in the immediate vicinity of the Japanese army, where they had instituted a kind of bazaar.'
By 25th July, the Japanese had fought and reached Newchwang. The Russians had pulled out and left the burning Russian town to the victors. However, there was no rapturous welcome for the Japanese according to a report by a western correspondent describing their arrival:
Four Japanese scouts rode into the square. They were mounted on sorry, tired horses, all mud-splattered, and rough. The men wore uniforms stained and torn by campaigning. The people regarded them with interest but without any display of emotion. They were not welcomed, nor was their intrusion resented. Then arrived four more, and later another four, with a non-commissioned officer. To him came the chiefs of the Chinese guilds with greetings. The foreign residents held aloof for the expected army, the officers, and the generals. A short while before, British ladies had provided free teas and free refreshments for the Russian troops arriving from outlying camps, and for recruits doing their drill-ground exercises. No one had anything to offer these tired, battle-worn men; they tendered not so much as a light for a cigarette.