Hashimoto Sadahide on a scene at a butcher's in Yokohama:

"It appears to be the custom of those countries to hang beef upside down and sell it; whether sheep, pigs, or baby turtles, all are cooked that way and are hung with a rope from the ceiling and cut into pieces. It is fantastic how cleverly they are cut into different parts. Japanese who were watching commented on how gruesome, how unsightly, this was; in the meantime the spectators grew in number and one of them said, "Well, pork stew is popular everywhere nowadays, and when you see pigs raised and slaughtered, it isn't at all like this. The way they kill the squealing, squirming pigs is worse than this, if anything--it's a toss-up if you ask me!" The spectators took this as the prouncement of a killjoy. Then another opened his mouth: "Who are we to be criticizing this butcher? Japan is our country, all right, but don't we wring oil out of cows? I understand that it is an ingredient in a medicine sold in Edo." Hearing this, others spoke up, saying, "You must be thinking of white butter, but for that you don't slaughter the cow. You feed a white cow white sesame, milk it, and mix the milk with medicine. It is not something available to us lowly creatures and you can't compare it with ordinary bottled milk." All the talk and commotion caused by this troublesome crowd irked the foreigner, who set about ten strange-looking dogs loose on the spectators. There were dogs with long faces and bag-like hanging ears breathing heavily through large open mouths and black dogs that looked like lions. . . . Seeing them coming with their red, open mouths, people started running and the dogs chased after them. This cleared the entrance to the butcher's shop. Fortunately no one was bitten."