JAPAN'S DAY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 14, 9 February 1942, Page 4

JAPAN'S DAY

IT would need no great tax upon the popular imagination to picture the intoxication of patriotic fervour which the news of the Japanese victories in the Pacific: will create in Japan herself. The martial stimulant, will offset the growing hardships of the oppressed common people, wRo if we are to believe pre-war observers were on the verge of revolt. Challenging the two greatest democracies in the world approximately 500,000.,000 people the Japanese Empire of 50,000,000 has succeeded in all but annexing the Philippines, over-running Malaya, investing Singapore, invading the Dutch East Indies, capturing Rabaul and bombing Port Moresby in New Guinea, annexing numerous island bases, and generally playing havoc in the short space of two months. To the unthinking Japanese masses, the traditional invincibility of their forces will appear in a more positive light than ever. The excitement and flag waving in Tokio and Yokohama will be a permanent affair as each exaggerated bulletin is released and the hero of it all will be the overbearing To jo, who has staked his country's future upon the swiftness of a treacherous declaration, of war. An indication cf the brutality of Japanese methods was afforded by the threat to the garrison of Sourabaya where annihilation to the complete army was promised should the precious oil stores "be destroyed. To the everlasting honour of the Dute.i military defenders they were destroyed in spite of the cold-blooded threat, and. to-day Japan is still emptyhanded as far as that commodity is concerned. Her costly conquests have brought her nothing. But nevertheless her people are jubilant in the reflected glory of victory after victory. Ir is definitely Japan s day, but whether it will be a short one or a long one can only be determined by the Anglo American counter offensive which is impatiently awaited by democratic peoples all over the world. Whatever we may think of the Japanese, as a nation we are compelled to admit that their recent military capabilities have had a staggering effect on the complacent Western World.. To •maintain six major offensives, each thousands of miles away, from their home bases, and to conduct them successfully without exception is little short of amazing. At least three operations almost reach Gallipoli proportions —Malaya, Burma and Singapore while each of the others approach in magnitude many of the outstanding offensives of the Great War. The secret is without doubt the element of surprise which attended each venture, plus the deeply laid plans and, careful strategy of many years preparation. Had either Great Britain or America hatched similar ambitions and suddenly launched an offensive against her unsuspecting and peaceful neighbours the results would have been, essentially the same—possibly even greater. But as surely as the su.i rises the shadow of Nemises is already casting itself aver the scene, and the audacity and bold strategy of headstrong. Japan must reap for her people a humbling desti.'.y which has been reserved for few.