JAPANESE DELEGATES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 58, 6 September 1926, Page 9

JAPANESE DELEGATES

VISIT TO AUSTRALIA

HURRIED TOUR TO STUDY THE

COMMONWEALTH.

(From Our Own Correspondent)

SYDNEY, -26th August.

T-o study Austra.lian conditions, especially its labour problems, a party of fix members of the Japanese House of Representatives, accompanied by a secretary, arrived at Sydney last week-end by steamer from the North. • All that they will be able to learn of the Commonwealth must be superficial, for after spending two or three days in this city, they left for Melbourne, and will return from there in time to embark on the steamer for Japan on Saturday next. The delegation explained that every year the Japanese Diet sets a sum of money for a party of its members to visit foreign countries. This year the party was to attend an international conference at Paris, but at the last moment this conference was -postponed, and Australia was substituted at the last moment.

TO PROMOTE FRIENDSHIP.

Although most- of tho members of the delegation understand English, they are not sufficiently confident of their knowfledge to speak it, and interviews had to be made with,, the '.. spokesman (Mr. •Hideo Higuchi). through an interpreter, by the way, was a B.A. of Sydney University. Mr. Higuchi said that .ithe party had only come to see the country which business and proximity made .interesting to Japan. He had no com.mission, but he hoped that what he and ■ilia companions learned in their regrettably short stay, and what Australia learned of them, would promote new friendships between the two nations. .__.<» hoped, too, that the party would .earn something of our government d»nd of oiir industrial life, which might _belp them to solve their own problems. jEdke the rest of the world, Japan had «iany of these, and he thought that in tlnstralia he might find parallels to many of the problems of his own coun:try, "which was also a land of rapid transition and development.

POLITICS IN JAPAN.

Mr. -Higuchi admitted that Bolsheyiks were active in Japan, but the Govjtrnment's campaign against them circumvented their influence, and, deprived of a Press, they were not terrifying:|y powerful. At the moment there was 110 Labour Party in Parliament; but after the next election—in 1928—when ithe franchise would be extended, the J>arty which was formed recently to represent the workers would probably iiave a few members in the House. The tew franchise might straighten out many difficulties, but the whole position yraa complicated, and not easily to be Commented upon. At the moment, the franchise was allotted on tho basis of fncome tax. A large party of Japanese residents M Sydney, including the Consul-General {(Mr. Tokugawa) met the visitors on ;the steamer, and in the lounge revived a ieeremony of old Japan, which seemed to Western eyes strangely but charming:ly formal, like the gestures of our own IBth century. Each member of the .welcoming party would approach one of the visitors and bow lightly. Then 'from his breast pocket he would produce 'with a flourish a visiting card. -This, with a Becond, and more profound bow, he would present. Bowing, too, jthe visitor would receive it, and present his own, and having read, each ;would conclude the introduction with ■miles and,a sweeping and graceful, acknowledgment. This is one 0! the customs which Japan has not replacedwith the manners of the West, whose method of introduction, she says, is far too casual and indefinite. Among the entertainments' given to the visitors while in Sydney, was a dinner given by tho Consul-General. JAt this, Mr. Higuchi said: "We wish Jlo learn something of your administration and legislation, particularly of •your Labour Administration. We had koped to spend at least two weeks in Australia, but this we cannot do. With the oye that is wider than a hundred years, however, we trust we shall Bee a little of this industrious and prosperous country. Help us to look into the heart of your country and understand jthe great people that you are."