JAPAN PREPARES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 175, 11 August 1937, Page 6

JAPAN PREPARES

Tramp of Soldiers Through ' the Night CHINA'S AWAKENING (From Our Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND, Last Night.^ Through the blaekness of the night comes "h "tramp I ' tramp! ^ tramp! of maxching feet — troops moving to their ships — the clankety clang of limbersshadowy munition lorries rolling silently by. Then morning comes, and all is quiet. ' Inscrutable J apanese ^ go about their workaday tasks; there is no siga of armed might and no sign of martial order. But as the civilian population of the seaport cilies sleeps the ominous surge of regimented feet echoes dimly ^ through the streets. . * Thus Japan to-day. And that same Japan, in the opinion of Mr P. B. Thode who returned to Auckland this morning by the ' E.M.S. Aorangi, after a four-months aojourn in the East, is not the healthiest spot to be at the present time. Originallj* intending to ieturn,in December, Mr Thode, who is accompanied by Mts Thode, put forward his departure se^cial mcnth's. If he had been travelling alone, he said; he would Iiave gone to North China to s"see what was doing."

China Awakens. "China has awakened at last to tho fact that she has a very bad enemy in Japan," said Mr Thode, who also travelled extensively m- China. "In Chinese cities they appear to be taking it placidly, but there is an undercurrent of tension. They are not as well prepared as they should be, and if the crisis had been delayed another cwelve months Japan would have had a very tough nut to crack. Evcn now, the Chinese will give them some worry.'' En route to Peking wheu the preliminary rumblings of the present conflict developed into hostilities, Mr Thode was enabled to obtain an incisive iusight into the existing state of affairs and the psychological effect on the people. Not outwardly emotional, tho Ohinesf gavo littlo clue to their feelings, but in business circles, around Shanghui way, rather than in Hongkong, Mx Thode could not help sensing an atmosphere of anxiety. "China has aofinitely awakened. though," he added significantly. During a thousand miles raotor tour of Japan he was forcibly impressed by the appalling state of congestion. "The population is amazingly dense, and everyone, even men, seem to be carrying children. There is no rule of the road, so it is with the utmost difticulty that one negotiates the 'thoroughfares without ^ knocking people over. Take Tokyo to Nikko— a gtretch of 50 miles — it gfves the impression of one continuous scttlement. Here and there iB a small ■ rice field, but for the rest, it is all habitation." When visiting factories he became aware of the fact that there was a marked class* distinction. the poor being distinctly poor and the upper class quite the opposite.

Foreigners' Movemcnts "Was I followed? Yes,-the J apanese tracking system is very solid. There is little apparent evidence that one is being shadowed, but the authorities know the movements of every foreigner from the tiuie he enters the country until he leaves They. are on the trail the wholc time^ and I believe all telcphone conversions are tapped. We were not forbidden to talce eaineras, but we were clearly told what not to photogjraph." In that regard Mr Thode considered himself fortunate in having a driver wbo bad a good knowledge of EngJish, and thusi wa's able to extricate bim from some awkward situations. ' - ' - "In the last eigbt or ten years the J apanese have progressed remarkablj* but sonlehow they just seem to miss.For instance, I went to an opera. It was vfery good, but' thpre' was not . one first-class dancer or singer. in it. They . Iiave reached a.certain pitch, but beyond that — nothing.' I think it will be the same witb tbis war. They will get a certain distance — and maybe cause a lot.of bother in getting there — but. they do not appear toi have the abiiity to finish things off..''