Understanding the Japanese

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 17, 13 October 1937, Page 7

Understanding the Japanese

H. R.

FRENCH.

Sir, Just what special qualifications Mr Marc. T. Greene has to tell his brother Americans that he understands the Japaneso and they don't is not made clear. I do know that Japanese Liberals, as well as reactionaries, complain that foreigners dwell in Japan for lengthy periods and then writo articles or books which evidence a complete failure to comprehend the spirit of the people. Take the evidence of the Britisb and American military observers during the Japanese- Russian war. Sir Ian Hamilton sang the praises of the Japanese, while Goneral March insisted on every occasion that the only dependable thing about the military policy of the Japanese was the certainty that ever^bhing would be sacrificed to secure territory. As head of the American war staff during the Unitcd States participation in the World War, General March strongly opposed the Siberian incursion because of his complete want of faith in the Japanese. Certainly the Japanese justified his prophecies by their actions. And actions ever speak louder than words. The Japanese are a courteous people, they are a cultured people, their love of beauty whether of form or colour is unsutpassed, their. average intelligence is of high order, they are apt to learn. Aucestor worship, plus the spirit of bushida, evokes a sacrificial national, patriotism which has a far deeper and wider basis than the skill any Mussolini, Stalin or Hitler will ever produce in their respective nationals. Therein lies the danger. They regard their Emperor as more than human, and themselvcs as a race superior to all otbers. Their soldiers and sailors ar© taught to die if victory is uuattainable, but never to retreat. The same ideal of supremacy is demanded of their statesraen and industrialists. The Washington N.aval Agreement was more advantageous to the Japansse than to any, for it secured their naval supremacy in the Far East, and bound the Americans not to build i'ortifieations in the l'hilippines. Yet, because tho adopted foruiula Avas three Japanese to five permitted to Americn and Great Britain, with their wideilung possessions, it was regarded aS a patriotic duty to assassinate the Japaneso ieaders who conseilted to that jusb settloment. And nntrdered the most of thein were. When the murderers wero plaeed on trial, tho judgea received sixby thousand protests. Somo of tho protestors evideuccd their sincerity by cutting ofi oue of their fiugers and posting tho dismembered unit with their protest. Dr. Nilool. tho brilliant Japaneso assistaut-Secretary of the Leugue of Nations, was likewise slain. liecauso the head of tho Japanese textile industry had to make conccssions at the coni'ereneo held in Lndia to apportion quotas for textile imports into that eountiy in order to obtain an agreement at all, he was iorced to re- ] sign his leadership on return to Japuu. i There is a little-read book in our . public library, "The Seeret I'ajiers oi Count Hayashi," which is as reveahng as is the more lurid but well-document ! ed book of I'rofessor O'Conroy. The Japaneso claim never to forget and never to forgive what they rcgai'd a fli^henoHrahle slight; In that eate-

gory is the discrimin^tion against Japanese immigrants. Secretary Lansing's book on the Peace Conference" tells of the lengths the Japanese delegates were prepared to go to wipe out what they regarded as a disgrace. Yet the truth is that the record of repeated failura of the Japanese in international team work is equalled.by the general failure of their immigrants to' fit in with any nationals. The United StateB, so cosmopolitan in population, did not place a special ban upon the Japanese witfiout reasons very clear to them. Yet, despite all the outcry against other nations by the Japanese, can Chinese coolies obtain entry and work in Japan? Mr T. Y. Soong, Ghina's efficient Minister of Finance (brother to Madame Kai-shek), spoko frahkly of Japan' s interference with China's domestic eoncems at the London Economic Gonference. On his return home the Japanese compelled the Chinese \ Government to dismiss Mr Soong. Space forbids outlining the stories. of the rape of Korea and, Ma'nchuria. The last-named province was torn from China, though Japan gave solemn pledges to maintain an open door in that land, and had renounced war as an instrument of policy. To-day there is only one Chinese Minister left in the puppet Government of Manchukuo. The poor. Eniperor re-. fused to 1 yield ' to Japanese pressure to divorce his wife. She has been banished, and the Emperor has made one attempt at suicide. Persons who by misdirected efforts seek to discredit the League of Nations because Japan and Germany have followed the lawless path inaugurated by Mussolini over the. supposed Corfu att'air will find it difficult to dismiss these facts. The work of the League in the interests of the women and children of the world forced Japan to action against the long-established and widespread evils of prostitution in that land. When Dr. Egerton O. Grey, M.A., D. Sc., etc., inquired into the high death rate of the Japanese in 1927 on behalf of the League of Nations, he performed an immeasurable service for Japan. She is indebted likewise to the .Rockofeller Foundation. The League of Nations was responsible for ending child labour in Japanese factories. How were those services repaid? Because the League offered to help China there carne the Japanese challenge to the world, "Hands off China". She fears a better-organised China. By persistent effort the League had compelled control of the ruinous drug traffic. Now that meritorious .work is endangeied. By whom? Mr Fuller, the responsible representative of the United States, told the Advisory Committee of the League of Nations last June, that Japan was deliberately encouraging the eultiv action and illicit manufacture of, and trade in, drugs. The allegation waa supported with facts and "figures. Tho world is threatened by mass heroiuproduction and export from Manchukuo and North China. From an equally reliable source, Russell Pasha's annual report for 1936, it seems much of this deplorable trade is finding its way through the Suez Canal to both Americas, The war of 1914-18 was fought because law must reign, and treaties be observed in this narrowing world of ours. The objective was vindicated, though at tremendous loss. Culprits were brought before Courts of Justice for acts against international law during the war, years, and some received punishment. Yet Mussolini was allowed to nullify that great agony with iiis first bluff over the Corfu affair. Then Japan went to war and claimed she was not at war, even as she does to-day. Marshal Emilio de Bono frankly tells us how Mussolini and he planned the Abyssinian invasion in 1933, when ihe excuse for that outrage did not occur till November 1934. It is useless to talk of pacificism and non-intervention, whe,n a few violent and powerfui uien do as they please. Mr Jordan has greater freedom to speak at the Council tablo at Geneva because he represents a small country, than he would have if he represented a first-class Power. And the nations require telling that lying should not be an acceptable cover ior murderous onslaught. To alkw a few Japanese merchants in Sydney to hush us into silence when every humanitarian feeling calls on us to cry "Shame" against Japan for her unjustifiable attack upon China is simply unendvirable. Much more could be said. — Yours,

etc.,

Hastings, October 12, 1937.