JAPANESE PRINCE

Hokitika Guardian, 16 September 1933, Page 6

JAPANESE PRINCE

UNIQUE PERSONALITY CONTRACT WITH THE WORLD TOKIO, September 7. Princie legato Tokugawa, popularly tjnow.il as the ‘.‘sixteenth IS'liogftm”— which lie' wen Id have been it the fifteenth shogun had not ictiiri’et power to the Emperor in the 'Mo.ijt .Restoration —for 30 years President of the iJcuse c-f Peers of the Imperial Diet, and a unique personality in Japanese public lilo, leaves Yokoliaimi on August 11. via Honolulu and San Francisco, lor Chicago, London, and later Ottawa and. Washington. He will be accompanied by the former Consul at Capetown, Mr Yaniazrki. Seventy ycai’s old last moutn, buc none the less active, Prince lokuga.ua plans to spend some seven mouths in his forthcoming tour, in which lie hopes to renew his" acquaintance with many public men and to make new friends. Premier peer of Japan, he lias throughout his life boon a firm friend of the (English-speaking countries - particularly Bri'ain, Canada and the United States. This is his fourth tour abroad. He was educated in his youth at Sydenham College, London, has been president cf the Amer.ican-.Tapan Society for ten years, bis son,. Mr lemasa. Tokuwawa, is the Japanese Minks ter to. Canada—-the first'/ appointed to that mist. ,

“I want to keep in:contact with mV friends abroad.” the Prince says, “and 1 want to make new ones. I think it most important.for t]ie public men of Japan to go abroad frequently, and 1 hope that eminent men of other countries will visit- Japan. It is the best way to promote international friendship.”

MEETING PROMINENT PEOPLE

In Honolulu Prince Tokugawa hopes to meet Mr Wallace R Farrington, former Governor of Hawaii and staunch ■advocate of peace on the Pacific, and Mr Herbert Maider, Canadian Minister to Japan, who is spending a short vacation there. In England, lie expects to renew his acquaintance with Mr Ramsay MacDonald. Lord Hailsham, Mr Arthur, Henderson, Sir Austin Chamberlain, and with his old schoolmates. and to meet Mr Stanley Baldwin, .Mr. Winston Churchill, and others. Prince Tokugawa well remembers the former secretary,,of.State,. Air Charles E. Hughes, now Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, fra in the spacious days of the Washington Conference, where the,' Prince was one of Japan’s delegates; Hoover, and Mr William E. Castle, formerly American Ambassador in Tokio. He hopes to see thc-m again and Mo "call on President • Roosevelt at the White rtf: .Mi'. <1 h v ... { , g L .‘ House. ...Cl;,!. ' “I think it- wifi he (top. hot ,to find 'any of,-my friends .at Lonie this month .ill the. United Stales or'Canada, and, besides, any. son h(is not yef returned to his post in Ottawa. So after taking a peep at the exposition at Chicago, I shall sail from Now-York on August 30 for England, arriving there, l think, about September 6.

ENGLAND AND TEE CONTINENT

“After spending some months in England and seme Continental countries, I sliall sail for, Halifax, Canada; just when I do not know now, but probably early next year. 1 sliall stay with my son in Ottawa, and then visit Washington and other cities in’ the United States. , I expect to return to .Japan some.-time, in February.” The Prince said that on reaching (England, he would consult the Japaneso Ambassador there, Mr Tsuneo Matsudaira as to his further plans. He recalled having- met the -late Lord Burnham, the great- 'British journalist, in 1910, and said lie had been taking the Daily Telegraph of London without a break for the past 20-odd cyans. ’Prince Tokugawa is a unique figure .in the parliamentary history o'f‘ the world, as lie presided over the House of Peers for thirty years. He resigned from' this post earlier this year. Not only that, but the president of the House before him was Prince Konoo, father of .the new president,- Prince Fumimaro Konco; and Prince Tokugawa is. uncle-in-law of the latter, as the elder. Prince Konoo was a brother of Princess Tokugawa. The Prince said that he things a parliamentary body fis the House of Peers of Japan being kept “in the family” is without precedent. ......

PREVIOUS TRIPS TO ENGLAND Prince Tokugawa’s first .trip, abroad was when, at the age of 15, lie went to England in 1877. staying there six years. None of Jus i'qmily accompanied him, and he was all alone except for a secretary and some personal servants. Ho -studied at Sydenham College, near the .famous Crystal Palace, London, ■and wished to enter Cambridge, but had to return to .Japan in 1882 to taloe up the heirship of the Tokugawa family. His second visit.' to England was in 1910, then in 1922 lie again wen'j | abroad, , attending the Washington I Cmleronce. His fourth tour was in 1130, when lie was presented to King George Y. After visiting England, Prince Tokugawa plans, to visit Paris, Rome Brussels, The Hague, and possibly Sweden, ■and Norway., He expects to spend Christinas in London.

The Prince has been closely identified with .organisations relating to international relations among the countries- (touching the Pacific, and is ppesidt'iit' of-the Pan-Pacific Club in Tokio, arid honorary president of the Japan Council of the Institute.of Pacific Relations. He is also president of the Japan Red Cross and of the Peers’ Club of Tokio. I