TENSION IN EAST

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 214, 10 August 1937, Page 12

TENSION IN EAST

JAPAN’S MARCHING TROOPS. * VISITOR’S EXPERIENCES. AUCKLAND, Aug. 9. Through the blackness of the night conies the tramp, tramp, tramp of the marching feet of troops moving to their ships and the clangety-clang of limbers, with shadowy munition lorries rolling silently by. Then morning comes and all is quiet. The inscrutable Nipponese go about their workaday tasks. There is no sign of nrmed might and no sign of martial order, but tho sun sinks into the west and, as the civilian population of tho seaport cities is wrapped in slumber, the ominous, elusive surge of regimented feet echoes died through tho streets. Thus is Japan to-day, and that saino Japan, in the opinion of Air P. It. Tliode, who returned to Auckland this morning after a four months’ sojourn in the East, is not the healthiest spot in which to lie at the present time. Originally intending to return in December, Mr Thode, who is accompanied by Airs Thode, put forward his departure several months. If bo had been travelling alone, ho said, lie would have gone to North China to “see what was doing.”

“China has awakened at last to the fact that she has a very bad enemy in Japan,” said Air Thode, who also travelled extensively in China. “In the Chinese cities they appear to bo 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 12 months Japan would have had a very tough nut to crack. Eyen now, the Chinese will give them some worry.” During a 1000 miles motor tour of Japan he was forcibly impressed by the appalling state of congestion. “Tho population is amazingly dense and everyone, even men, seem to be carrying children. There is no rule of tho road, so it is with tlio utmost difficulty that one negotiates thoroughfares without knocking people over. Take Tokio to Nikko, a stretch of 50 miles. It gives the impression of one continuous settlement. Here and there is a small rice field, but for the rest it is all habitation.”

When visiting factories ho became aware of the fact that there was a marked class distinction, the poor being extremely poor and the upper class quite tlio opposite. ‘‘AVas I followed? Yes, the Japanese 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 fcime he enters the country until he leaves. They are oil the trail the whole time, and I believe all telephone conversations are tapped. We were not forbidden to take cameras, but we wero clearly told wliat not to photograph.” In that regard Air Tliode considered himself fortunate in having a driver who had a good knowledge of English and thus was able to extricate him from some awkward situations.