INSIDE JAPAN

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20282, 26 August 1937, Page 11

INSIDE JAPAN

POWER OF MILITARISTS MAJORITY IN GOVERNMENT PEOPLE DO NOT FAVOUR WAR Japan to-day is controlled by an essentially militarist Government which wields tremendous power and which has pursued a campaign of military aggression in China contrary to the wish of a great proportion of the people, especially the thousands of Christians of the country, which forms a large pacifist group, in the opinion of the Rev. L. 0. Stanton, a member of the Oriental Missionary Society, who delivered a lecture in the Winter Show Hall, last evening. The subject was Japan and he outlined the development of the missionary endeavours in that eastern country. The Mayor of Hamilton, Mr J. R. Fow, presided over a large audience.

“The Christian people of Japan wished me to convey to New Zealanders that they have no sympathy whatever with the war which Is at present waging in China. In Japan, Korea, and China they wish to co-operate with the white people In cultivating peace and Christianity,” declared Mr Stanton.

Continuing his reference to the Slno-Japanese war the speaker said that the Japanese were not in favour of birth control for they realised that on the west was the most largely populated country in the world —■ China, while to the north lay the greatest standing army in the world today, that of Russia. While not all were in sympathy with war there were few who did not realise that both these facts represented a potential menace.

During a lantern lecture the missionary showed photographs of a Christian church in Chapel which is one of the most endangered zones in the conflict and he described how, during the last hostilities, over 60 bombs had been picked up at the church gates but no damage,,not even a cracked window pane, had been done to the building. He also outlined the pitiful conditions of many of the Chinese In the war zone at the present time.

The chief topio of the lecture was the progress made by the Oriental Missionary Society and during the illustrating of his remarks by lantern slides the speaker showed many fine views of Japdn as it is now In its civilised and westernised state. The audienoe saw many fine views of the beautiful flora of the country also, and were given a glimpse into the lives of the Japanese people. Rise of Christianity.

Mr Stanton said that there were 52 Christian churches In Tokio to-day and in the whole of the country about 1 000 mission stations had been established. In Korea there were about 300 mission stations, while In China, where the society had been operating for 12 years only, the number of stations already totalled over 100. In Japan there were something like 300,000 Christians, but the heathen population numbered in the vicinity of 70,000,000. Two-thirds of Korea had been covered by the society, which hoped to concentrate more than ever on China when the ground work in the other two countries had been completed.

Idols are to be seen all over the oountry, according to the speaker, who was amazed that a people which had so rapidly assimilated European civilisation had maintained its superstitious beliefs and, still allowed the muoh needed arable land to be occupied by such vast Idols. He stated that muoh of the prosperity of Japan today was due to the way in which the people responded to the Government’s direction to get back on to the land and work it, but, unfortunately for Japan, the available fertile land was extremely limited.

During the lecture Mr Stanton told many stories relating to the conversion of the people to the Christian faith and also described many Japanese customs in an extremely interesting manner. He paid a tribute to the late Air Charles Cowman, and ills wife, two Americans who devoted the latter portion of their lives to the development of the Oriental Missionary Society.