AFTER THE JAPANESE ARE DEFEATED

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 303, 13 April 1945, Page 14

AFTER THE JAPANESE ARE DEFEATED

"Either their Nation must. be permitted to go on existing and left the means with which to go on existing, or it must be destroyed. There is : no middle ground ’’-

Says

MARC T.

GREENE

American writer on Far Eastern affairs,

in the second of two special articles for "The Listener"

O other result of the Asiatic war is possible than unconditional surrender by the Japanese. To leave them a vestige of the military power that has cost so much to reduce already and that will cost very much more td destroy altogether would mean unmistakably to lose the war in the East. There is no such thing possible as to teach Japanese militarists a "lesson." It would be easier to teach Hitler and Himmler one. Only one way is open and that is to destroy the militarists, all they stand for and all they stand on. But that does not mean that an entire people, a race, must be destroyed. Those who talk of "exterminating" the Japanese are talking neither common sense nor Christianity. Those who talk of killing the Japanese Emperor are even less sensible. Hirohito, whose mentality is no more than average at most, opposed the "forward" policy of the militarists as well as he could. Still more strongly he opposed the breach with America. He is a figurehead to the militarists, nothing more. Their talk of "awe" and "trepidation" in his presence, of their deep reverence for him, and all that, is s0 much camouflage-"‘dope"’ for the Japanese masses to whom he is a symbol of divinity, of the divine origin of the race. And the leaders must keep alive that fanatic spirit because it is the thing behind the fanatic courage of the Japanese fighter. Chaos Might Result The Emperor is nothing but a tool, never has been anything but a tool. So was his father, who was a man of subnormal mentality. The divine origin idea, no more believed by the real Japanese leaders than by you or me, is a mighty weapon with which to belabour the Japanese masses into fighting to the death. The end of the belief might mean the end of the Japanese militarists’ power. Yet the Japanese people, after the War, must have something to cling to. When they find the "holy soil" of their country debased by the foot of the Western barbarian, a thing that has never yet happened, they must realise that something is the matter with the theory that the gods will protect them at home, whatever may have been lost outside. It is not certain that the result will not be chaos, a kind of social anarchy. It will be to the Japanese as it would be with us if something should happen that destroyed finally and conclusively our faith in Christianity. It _will be even worse, because every Japanese man and woman, short of the few top-flight leaders, accepts the divineorigin theory. And that, unfortunately, is a good deal more than can be said of us, in respect of Christian teaching. Religious System Should Remain Mr. Grew, for ten years American Ambassador at Tokyo, favours leniency to the Japanese Emperor and no interference with the Shinto religious system of ancestor-worship. No interference, that is to say, politically. Neither he nor any other right-minded person has any objection to Christian missionaries,

Catholic or Protestant, returning to Japan, as to the rest of the East, and carrying on with their work, The American speaks as one who knows the Japanese, understands them as far as it is possible for any occidental to understand any oriental, and does not wish to see them destroyed as a people, either by starvation or social disintegration. He believes their religious system should remain and that the Emperor should be left to a nominal rule, Then whether the Japanese as a people can reconcile military defeat with their religious theory is up to them. But one thing is certain. Either the Japanese nation must be permitted to

go on existing and left the means with which to go on existing, or it must be destroyed. There is no middle ground. If all its péssessions-Formosa, Korea, the Islands, to say nothing of Manchukuo -are taken from Japan the result will be slow destruction. Eighty millions of people cannot live on the Japanese islands proper, especially if they are deindustrialised. Moreover, thousands from the possessions as well as from the Japanese colonies elsewhere will have to return to Japan. For years, perhaps forever, it will not be possible for Japanese to live in any of the lands that have been forcibly occupied. It may not even be possible for Japanese to live in the United States. It almost certainly will not be unless they are of American birth. Are we, the conquerors, prepared then to witness the slow starvation of hundreds of thousands of people? There is another thing, too, to be considered and that is the economic value to the world of Japanese peacetime industry. A very important part of that was the silk industry. There were many

others. Is there any point in destroying such as these? Democracy Had Gained Ground For many years there has been a strong democratic trend in Japan. In the 1937 elections, which gave the Japanese people a real suffrage for about the first time, the popular parties-the Suyaki and the Minseito — gained a definite and significant victory. They would have controlled the Diet, and their foreign policy was_ strongly

amicable toward Britain and the United States. With them in control there would have been no war. But the Ministry, even then definitely militaristic, simply ignored the election and scoffed at the popular verdict as the result of the acts of people "lacking the intelligence to know what they were doing." A few leaders, such as Viscount Saito and former Prime Minister Takahashi, who supported the verdict of the election, were promptly liquidated by educated gangsters sent or encouraged by the military leaders to assassinate "those who had forgotten their patriotism." The point is that the Japanese people, once rid of the idea that their military leaders are that by divine designationand their failure in the war should have that effect-are prepared for and desirous of a measure of democracy large enough to make possible amicable relations with the rest of the world. Our task is to encourage’ that ‘desire and to see that such a-measure of democracy is inaugurated. in Japan. Having achieved this, and having destroyed completely

the war-potential and up-rooted the war psychology-by no means an impossible task-we shall have a Japan that will be useful to world economy without being dangerous to world peace. The Immediate Task But the immediate task in hand is, of course, to bring the Asiatic war to a victorious conclusion as soon as may be. Impossible to say with any probable accuracy when, and useless to prophesy. Invasion of the Japanese homeland may come when we hold securely the Volcanic Islands, also the Ruyukiu Group that stretches south-eastward from Japan. With those as springboards we may invade, but the cost of forming the first bridgehead and holding it will .far exceed anything we have paid so far in any part of the Pacific. No one should be under any illusion about that. Presently also we must undertake the recovery of Singapore, so as to cut entirely Japan’s communication with the Netherlands Indies, which will probably be by-passed. And both Formosa and Hainan Island off the Gulf of Tonkin must be immobilised before we can get at the main task of driving the Japanese out of China. Then will begin the real war in the Far East and we shall be lucky if we complete it in two years. Do not suppose for a moment that any part of the Japanese forces in any bypassed islands or countries will stop fighting and surrender even if the homeland is overcome. We have had plenty of evidence already of Japanese desperation and ferocity in clinging to a position once secured, of fanatic refusal to surrender. This will all be repeated everywhere. What happens in Japan itself will make no difference whatever, Will Go Down Fighting The question naturally at once occurs to you, where are the Japanese in the cut-off regions to get the munitions with which to go on fighting, even if they are able to feed themselves off the country? The time will of course be reached, sooner or later, when their stocks will be exhausted. But they have piled up big reserves, especially in China. It is clear that even in the South Sea regions, where New Zealand and Australian troops ,are engaged in ‘"mopping-up," that the Japanese are still well-supplied. And after ammunition runs out they will go to ground, like the native, fighting desperately with bayonets and knives as long as a man remains alive. For, as you must have discovered by this time, the worst disgrace that can come to a (continued on next pagé)

(continued from previous page) Japanese soldier is to be taken prisoner, whether by surrender or by seizure. None could ever hope to return to his home.. His own family would repudiate him. He might very likely be stoned to death. Like the ancient’ Spartan he. is supposed to come back victor, or not at all. If he is not the victor his ashes alone may return honourably. That is the kind of foe we are fighting, and you may be sure the battle will be long and hard for some time to come. ; ;