SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
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We have received the first number of an excellent now monthly, The New East, written in English with a Japanese supplement, which has been started at Tokyo under the very capable editorship of Mr. J. W. Robertson-Scott, who has lately boon applying his great knowledge of agriculture to a study of Japanese economic condi- tions. Tho June number, which, but for an unfortunate accident, we should have noticed before, opens with two brief but. memorable articles by Count Terauchi, the Japanese Prime Minister, and by Lord Curzon on the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. It is, says Count Torauchi, " the will of heaven as well as the work of man," and will be permanent, for " the interests of Great Britain and Japan have never conflicted and never will conflict." Lord Curzon also lays stress on the fact that the Alliance, " the dominating factor in the politics of the Far East," rests on the similarity of the aims cherished by the two Island Empires. "Neither is inspired by lust of con- quest. Neither desires the exploitation of subject races in its own interest." II the Alliance is to continue its beneficial work, says Earl Curzon, each nation must strive to know the other more in- timately ; common intellectual and spiritual aims and common sympathies are a more enduring foundation for the Alliance than a community of political interests. We feel sure that The New East will do helpful work in this direction. Tho course of the war and the literary and spiritual activity of Western Europe are well described in articles and reviews for the Japanese reader, and English people will find it very profitable to read the articles by distinguished Japanese writers like Baron Kikuchi, Dr. Soyeda, and Professor Suzuki. The plain truth about the pro-German elements in Japan is told by Professor Anosaki, who declares that the Army and the official class have been profoundly influenced by German methods, while the business men sympathize with the German demand for " a place in the sun," and the people at large, knowing little of the rights and wrongs of the case, admire German strength and tenacity. It is well that we should know these things. Wo shall not convert the pro-German Japanese by ignoring or denying their existence, though we may reasonably hope that with fuller knowledge of tbe causes of the war they will change their minds and see Germany as she really is—a menace to Japan as well as to all other free peoples. The New East is published at 12 Ichibeiclio, 2-chase, Arabs], Tokyo, and the price is 50 sea per copy, or 5 yen for the year.
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