JAPAN'S APPREHENSIONS
By A. M. CHIRG WIN
THE immediate impression that the visitor to Japan receives today, as in the past, is of courtesy and kindli- ness. And as long as he continues within the realm of purely personal relationships and affairs that impression remains. But once he passes beyond it he finds himself in a wholly different world. Cordiality and consideration immediately give place to silence and secretiveness. Ques- tions about political or national affairs are met with evasive- ness or frigidity. The visitor is made to feel that his inquisitiveness is unwelcome.
The truth is that the Japanese are the tragic victims of their own education. They have deliberately evoked an almost messianic belief in their national destiny, and this, in its turn, has not only given a semi-religious quality to their patriotism, but has made them singularly open to propa- ganda. No one can hope to understand Japan today who does not allow for the power of this passionate reverence for the State, particularly as it is personalised in the Emperor. But it also predisposes the Japanese to uncritical credence of all official teaching.
The Japanese know almost nothing of the truth about the war in China. It is still being represented as a struggle forced upon them to keep out Communism, and to hold in check a provocative neighbour. They see little or nothing of wounded men from the front. They see only the pro- cessions, with banners and bands, when recruits are called to the colours. After two and a half years the war is still represented as an unbroken series of victories. So much so that a sceptically-inclined Japanese was reported recently as saying, "If our armies are so consistently successful, they ought to be on the borders of Tibet by now." There is no outward evidence of any lessened enthusiasm for the war, but there is an increasing sense of bafflement at its con- tinuance and costliness.
The frequent changes of Government and the excitement over the Asama Maru ' incident reveal the fact that the deepest emotion of the Japanese is not courage or ambition or hatred, but fear. As a nation they are afraid. That is why they are so touchy. That is why they have apotheosised the State. It is something more than insularity, it is the paralysing effect of a deep-seated fear that makes them so crude in their dealings with China. They still believe that they are winning the Chinese -to a "truer understanding of iapan's altruistic purpose." They are blind to the fact that the most devastating rebuttal of their whole case is the fact that though they see themselves as the emancipators of the Oriental peoples, there is not one of these peoples, from Siberia to Ceylon, however much they may chafe under Western rule, that does not contemplate with infinitely greater dread the possibility of Japanese domination. Japan is beginning to feel the economic pressure of the war. The point has now been reached where she admits that she is feeling the pinch. Prices are rising and articles of daily need are difficult to obtain. Coal is hard to secure. Gas is severely rationed, even for foreigners. Private car- owners can only obtain enough petrol to drive an average of two miles per day. People are walking to business or travelling by train under conditions of extreme crowding and discomfort. Butter is more than twice the usual price. Books and newspapers are up by 50 per cent. Paper and string are running short. Matches are hard to come by. All-wool garments are unobtainable and imported foods cannot be bought for love or money. The pinch is, being felt within the home.
It must not be supposed that this will immediately affect the military position. That stage has not been reached yet. At present it is a situation of bewilderment and tragic incom- prehension on the part of the masses, and of deepening apprehension on the part of the national leaders. Whether it will lead Japan to be more accommodating in her dealings with other nations is still a question.
Previous page
