GENERAL BOOTH IN JAPAN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7251, 9 August 1907, Page 4

GENERAL BOOTH IN JAPAN.

MEAGRE RESULTS.

The founder and head of the Salvation Army took Japan by storm, writes the correspondent of the Standard. The extraordinary ebullitions of feeling that usually follow General Booth's supervising peregrinations at Home have been quite duplicated there, and with the bizarre effect that only an excited Japanese crowd can give. Englishmen are accustomed to assume that a Japanese crowd is incapable of noise; and the assumption is true in regard to national celebrations generally, especially those of Imperial import. But when it comes to anything so gay and trivial as religion, a Japanese throng can be as noisy and tumultuous as the occasion may require. On a Japanese Matsuri, when the shrine of some native god is carried in procession through the streets on the shoulders of a dozen or more men, followed by a mob of yelling, hooting, and almost naked devotees, one is reminded of nothing less discordant than a war dance of the North American Indians. It is not, therefore, at all remarkable that the General has been followed through the streets of Jap- j anese cities by a, noisy retinue of^, officers and camp followers. But what is really remarkable is the apparently enthusiastic reception he has been accorded by representatives of the dignified and conservative upper classes of Japanese society. In fact, as far as words and actions can convey the mind of a people, the Pope himself could not have expected, or wished, a more elab- | orate welcome than that which has j been extended to the father of the Salvation Army. OPPOSITION HOUSED BY TACT- ' . LESSNESS. Strange to say, the only Japanese who offered any practical opposition to the campaign of General Booth were ' some of the lower classes, from whom, as elsewhere, most of the Salvation Army recruits are drawn; and the point of their objection is as curious as it is interesting. It appeared that during the street processions the' General made a coolie lead the way with a large banner bearing the words, "Japan is dedicated to Jesus Christ.' A considerable number of the Tokio citizens took exception to what they regarded as a very pretentious dc- ' vice, on the ground that such language could be. used only of the Emperor, and was, therefore, disloyal on the lips of any citizen of Japan. Immediately, a manifesto was printed, a public meeting • was called in one of the larger parks, the whole city was [placarded protesting against the assumptions of the Salvation Army, and advising the burning of the Army's headquarters. Fortunately, the police got wind of the agitation before it reached any very dangerous proportions, and the leaders being suppressed, it gradually abated.

THE WORSHIP OF SUCCESS. Among the more important reasons given for the unusually cordial welcome accorded to General Booth by the-Japanese, we may place beyond all others simply the fact that he was an Englishman ; not only so, but he was an Englishman who in his own line had been a success. The Japanese are a nation of hero worshippers ; all theit. important gods were once heroes of this militant earth. They have a profound admiration for any man who succeeds in any gigantic endeavour, and are more concerned with the end than the means of it. A military nation, accounting, as it .does, the soldier as the ideal hero, is < naturally attracted to a militant form of religion; but not so much for the sake of religion as for that of the form. They admire the martial air of the General and the fearlessness of his followers; for most of the Army's soldiers in Japan have aspired to be martyrs, as aggressively as they have in other lands. Speaking generaly, it can hardly be said that the Salvation Army, as such, has achieved any conspicuous success in Japan; certainly nothing like what it has attained in other countries. Here its followers are few and unimportant, and its influence, as far as it may be said to have any, is altogether of a philanthropic kind.