THE JAPANESE.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LXXXV, Issue 3957, 13 July 1920, Page 4

THE JAPANESE.

( j AN AMBITIOUS PEOPLE.. , ; Mr E. E. Lc Lievre," Oinako," ■ Akaroa, who is on an extensive tour j 1 in the East, writes as follows under ] ; date May 29th:-- : ► j ''We are now on our way to Singa- ' ► pore, after spending - some weeks in I Japan. It was very worrying at , times on account of getting hotel ; ' accommodation. What with Russian refugees, who have come to save ► their heads "and cheat the Bolsheviks and the thousands of Americans who , £ come to Japan on business and pleas-. I ure all the hotels are overflowing. ► On occasions the six of us have had k to occupy one room and have been glad to do that. It appears to me ► that the Japanese have become much r more Western since my last visit, £ both in dress and customs, etc. What i was very apparent was their im- | provement in commercial morality, i and this struck me as very marked. » Places of confidence, which were J formerly held invariably by Chinese £ are now held by Japs ; but I am told 0 that two or three are put in "place f of one Chinaman, one Jap to watch ♦ the other Japs and see that the A work is honestly carried out. Fur- <£ thermore, the prices asked for arJ tides are somewhere near the prices 1 they intend to take. It is now dif- ♦ Jicult to beat tern down more than f 20 per cent—formerly 70 or'Bo per J cent was easy. All this goes to J show that they have improved , com- ♦ mercially. This must have come X rbout l!i.-:. .i'4'h lbc Urm-a■••'.;• of + Japanese who corns in contact with J Europeans in their business trani sactions. ♦ . From what one sees in the papers f which are published in English such J as the "Japan Advertiser," "'Chroni iclc" etc.. Japan to-day is in rather ♦ a bad way. Periodically she ceri tainly made lots of money during the war and the business people ♦ launched out and gave orders for t large quantities of merchandise ♦ which has arrived in ports like Kobe and Yokohama. The sheds ♦ along the water front are filled up A with the. stuff and delivery cannot m be given as the Japs cannot find ♦ the gold to pay for it. Only lately T there was an auction sale of some twenty million dollars worth of ♦ goods sold on behalf of Ameiieans f who shipped the stuff. One can 4 see from talks with the Japanese that they feel very sore over the ♦ Colonies and America not allowing A their ' people landing in those $ countries. The reason is easily J seen. For one thing they consider £ themselves the equal of any .white $ man and also their country is a §1 very poor one, not having more than $ 7 per cent, of arable ground. Their i people are very prolific—their cradles ♦ arc always full. Therefore the popu- ♦ lation is increasing at a great rate and it is incumbent on them to cmi- ♦ grate to such places as are sparsely f 'populated. Failing the Colonies and % America they go to Siberia, Manf churia, Mongolia, etc. At present ♦ they practically control Siberia east I of Lake Baikal to Vladivostock. They 4 also have a good hold on Mongolia J and Manchuria. It is a good thing f for us that the Chinese hate the Japs ♦ and will not assimilate with them. f The Chinese have a very strong feeling against the Japs. We saw in many places, both in Hong Kong and ♦ Canton on the walls in the street i ''Boycott all Japanese Goods." This was painted and chalked up in very ♦ many places both in English and 9 Chinese and when one talks to the + Chinese about Japan you can see at once what a bitter feeling they have ►♦ for them. Japan to-day is a Militarily governed nation, very much as Germany was governed before the , war. It is very hard to say how longthat will last; but the people are showing signs to-day that they want a change for there arc many demonstrations in towns asking for universal suffrage. This feeling is bound to grow. Public opinion was unheard of before but it is becoming a force which will have to be reckoned with. At the present time Japan is certainly dominating the East and until China is made strong they will continue to do so. A strong China, I think, might defeat the objects the Japs have in view—-that is to absorb Eastern Siberia, Manchuria and Mongolia. I draw these conclusions from many remarks I have heard fall from intelligent Japanese. The following is one of these statements made by \ a Customs official in Kobe. I remark cd that Japan had made very great I progress in a short time. This brought out the following answer : — I 1 "Yes. Great advance, but not as great as they will make. By and by 'she will be the greatest country in ; ( the world. Japan will have Siberia J (Korea she has already), Manchuria, J Java, the Phillipines." Then he stopi ped. I think he was going to say I Australia and New Zealand, but I thought better of it. Yes, these i| little brown fellows think themselves ij.just it—in fact the salt of the earth. •|WelI! Enough about the Japs. We , jure now on our way to Java where ■we will stay a month, then back to. I good old New Zealand."