DEMOCRACY IN JAPAN

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26538, 28 September 1951, Page 3

DEMOCRACY IN JAPAN

ACHIEVEMENTS OF OCCUPATION

EDUCATIONIST REVIEWS PROGRESS

? ch ; ev ? m ents Of the United n - la r ng the Pattern of democracy in Japan during the occupaFoU= W f ere °“ tlln «; d Dr. Walter C. tells, formerly adviser on higher eduTvJiT at , Allie , d Supreme Headquarters, r2^’u at a Ittncheon meeting of the Canterbury Junior Chamber of Commerce yesterday. ,vPF', Eells said that if Japan was to lts Population increase, she a P ro S raiT >iTie of intensive industrial development. To dispose of a *? d bu y foodstuffs, she trade ” ave to de P enc * on international

or^»};!,\ C * ally Ja ,P. an had now adopted a constitution which on the face of it Hhl the T 0 ! 1 democratic, the most liberal and the most adequate in the m°hl d 'J aid P r i Ee J ls ’ but ‘t remained to be seen what substance was put into it. in one respect it was tremendously important: it had changed the whole D sovereignty. Where soverud Previously been completely m the hands of the Emperor it was now in the hands of the people In the 46 prefectures into which Was . dlv ided, this change had now been translated into action, said ti« ~ eI J S ' ♦ Formerly the governors of the prefectures had been appointed by t-.e Emperor or his Ministers, but now '\ er ? ? le £ ted by the People, who al so elected the new prefectural as-

Before the Second World War, 60 per cent, of Japanese industry had been vim ofc, hands .. of eight families, the Zaibatsu, continued Dr. Eells. During the occupation all these cartels had been broken up, their securities had e ?u SO «’ 56 fading members of the firms had been sent into retC?ntr°l of the fi rms had been decentralised, and profits spread out over the country. Dr. Eells said that when he left K? P ? n * months ago, industry was 'u 85 p j r cent ' ° f its normal output. He understood that, with additional contracts signed under the artificial stimulus of the Korean war industry had now returned entirely to normal, or even beyond that point. vr . nd Ownership h = Y ery stnk m? and significant changes b®;! °£ cur red in Japanese agriculture, Eel s ’ T Tbe Importance of agriculture in Japan could be judged b Z .V 1 ® fact , tbat Whereas 20 per cent, oi the population of America and 25 per cent of the population of New Zealand were engaged in farming, in Japan about 50 per cent, of the people were on the land. occupation, only 54 per cent, of the farmers, who were mainly on very small areas, had owned their own farms. The ordinary farmer was ground down by debt, taxation and a ruinous system of rentals. > lan J d . *5 tbe hands of the absentee landlords had now been bought by the Government, and after being split up into small parcels, had been sold to the farmers themselves, S . la .u Dr \ Eells - More than 90 per cent, of the land was now owned by the occupiers.

Wh .?. r L„l t „ 18 considered that there were 40,000,000 people on the land, half of whom did not own their land, it can onzwvfSl. thatth 6l-6 are now about 20,000,000 additional farm owners," said Dr. Eells. “I cannot help thinkmg about what would have occurred in North China had Marshal Chiang Kai-shek followed such a policy, instead of leaving reform to the Agranan Party, which turned out to be Communist. The story might have been very different.” Dr. Eells said that 33,000 farming »?3SP e 5 a^ves with a membership of 8,000,000 had also been set up m Japan. When the Americans had gone ‘to Japan six years ago, the death-rate had been 29 in each 1000 of the population, said Dr. Eells. New Zealand and Australia- with about 10 deaths in each 1000 of population, looked upon themselves as being the lowest death-rates in the world To-day the Japanese death-rate had been reduced to 12 to to® 1000. To have reduced the deathrate thus was a tremendous achievement, which had been brought about by preventive health measures, improved sanitary conditions, and higher nutritional standards. ,„Dr. Eells said that in 1945. with 18,000 cases of smallpox, there had been a threat of a grave epidemic, but the health section of the occupation force had, with the help of the Japanese, vaccinated 80,000.000 people in a few short weeks. Two years later, they had vaccinated the same number again. The result was that last year, instead of 18,000 cases of smallpox, there were only 29. The death-rate from the great scourge of Japan, tuberculosis, had been reduced to 60 per cent, of its former proportions, and the effects of diphtheria had been cut to one-seventh of what they had been Though from a humanitarian point of view this was an admirable thing i> meant more mouths to feed, said Dr. Eells. That created new problems fbr Japan. Control of Education

All education had formerly been controlled from Tokyo, said Dr. Eells Teachers had been certificated from Tokyo, text-books had been sent out from Tokyo, and boards of inspectors nad been commissioned, not to help teachefs, but to ensure compliance with the hundreds of regulations emanating from Tokyo.

The Japanese Diet had now adopted a law decentralising education, continued Dr. Eells. There were now boards of education in each of the 46 prefectures, and 50 others in large and small cities, all elected by the people. The term of compulsory education, which before the war had been six years, had been extended to nine years. “In higher education, they are almost running away with themselves," said Dr. Eells. When he had arrived in Japan four years ago, there had been seven national universities. He had suggested that there should be 15. All of the 46 prefectures were sc keen about education that they each wanted the new universities. The Japanese compromise had been to create a new university in each prefecture, and several prefectures now had more than one, Dr. Eells added. There were now 70 national universities, 30 prefectural and municipal universities, and about 109 other universities, giving a total of 200 of all types.