Japanese Youth Looks At New Zealand Way Of Life

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27373, 11 June 1954, Page 12

Japanese Youth Looks At New Zealand Way Of Life

A 20-year-old Japanese university student, Mr Taisaburo Kato, is in New Zealand on a goodwill visit to see the country and its people. His visit has been made possible mainly by Mr E. S. Bell, formerly of Christchurch. who has lived in Japan for more than 30 years, and was a» one time Mr Kato’s English teacher. In Christchurch last evening Mr Kato recalled how as a boy during the Second World War he had been wounded in a leg during an American bombing raid. “We didn’t know what it was all about then,” he said. “We were not told about what was going on, and we couldn’t speak out against our leaders. But when our young people reflect today about what our soldiers and military people did at that time they are rather disgusted and ashamed of it.

“Those who think are no longer interested in militarism.” said Mr Kato. “In Japan they are now having difficulty ir. getting recruits for the new army. Our young men are saying ‘I lost a brother . . *1 lost two brothers. . . .’ They are not interested in war.”

Mr Kato is a student at the Shizuoka Chemistry University. Shizuoka is a city with a population of about 350.000, about 130 miles from Tokyo. The Government opened the university about four, years ago to train chemists for Japanese industry and commerce. Mr Kato is training to be an industrial chemist

Friendship with Teacher Before going to university he was at high school at Numazu, and it was there that he met Mr Bell. Mr Kato was interested in English, and Mr Bell invited him into his home to Team by ear. For three years he remained a member of Mr Bell’s household.

“My former teacher thought it would be a nice idea, when he was going home to visit his country, to take a student with him,” he said last evening. “As luck happened, he chose me. I consider myself a fortunate young man.”

Mr Kato said that it was very difficult for young men and women. to travel outSde Japan, but through Mr Bell’s influence and the help of the New Zealand Charge d’Affaires in Tokyo (Mr R. L. G. Challis) it had been arranged that he could undertake a goodwill visit.

Many Impressions Although he arrived at "Auckland with Mr Bell only on Monday aboard the Japanese freighter Chowa Mani. Mr Kato is already full of impressions of New Zealand, almost without exception favourable.

“Nobody seems rich, and nobody seems poor,” he said. “What a won-

iderful country it is. In Japan some ! people are very rich, and others very i poor. N.Z. Homes Praised “What wonderful conveniences you :have in your homes,” said Mr Kato. I ‘ Everybody seems to have refrigerators, motor-cars, washing machines, and all the latest electrical appliances to make life easy. By comparison, ye in Japan have nothing. In any case if you had a refrigerator in Japan- .it would be useless, because the power is turned off twice a week. Of course, we can buy all the things you have got in New Zealand, but only the rich can afford them. “But where are all the people?” exclaimed Mr Kato to Mr Bell at the Auckland railway station this week, just after a train had pulled in. He drew a comparison with Japanese railway stations and their crowds. Ten thousand persons passed through the Tokyo station every minute at peak hours, he said. Mr Kato was, however, astonished ■at the clatter and rattle of New Zea- ■ land railway trains. By comparison, ithe Japanese trains were silent runI ning. he said. "At every station, everybody ducks out for a bucket of | tea,” he said. After seeing New Zealand roads, Mr Kato said he was almost ashamed to talk about Japanese roads, which were “nothing but holes and bumps.” He has been impressed with the sight of neat little English cars speeding along New Zealand highways, and wonders why they are not used in narrow Japanese roads in preference to big American cars. Hotel Hours “How wonderful,” he said, in some amusement, when he saw streams of cars pouring out of Auckland after 6 pjn. on afternoon this week. “New Zealanders get their drinking done before 6 n.m., and can go home for the rest of the evening. Nothing shuts in Japan. You can drink all night, and on Sundays, too.

“I also think you have a very beautiful country,” said Mr Kato. “In winter in Japan, the trees are bare and the grass is brown. Your meadows at the beginning of the winter are so green. Japanese houses are drab and unpainted. Every house here is of a different style and colour, and all are built for comfort. Your cities are so clean, and your shops so attractive.... “I was a little nervous for a start, not knowing □ust how I would be received,” said Mr Kato, “but everybody has been so. kind.”

Mr Kato and Mr Bell will be in New Zealand for about a month. They will see the country’s main scenic attractions, and for Mr Kato’s benefit they hope to meet as many New Zealanders as possible.