“Little Sympathy” For Communists In Japan

Press, Volume C, Issue 29536, 10 June 1961, Page 9

“Little Sympathy” For Communists In Japan

There was not much sympathy in Japan for the Communists. although there was a strong underground Communist movement. It would be at least 10 years before the Communist Party in Japan would reach the point where it could gain power, but he did not think it would even then, said Professor Mikio Hiramatsu, professor of English literature at Keio University. Tokyo, in Christchurch last evening. Many of the intellectuals and the businessmen in Japan were very interested in Communist China, and were eager to see the opening of trade and cultural exchanges. Professor Hiramatsu is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of the University of New Zealand. In March he went from Japan to the University of Canberra on an exchange scheme as visiting professor of Japanese. When he leaves New Zealand soon he will return to Canberra until October. Professor Hiramatsu said that the left wing of the Socialist Party in Japan was always close to the Communist Party, but attracted little public sympathy. The right wing of the Socialist Party aimed at establishing a middle-class welfare state such as existed in New Zealand, but it did not appear to have a very clear idea of what this entailed. Welfare State He hoped to study something of the operations of the welfare State while in New Zealand, he said. The Japanese people knew very little about New Zealand and Australia, and he felt they should know more, said Professor Hiramatsu. “We are all inhabitants of countries surrounding the Pacific, and we should have something in common.” In Japan he wrote for newspapers and spoke over the radio, and he hoped to speak and write about Australia and New Zealand, he said. In New Zealand both he and his daughter. Miss Mome Hiramatsu, who is accompanying him, had been very interested in the Maoris, said Professor Hiramatsu. He had noticed when watching Maori dances that there were many similarities in the gestures and tunes with some of the Japanese folk dances. He had been very interested in Maori relics which he had seen in museums. New Zealand had not as long a history as Japan, but it appeared tp him that New

Zealanders cherished traditions and had a deep respect for and interest in the history of their country. “Your people love your country very much.” In New Zealand he had been really surprised by the interest shown in Japan and its people, he said. Even in Australia there was no organisation like the Japan Society, and he had been surprised to learn of the membership of the society in New Zealand. Professor Hiramatsu said that he had found New Zealanders. like his own people, very hospitable, and friendly. When he had been walking near Rotorua, the driver of nearly every car waved to him. N.Z. Universities New Zealand universities were very different from Japanese universities, and they worked on different syllabuses, said Professor Hiramatsu. Japanese universities had a four-year undergraduate course, a two-year master’s course, and a threeyear doctor’s course, as under the American system. The average age of New Zealand university students was lower than in Japan. “I think your students here are very happy, also the classes are much smaller. Here I believe that there are about 4000 attending the University of Canterbury, but at Keio University there are 15.000 students." The facilities he had seen at New Zealand universities were very good, especially in the scientific departments The equipment he had seen in the isotope laboratory at Auckland University was of the latest type.