The Dominion. THE JAPANESE PUZZLE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 252, 17 July 1908, Page 6

The Dominion.

THE JAPANESE PUZZLE.

. FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1908. f

»— : Scepticism will bo the general a.-.Gijde of a great'proportion of Australasians when they read in their papers to-day the Bishop of South Tokio's .repudiation'.of tho suggestion that Japan cherishes any designs of territorial expansion. Rigljtly or wrongly, a largo;section of tho people of New Zealand and Australia hold (the view that Japan contemplates the possibility of spreading its people over everything worth , having in tho Pacific basin. Whether Japan has sueh'an intention, or whether she is so situated that a policy of expansion will force itself, upon her, wo do not presume to say, but ono thing, is certain, that very many_ years must elapse before she will be cither anxious or able to descend upon Australia. Biskop, Awdby's assurance of the stay-at-home peaeefulncss of the people amongst whom he works must not bo lightly dismissed, for 'he is not ■ a' mere pro-Japanese extremist. Ho endeavours to clear his raind of. all prejudices, and to estimate the. character ancl ; ideas of Japan m fairly as possible, 'i-.fhveo years ago, 'jvhea tho exploits of the uew»

found Power in tho war with Russia drovo tho Western nations into, an hysterical hero-worship that attributed every possible . human-virtue to the "little Japs," Bishop Awdry wrote to tho London Times to warn Englishmen against forming an " exaggerated estimate " of the Japanese qharactcv, Ho urged that a co]d fit might succeed the hot fit, and that disillusion would produce a revulsion of feeling " as damaging and unjust to tho Japanese as 'tkc former over-esti-mate of them was unbalanced and unwise." The cold 'fit has' certainly come, for a year at least a steady current of ccmiperit hostile to Japan—condemnatory of her methods of colonisation, her relations with China, and 'the " slimncss " of her commercial men—has run through the British Press. < In the case of Japan, as in the case of any other country, it is a fairly safe rule to arguo foreign policy from nat : ional ethics-, As a champion of Japan, under this rule, Bishop Awdry is igainst the weight of opinion, but it is proper to give him audience. Ho states his case in a letter to the Times of May 19 last. He declares that you must not look at Japan's colour. ' "Such differences of character aB seem to divide the Japanese from us,'? he contends, " are the result, notj of physiological, but of social evolution," and these, he claims, can be modified or removed. Ho does, not object to approximation of ideals through 'intermarriage, but he considers that " free union will not be wise until "social ideals approximate pretty closely." Approximation has already begun, in any case, He' tells us that Japan realises to the full the necessity of. education; that "the. whole standard of commercial instinct and honour is rising fast," as the Japanese tradesman rises from his old rating as no better than the publican of tho New Testament; that Japaneso commercial morality is not-fairly measurable by the sharks who established themselves at Kobe and Yokohama during the war. The contempt of tho Japanese for tho idea that ho should carry out a contract if he finds it a losing one-is defended by Bishop Awdry with tho question whether, the Japanese code of repudiation is notnobler <than the code of other peoples,' "when? it is regarded as a matter of no concern to either party whether tho other is ruined or not by his bargain." Surely an amazing argument this, which would discount fidelity, and, by permitting repudiation, convert commerce into a shuffle, a swindle, and a gamble! To admit voidable bargains would bo to destroy commercial prudence first, and commerce itself next. This codo of commercial honour is really a very important thing in the Japanese character, and it is not surprising tliat the extreme anti-Asiatic section of Australasians arguo from it a doubt of Japan's bona-fides in any foreign dealing. At tho same time, wo may learn much from Japan: the submission'of the individual tp the nation's best interests, the unmurmuring- self-sacrifice of everyone when tho war came. . But those are qualities that may exist—that, in fact, do often exist—sido by side with what Western folk would call a conscienceless disregard of fair dealing an'd fair fighting, Tlio character of Bishop- Awdry's dofence of the Japanese commercial code indicates that he has acquired tho faculty sj longed for by Lafcadio Hearn, of .really seeing things with Japanese' eyes'." And ue cannot have acquired that faculty without at the same time losing some part' of his British ) grip of things. While, therefore, it may be at once agreed that it is " palpably immoral" to suggest that white men may penetrate the East, while the. East may not ponetrate Australia, yet tho assurances of • the Bishop are not likely to be generally accepted as the final word, on the chief issue,