NEW ZEALAND & JAPAN

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 288, 1 September 1931, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND & JAPAN

Remarkable Resemblances

BISHOP’S OBSERVATIONS

Remarkable resemblances between Japan and New Zealand were described last evening by the new Assistant Bishop of Melanesia, Right Rev. J. H. Dickinson, who recently came to New Zealand from Japan. “Japan has its north and south islands, and like New Zealand the north is the better of the two,” he said. “When I entered Wellington I said, ‘Japan,’ for it is extraordinarily like some Japanese ports. The climates are not unlike. The earthquakes are not unlike, and your mountains—well, you have your Egmont and Japan its Fuji. “When you refer to the Japanese please don’t call them ‘Japs.’ It is like calling British ‘Brits.’ The people of Japan should not be judged by the one or two you may meet here. It is a race that is gradually becoming bigger physically, beIcause in the past it has been nurtured on poor food. It is a race which is developing intellectually also. Only recently a man was troubled with his eyes and went Home to a Harley Street specialist, who was amazed, and told him the outstanding specialist for his trouble was a Japanese in Tokio.” “From the beginning the Japanese said ‘No’ to Christianity. The first seeds were sown by St. Francis • Xavier, who. not content with his wonderful work in India, laboured in Japan, and there was followed by other Jesuits, who won over some of the nobles. Then unfortunately it was believed that the Spanish missionaries were usually followed by conquering armies—as had actually been the case in China —and. thinking it was all a put-up job, the Japanese decided to exterminate all Christians, and what followed was one of the worst examples of persecution in Christendom. The first martyrs were six Jesuit priests and twenty young men missionaries. The persecution went on until 80,000 converts to Christianity were rounded up on a headland, and when they put up a defence were exterminated. “When some-80 years ago Japan was opened up again to Christian missionaries, it was discovered that there were still some remnants of Christianity left after 200 years. There were descendants of the old Christians, who preserved the names, kept Sundays, and baptised their children in extreme secrecy, as Christianity was proscribed. “Japan is the greatest non-Christian country in the world. So far it has only the outer husk, and not the real inner spirit of Christianity, just as outwardly it is adopting western civilisation, yet they keep Sundays, observe Christmas, send Christmas cards to one another, and even have our Lord among the postcards of great men who have lived. At Tokio not long ago I saw upon the stage a presentation of the life and crucifixion of our Lord, done quite reverently. Yet there are some who are' seeking the light, and these usually among th* best people. One of the most ardent Christians is the wife of a chamberlain to the Mikado, one who conducts a Bible class among the ladies of the court. In the diocese of South Tokio, where I was. there are twenty-two priests, twenty of whom are Japanese, and of the seven bishops in Japan two are Japanese.”