JAPAN TO-DAY

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 98, 28 April 1919, Page 4

JAPAN TO-DAY

THE NATIONAL SPIRIT , ISLANDS NOTHING: EQUALITY ALL. Ambitious, proud, self-reliant, patri- , otic, with an unlimited belief in herself, partly born of the phenomenal progress that she has made within the last halfcentury—that is Japan to-day, writes "G.M." in the Sydney Sun. When the wave of Western civilisation reached""the shores, it broke over tho rocks of old custom and belief, sweeping feudalism from its immemorial foundation, and merged the hitherto three distinct classes of society—the military, agricultural, and commercial —into a seething whirlpool of contending interests.

The better to understand those interests, it is necessary to consider what conditions were when the awakening took place, isolated from the outside world, principally by pride, wrapped up in a superstition of ages that she was the favoured land of the gods, on which no foreign foot must ever tread, selfcentred and blind to all progress, tho home of a race limited in view but keenly intellectual within the scope of its knowledge. At that time the military class reigned supreme. The Samurai, or soldierknight, occupied the highest place. Trained by that spirit of ethics called Bushido, they were taught the highest virtues, the courage of bearing and daring, endurance, veracity, and politeness. Bushido also taught them how to die, should they merit death or suffer defeat. The self-sacrifice .was to them not suicide, as we understand it, but only just punishment for error committed. The honour of the country was in their keeping, and, drawing their v income from the land, they were debarred from entering on other pursuits—for thus wisely in Old Japan was the balance of power adjusted. BUSHIDO. The teaching of Bushido, like that of theosophy, aims at the development of the spiritual over the material, and the Japanese live more in and for that life than we do; to them the dead are alive and directing the living. It is that elevating, -purifying, and potent force that is behind the gun—to-day is, and so as surely is to-morrow. The descendants of the Samurai man the navy and army, and, with their consciousness of much that is superior, with their power of endurance above tho normal, and their fine contempt of death, are an asset to be reckoned with —for, given an aim, they deem nothing too great to attain it. The agricultural class was next in public respect, for in Japan the. man who grew the grain ranked higher than him who sold it: the young were taught tq honour the. 'patient boilers, whose quiet heroism and patient care won ! from earth the. sustenance of life. Then came the class despised both by Samurai • and producer—the ■ commercial, those who soiled their hands with trade, the men who bartered in old days, literally the football of the military class. Much has been written of its lax morality, and that those composing \it were proud of their ability to trick and deceive is well known, but such can hardly be wondered at considering its position and treatment. It was from those three classes that the Japan of to-day sprang, tho social revolution caused by the abolition of feudalism on the entry of Western progress broke up the class distinction, and gave'birth to a new thought and feeling that practically benefited' and purified all throe. EXPLOITING CIVILISATION. The Japanese is a small man, but his opinion of himself is large, and the sunburst of Western light and consequent wealth that has illuminated, his path of progress has not tended to lessen it. Japan has not suifered much at the hands of civilisation, rather has sho benefited at the expense of others. She was not exploited as China, with the manifold curses of Christ-ianity ; as interpreted by different ecclesiastical systems ; no seductive poppy was forced on her consumption," and foreign warfare only knocked at her outer gate. A small country with a teeming population, before the European war her artisans worked for a. very small wage, her women for a still smaller. ,Now both are emancipated, and earn money, and when a Japanese seeks work in other countries—as shop hand or cook, ho demands, and gets, the same rate as his white brother. He is. progressive! But though eager to learn all that we can teach them, they have no great love for us—we may not live in their country without many restrictions ;we may not own land; there is no work for us to do. We cannot open a shop. Tourists are welcomed, because of their spending power. Teachers aro also appreciated, but not well treated. When the orange has been sucked dry, what would you? With them it is Japan for the Japanese. They have no room for the white man within their gate; they are earnest to have race discrimination done away with, to enter into our social life, to exploit our marts with their shoddy as well as their beautiful 'wares, but the welcome extended lacks sincerity. True, sho is a good customer, and likely to be a better; but her ways are not our ways; not that we might not learn much from her with advantage to ourselves. Western nations, undoubtedly, in their • self-glory are in many ways wilfully blind, thinking too much of themselves; for it may be that all the races of mankind are no more than maggots in the great scheme of creation. Japan's chief ambition is not the acquisition of territory; the principal barrier that she desires to pass is the colour line, for the extreme pride and sensitiveness of her people renders racial distinction hard to endure, her desire is to be recognised as and on an equality with the white race. She would rather that than the Marshall and Caroline Islands. This is the Japan whose voice is heard at the table of the nations, tho nation who does not approve the plain speaking of Mr. Hughes.