LEADER OF ASIA

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 155, 29 December 1924, Page 3

LEADER OF ASIA

"JAPAN FROM WITHIN"

A COUNTRY OF SEVENTY-SEVEN

MILLIONS

THE FATE OF PACIFIC NATIONS.

J. Ingram Bryan, author of "Japan from Within," was for sixteen years professor in Japanese universities, and is Cambridge University extension lecturer in Japanese history and civilisation. His book, says a critic in the Melbourne "Argus," summarises the results of an inquiry into the political, industrial, commercial, financial, agricultural, armamental, and educational conditions of modern Japan. It is of direct interest to tho Australian and New Zealand reader from the wide range of information which it offers, , and in particular for its bearing on the future and ambitions of Japan. The writer's information is doubtless more accurate and'his conclusions better justified than his views on possible Japanese settlement in Northern Australia, "where the climate does not encourage white men to settle, but.offers ideal inducement to the tropic-loving Japanese!" His c{>inion, from his study of Japanese history, psychology, and general tendency, is that Japan will expand north and south —but mainly north. "All the agitation about migration southwards is to impress Britain and ' America with the necessity of freedom for Japan northwards in return for her acquiescence in their restrictions on immigration." Japan is potentially already the leader of Asia, the writer states; her voice is louder, more far-reaching, insistent, and effective than that of any other Asiatic nation. It >«> a voice more in harmony with that of Asia than that of any Occidental Power in Asia, This fact was freely admitted whgn Japan took her seat as an equal at the Peace Conference of Versailles, at the Supreme Council of the League of Nations, and especially at the Washington Conference of 1921, where Japan spoke in the name of Asia, and entered into an agreement with England and America, guarantee-! ing peace on the Pacific for-the ensuing toni years. A country of' 77,000,000 people, including Korea, with an Imperial dynasty extending back beyond that of any j-eigning house of Europe, a defensive equipment and personnel second to none, Japan to-day commands greater political, military, • and economic powers than the rest of Asia together. "Never again will she be ignored as an arbiter in the destiny of nations." Her rapidly ascending empire stands at .the very focus of the new industrial and political ambitions of tho world, which now centre in the Pacific. As an attempt to appraise the material significance of Japan, especially in its bearing on the future of Western nations, this book, based on long first-hand study, has been issued. SYMPATHY OF THE NATIONS. Among the younger, generation of Japan one frequently hears expression of an ambition to make Japan the Great Britain of Asia. That is an ideal with which no Englishman can find fault, the writer argues. But can Japan, he asks, hope to consummate this ideal without some of England's education and experi- | ence? Japan has problems of internal j government, social, and industrial amelioration, as well as problems in relation to China and the world, that will occupy her best minds for some time to come. If Japan continues to. command j the sympathy of the leading nations that can do most k» help her, and maintains her present policy of modernisation, the future for her.'is bright with hope. ■ Occidental aggression in Asia has been intensive; and Asia regards it as for purposes of material gain. But the writer points- out that while no doubt many English-speaking people, now comfortably residing in the East or retired on a competence at home, could not have done so had they not been able to make more money abroad than at home, this fact does not necessarily. imply the enrichment of the West at the expense of the East. There is always a mutual exchange of values and service, else such relations would cease. A more disturbing factor, he declares, does more to create distrust than all other grievances combined. Asia charges the West with a spirit of racial discrimination. British Dominions have raised an impassable barrier against the immigration of Asiatics. The United States of America pursue a similar policy.. Over this all Asia is angry. But English-speaking nations cannot welcome unlimited immigration from Asia, .the writer says mildly. This is not due to race or colour, but to moral and economic reasons. It is the conv;.ction! of tho West that the way to meet the East on even terms is not to bring down Western standards of labour and wages to those of the East, but to have the East rise to the level of the West. As it is diversity of ideals that creates diversities of wages and needs, can the East'ever meet the demands of the West as to terms of association? .It is difficult to see how.the East can rise to Western standards, except by assimilation with Western civilisation.

The writer gives striking and detailed information regarding the military and the naval systems of Japan. Even after »Japan has reduced her naval armament in agreement with the Washington Conference she remains the third greatest naval power in the. world, with a. replacement tonnage fixed at 315,000 in capital ships, which is markedly superior to that allowed to France and Italy. Since the close of the European War Japan has appropriated the sum of 12,000,000 yen for improvement and extension of aviation in army and navy. French flying officers have been used to train the army in this science, and British flying officers to train n the navy. in Japan, as in India and China, the question of surplus population is one of the' most pressing problems, and with the rapid increase of population under the decreasing death rate, due to science, the problem becomes increasingly serious. "It is a question which the Eng-lish-speaking nations can ignore onfy at their peril." The writer observes that, in pursuing her policy for Asia's independence of Occidental dictatorship, Japan's method for the present is moral suasion backed by sufficient armamental force to command .respect. The possible dangers of Japan's policy and pretensions England has met by the "threat of a naval base at Singapore— at least so it seems from a Japanese point of view." America's answer is to exclude further emigration from Japan and from Asia 'generally, while steadily strengthening naval armament. All these movements Japan regards as indications of an unreasonable distrust of her motives if not a positive suggestion that the races of Asia must await justice if they are to have it. The Washington Conference guaranteed the status quo on the Pacific for the next ten years This will effectively preclude Japan' from making any move in China without due consultation with the other parties 'to Hie agreement. "But, it lias not prevented [Japanese natkmjils bjjiag duaisjiinatjd

against as undesirable immigrants by the United States, Canada, and Australia to the great humiliation and indignation of Japan." POWER AND PRESTIGE Japan's power and prestige, and with Anglo-Saxons on both sides of the Atlantic, afford her an opportunity of legitimately trading on their good will and their strong sense of justice. Hence Japan's dependence and steady insistence on their elimination of racial discriminationj and on equality with European races in immigration, or else greater freedom for expansion in Asia. Australia' has proclaimed the policy of a white continent, "and Japan has replied by seizing the Marshall Islands at Australia's back door, which she still holds under a mandate, and where she is rapidly promoting colonisation. Japan will continue to hold them until Australia is sufficiently worked up over the situation to persuade England to give Japan a quid pro quo for withdrawal." The writer's views on the question of "white Australia" are unsound and illinformed. .. He even argues that if Japan could only acquire the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies her dreams of conquest would be realised, and the immigration question would cease_ to trouble America and the British Dominions for centuries, if not forever! Still the general movement of tho nation has been northward, and for more than 2000 years the policy of the more forceful element in Japanese civilisation has insisted on gaining a secure hold on the continent. This Japan has now accomplished. Her recent attempt to occupy Siberia and her seizure of Saghalien are further emphasis of the national trend of empire. "This aspect of the situation is further borne out by the fact that .the Japanese are slowly becoming a white race; some of the men and many of the women are already white." •■