JAPANESE SORROW AND GLOOM

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 49, 27 August 1945, Page 5

JAPANESE SORROW AND GLOOM

NEW YORK, August 25. Japanese are committing suicide in large numbers in Tokio before the Imperial Palace, according to a Tokio j radio commentator, Isamu Inouye. "Everything is dark and gloomy," he said. "The people, in deep sorrow and gloom, cannot realise that they have been beaten. The people are very sensitive. -Previously several hundred Grummans came over dropping bombs; now they come over without dropping anything. Groups are committing harakiri before the Imperial Palace in large numbers. "The Allies of the Western nations cannot understand this feeling, which is deeper than they can fathom. "The Government is seeking to pacify the country, but transportation is confused, homes are leaking, and everything is in dire straits. The Japanese have no baths, and their livelihood is very sad. Typhoons have devastated our gardens and health conditions are bad. The Japanese are tasting defeat." . The Domei news agency said that only 2,400,000 of Tokio's pre-war population of 6,400,000 remain in the capital, and only 370,000 .to 380,000 of its 1,300,000 homes are still standing. The report did not mention the casualties, and attributed the decreased population to "decentralisation, evacuation, and removal of homes." ORDERLY AND CO-OPERATIVE. Tokio radio quoted the Very Rev. Patrick Byrne, Superior of the Mary Knoll Fathers in Japan, as saying that the United States forces would find j the Japanese orderly and co-operative. The broadcast said that Father Byrne, in a speech directed to the American troops, said: "Try to sympathise with the point of view of the people among whom you are coming to live for a while. Imagine a Nazi victory and America blasted by atomic bombs, and if anything occurs to test your patience and coolness try to remember that while this country has been devastated not a single American home has been destroyed." Tokio radio broadcasts have urged speedy action by the new Cabinet to solve Japan's complicated post-war domestic situation. The road to postwar recovery was described as "filled with brambles." A commentator likened the future life of the populace to a thin sheet of paper separating life from death. Another predicted that the Allies would demand huge reparations. Newspaper editorials have advocated better- relations with China. The "Asahi Shimbun" admitted that the Japanese in the past "frequently behaved very abusively towards China," and added: "The China incident gave us a good lesson through bloody experiences." The "Yomiuri Hochi" said: "Though China and Japan have been at war for eight years, there is no reason for resentment or grudge between us." Tokio radio said Japan had failed to win the good will of the nations of the Asiatic continent and the southern area. "We tried to hurry up too much," it said. "We were irritable and in a hurry, and did not have the capacity to wait for things to take their own due course. If we had only grasped their hearts this war would probably have terminated-differently."