BUSHIDO

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 148, 20 December 1945, Page 4

BUSHIDO

JAPANESE "CHIVALRY"

Rohan D. Rivett, a member of the literary staff of the "Melbourne Argus," who was in Japanese hands for 3_ years, knows all about that Japanese code of chivalry—-Bushido. It is consistent with Bushido to laugh at a sick man writhing in agony from repeated kicks in the stomach while he lies on the ground in front of a guard.

It is Bushido for a Japanese officer to seize vital supplies of iodoform sent by the American Red Cross for prisoners, and to refuse to part with it when hundreds of, men under his command are facing amputations and death from tropical ulcers for lack of it.

It is Bushido to trade this iodoform, a teaspoonl'ul at a time, for" the last pitiful treasures of P.O.W.s, ready to part with these dearest possessions in the hope of saving the lives of sick comrades.

It is Bushido to mock and gibe at officer prisoners of greatly superior rank, and to force them to perform menial and degrading offices on pain of brutal physical chastisement.

It is Bushido to torture the sick, to persecute the dying in their iast hours, to deny prisoners letters from home which "have been lying within a few yards of them for 12 months or more.

It is Bushido to take the already reduced rations of prisoners, and resell them at enormous profits to the local native population. It is Bushido to clothe, medically supply, and feed Japanese troops and P.O.W. guards with Red Cross goods that you have promised to deliver to your prisoners, while the prisoners die in hundreds for lack of these things.

It is a great thing this Bushido of the ancient Samurai tradition. This glorious chivalric code of the past so beloved by romantic women novelists who have never seen a Japanese without his frock coat. It is a great thing, especially for the Japanese when he's on top.