BATTERED TOKIO

Evening Star, Issue 25577, 1 September 1945, Page 7

BATTERED TOKIO

INDUSTRIAL AREAS RUSTED RUBBLE —_—-» PEOPLE POORLY CLOTHED NO OUTWARD SIGN OF HOSTILITY NEW YORK, August 30. " The people of this battered •apital went about their daily tasks on this..momentous day with shocked impassivity, but no outward sign of hostility against the few Americans who have reached the city," says the Tokio correspondent of the Associated Press. " American bombs cut a wide, ugly pathway 'through most of the bestknown 1 districts, and., hammered many industrial areas on the edge of the city into rusted rubble. However, a few of the finest buildings, including the Imperial Palace, rise grotesquely from the ruins, which hare long since grown ehoddy from neglect." The correspondent says he rode to Tokio in a jammed street car alongside housewives, students, fishermen; and farmers. Numerous servicemen who have already been demobilised are returning to their homes. Tokio .was a city of continual hunger following the fall of Okinawa. The Japanese knew then their fate was sealed.

An interpreter, Kidiyashi Kasuga, a Tokio school teacher, commented: ." We had been deceived, and never knew of our (reverses in the Philippines." ' Tokio's diet was reduced to rice, beans, and peas as early as January, 1945. Meat and fish were unobtainable. Kasuga said: "OUr people are dejected, but their hearts are warm. Turn sure nobody will attempt to make trouble. Our Emperor in a rescript told us to co-operate and not make trouble. We know the war has been lost, and nothing is left to do but act correctly."

" It is impossible to estimate acr curately the extent of the damage, including that in the" most modern parts of Tokio," continued the Associated Press correspondent. _ "Tokio's principal shopping street is virtually flat, except for a few major departmental stores', the upper stories of which are* burnt -out, but which remain open, wijih meagre stocks on the ground floors. Most of the stores and offices in the financial district still standing can be used. The people appear to be adequately fed, but poorly clothed.; Almost all the women and children-and most of the men,are wearing wooden clogs or straw sandals. The current issues of the ' Nippon Times ' advertise slightly used shoes for sale.- " The Japanese I met extended every courtesy, but one could sense ' the. bitterness of defeat that touches every living Japanese as he contemplates the problems of Japan's resurrection."