CALL TO JAPAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21809, 4 September 1945, Page 3

CALL TO JAPAN

FACE ALL SUFFERINGS COMPLYING WITH TERMS CAUSES OF DEFEAT (9 a.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 3. Prince Higashi Kuni, in a broadcast which was quoted by the Domei News Agency, urged the Japanese people faithfully to obey the Emperor’s surrender proclamation. He said the people were profoundly sorrowful at defeat, but must be prepared to suffer even the insufferable.

. The Domei agency also quoted Lieut. - General Kanji Ishihara, adviser to the East Asia Federation, who enumerated the causes of defeat: Firstly, Government officials’ bad faith and shameless acts of graft; secondly, army and navy officers participated in political activities and thereby neglected their own duties: thirdly, the elder statesmen were incompetent, talked uselessly and acted belatedly: fourthly, Japan’s insufficient strength, including productivitj-: fifthly, serious deterioration in tne people’s morale. He added that Japan must be reconstructed or completely strinped of militarism.

The Nippon Times, in an editorial, said: “The world upheaval, whose fundamental cause was the Allied failure in handling the defeated nations after the First World War, has again ended in victory for the Allies. The world again is ready to move forward on the road to peace, but whether or not this peace will be permanent depends on the manner in which the Allies deal with their defeated enemies. “If they choose to recognise the defeated nations’ right to existence and do not close the road to legitimate development, a feeling of vengeance will not arrive in the defeated nations’ breasts. If, however, the victors should be carried away by their advantage of power and force harsh terms, the peace so established would be constantly threatened by a feeling of revenge on the part of the defeated peoples.” The newspaper cited 'the RussianJapanese peace treaty of 1905 as a model, claiming that as a result- of the wise Japanese policy Russia held no hatred for Japan.