NEW POLITICAL ERA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 237, 5 September 1945, Page 5

NEW POLITICAL ERA

MILITARY INFLUENCE GONE. INDUSTRIALISTS~SEEK POWER. (10.10 a.m.) ~. NEW YORK, Sept. 4 "Japan lias begun a new political epoch,-- with the influence of the militarists wiped out and the industrialists and politicians resuming the struggle for power which they shared with the militarists until the early 1930'5," says the ' Assqcia'ted Press correspondent in

Yokohama.' "Some Japanese newspapermen predict a revival' of Communism, which was spreading in the early 1920's until the militarists and other groups stamped out the trend. The so-called Democrats propose a monarchical system akin to Britain's, but with the Emperor also as the spiritual head." The Tokio radio reported that the 88th Imperial l>iet was formally opened todav in the presence of tiie Emperor. General MacArthur overruled a Japanese Foreign Office order that Allied correspondents attending the opening session would be .searched ac the door and could not smoke or drink inside the building. The House of Peers resolved to acknowledge the reality of our defeat and to cut our way out of the present, situation " reports the Associated Press correspondent in Tokio. The Peers decided to embark upon anew course of national rebuilding with a view to safeguarding the age-old national structure and contributing to world peace so that the Emperor s mind might be put at rest. General MacArthur has ordered the Tokio radio to suspend all foreign language broadcasts. Japanese language broadcasts will continue. „,..'. A spokesman for the Home Ministry, in a broadcast over the Tokio radio, explained the meaning of "weapons under the surrender terms. He said that the sword was close to the Japanese soul, but henceforth it would be regarded as an object of ancient art and cutlery. However, the Allies would determine whether hunting rifles and dago-ers were considered to be weapons. The Tokio radio reported that ViceAdmiral Matsuo Morizunn committed hara-kiri yesterday.