Next Olympic Games

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 2, 4 January 1937, Page 9

Next Olympic Games

Japan to-day ranks little behind the Soviet Union in its fondness for malting log-term plans, says the New York Times. A 12-year plan for armament expansion is under consideration, and it is quite in line with national habit and tradition when a Tokio newspaper urges the adopton of a four-year plan for exterminating the mosquitoes which are a noteworthy pest in the Japanese capital during the summer months. So it is not surprising that various agencies and organisations were busily outlining projects for the 1940 Olympic Games, which will be held there, even before the Berlin Games were over. In the vanguard of the planners strode the police, whose wido powers and solicitous caro about everything, from public morals to dangerous thoughts, and from strikes in large factories to squabbles between fishpeddlers, make them one of the most influential powers in the Island Empire. There will be no frivolity, no lighter side of life in Tokio in 1940 if the police have their way. It is proposed to close all dance halls, which operate under close police restriction and supervision, and also to forbid Japanese girls of the flapper age to seek the autographs of well known athletes. It seems that when some Ear Eastern games were held in 1930 a number of Japanese girls formed acquaintanceships with Filipino athletes by requesting their autographs. This was regarded as highly improper and degrading by oldfashioned Japanese, and the police propose to forestall the practice in 1940 by announcing in advance that nothin of the kind will be tolerated. With a people so docile as the Japaese in their attitude towards authority a police ban carries great weight. How seriously conservative officials take the holding of the Olympic Games may be judged from the following remarks, attributed to a spokesman for tne Home Office:— It is a great source of satisfaction that the 1940 Olympics will be held in Tokio. Some circles, however, are beginning to assume towards this event an attitude that is excessively wild. If such an attitude prevails four years from now it is to be feared that Japan

would gain the reputation of being a frivolous and reckless nation. This would be a very serious mcUter. The villages all over the country are sinking into even deeper destitution, ir

k the spending of much money on the i Olympics and on tho International Exposition (to commemorate the founding i of the Japanese Empire) gives the capital a bad reputation the feelings of the

1 country people may be aroused. Everything should bo done to avoid a sharp- ; ening of the conflict between the cities and the villages through a development i of this kind.