THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1940 A NEW ORDER IN JAPAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23748, 30 August 1940, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1940 A NEW ORDER IN JAPAN

Japan, according to the. announcement made by her Prime Minister, Prince Ivonoye, is to have a new political structure. It will combine the old with the new —the very old with the very new. This, to Western minds, may seem to be attempting the impossible. As a matte;- of sober fact, it is the only feasible way in which Prince Konoye can achieve his manifest purpose of uniting the nation in. a "drive" for power in the arena of the world. The structure to be superseded has had an inherent and baffling weakness in its provision of scope for wide rivalry of parties; this being his belief, he proceeds to the origin of trouble by removing this possibility. Henceforth there will be no opportunity for this rivalry. At first glance, he may appear to be following in the wake of Nazi and Fascist achievements of solidarity, and the outer resemblance of his scheme to those of Hitler and Mussolini will certainly'make easier a collaboration of Japanese with German and Italian statecraft. But, useful as this surface similarity will thus be, it would be a mistake to think that in essence Japafi's new order is modelled on either of those that have meant so much to the fortunes —and misfortunes —of all Europe, to look now no further. Each of these is totalitarian; neither is, to note Prince Konoye's important phrase, "postulated upon Liberalism." Both Hitler and Mussolini pushed aside the titular head of the State: by immoral shrewdness and force, Hitler displaced a Chancellor and made himself first Leader-Chancellor and then Fuehrer simply; by means scarcely less formidable,. Mussolini pushed aside a King, maintaining him as merely a handy figurehead for the State. Prince Konoye's problem has not been capable of that kind of solution, for reasons of which his announcement gives more than a hint. He has said that the new system for Japan does not resemble totalitarian government based on a singleparty system. "No matter what brilliant results such a system may reap in other lands, it is contrary to the basic principle of our national policy of 'one sovereign over all.' " In English, "polity" would better represent his meaning than does "policy," but this exactness in employment of terms is not essential to the understanding of his idea, which is. that of a complete and universal, loyalty, to a Sovereign gifted with unchallengeable authority. Japan is a theocracy. Its Emperor is, in accepted belief among all its people, no matter what their status or politics, a direct descendant in unbroken descent from the divine Creator; he rules by virtue of that in his individual right but as the incarnate representative of all his imperial ancestoi-s. Yet,, to appreciate the Japanese conception, regard must be paid to the fact that these royal ancestors are worshipped and served, through the practical veneration of the reigning Emperor, not because they are his ancestors but because they are the rulers and progenitors of the whole Japanese people. So arises the paradox —a paradox to foreigners only—that these people deem themselves the most democratic people in the world. The Creator is to them a Japanese, and they all belong to the family of which he is the head. Whatever objection to this belief may be raised on scientific or historical grounds, the point is that the millions of Japan accept and live in this faith: thus for all practical purposes it is true. Prince Konoye, believing it himself, must also take account of it in any workable new national polity. He is therefore on sure ground in appealing for acceptance of a constitutional order that will enable the people "to fulfil perfectly the duty of subjects to the-Throne," and in telling them that they must abandon a constitutional system impeding, with its party divisions, the adequate doing of that duty. He exalts the Emperor to his age-long right of unique prestige, doing this in conformity with the , still prevailing Japanese thought,, which is only superficially touched by Western conceptions. His project of a governing body chosen, because of innate talent, from all strata of society, may seem impracticable, even fantastic, but it harmonises with deepseated Japanese ideas, and so will be sure of a high degree of favour. Parties have been slow of development in Japan, and their mutual antagonisms have been serious. To-day, except for certain survivals of sharp differences, parties tend to coalesce ; divisions that were becoming customary have been giving place to a widening unity on behalf of.Japan's programme in East Asia; and there can be no doubt of Prince Konoye's hope that this programme will be served by the new order.