A BATTERED WOLF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26179, 15 June 1946, Page 8

A BATTERED WOLF

CONTEMPORARY JAPAN NEW FREEDOM PLEASES NO EXCUSES FOR DEFEAT (Official New Zealand Correspondent) CHOFU, May 6. With a nation as enigmatic as the Japanese it is difficult to generalise on the attitude of the people and the effects of newly-instituted reforms. No people like to find themselves under alien control, but the element of hypocrisy in the Japanese compliance with Allied occupational demands and instructions would appear to be low. This is a reflection of the peculiar feudalistic attitude of the majority of the people, which has conditioned them to a slavish acceptance of whoever may be holding the reins at any time m the hope that they may preserve themselves. On this obedience rests, at one and the same time, the strength and the potential weakness of the occupation and its aims. The Japanese know they were beaten and, with strange candour, do not use the atomic bomb as their excuse. They appear to be pleased that they have been freed from their own militaristic clique’s oppression, but it would hardly be accurate to say they are repentant. For the bulk of the nation, this new development seems to have no particular meaning—it is just another phase in their lives, and responsibility for the past, present, or future is of no concern to the Nipponese man-in-the-street. Militarists Blamed

It is difficult to say whether the average Japanese realise their personal share in the sequence o; aggression which led to Japan’s present, plight. They agree in peace as a policy and blame the militarists for their misfortunes. The fact that aggression was their national policy does not appear to have occurred to them —in fact, there is still a strong tendency to regard Japan as the aggrieved party in the events which culminated in the “ China incident." They are, however, displaying a convincing degree of shocked surprise in the revelations of the individual acts ol atrocities coming from the war trials. The pros and cons on the question of the retention of the Emperor balance themselves fairly well. The occupational authorities had.the choice of rebuilding Japanese society or of remodelling it—the former is a better job in the long run, but the latter is much quicker and cheaper. Furthermore, the imperial institution is a potent factor in the political field. Abolition would not be synonymous with eradication. There have been complaints—many of them Rusian inspired or openly Russian—that General MacArthur’s policy is soft. While the overall policy might not coincide with those which Russia has demonstrated in the countries under Soviet occupation, it could hardly be called soft. As an American correspondent wrote: ‘ MacArthur is using a policy much admired by Hitler, who was hardly a softie—making a demand which by itself does not seem worth resisting; after that has been gained, making another demand, and so on until large cumulative results have been obtained.” Recuperation Difficult

Speculation on the future of Japan would, at this stage, appear to be of little worth, dependent as it is on the duration of the occupation and the effects of policies yet to be formulated. Japan’s position as an economic cornerstone of the Orient could only be regained by showing far greater economic i-ompetence than her neighbours, and she will be a long way behind when the race starts. In this she is in a very different position from Germany which, even now, must be re-

garded as a factor to be considered in the European economic set-up. Japan is- in a sorry plight to-day—-the once-mighty fleet has gone, the army is broken up, the pre-war markets have gone, the Asiatic prestige is gone, the sources of raw materials have gone, the factories which turned out mases of low-pri'ed low-grade articles for all the world have gone. The people, in the metropolitan areas at least, are poorly fed and poorly clothed. The Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere is but a mocking memory. But even the most optimistic Brave-New-Worlder must concede that beneath the surface of the Japanese masses lies an undercurrent of enmity and antagonism; the ant-like recuperative powers of the Japanese are selfevident, and Japanese man-power remains relatively high. The present garb of Japan is definitely sheep’s clothing. But beneath the fleece remains something suspiciously reminiscent of a wolf, however battered it may be.