GARBED AS DOVE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22474, 8 January 1943, Page 6

GARBED AS DOVE

Japan At Vatican

Silent Voice Will Sound

• Ken Harada, one of Japan's silkiest diplomats, has kept his mouth shut and his eyes open since he arrived in Rome five months ago to become the first Japanese Minister to the Vatican,” wrote Frederic S. Marquardt, recently in the “Chicagb Sun.” "But when the Tokio war lords have had their fill of fighting and the time seems propitious to launch a peace offensive, Harada-san suddenly will become voluble and conspicuous. “Another Japanese who can be counted on to return to the spotlight when Tokio desires to pull the dove of peace out of the cannon’s mouth is Toyohiko Kagawa, the No. 1 Japanese Christian, whose books have sold by the hundreds of thousands and who has lectured extensively in the United States,” he adds. “History reveals that most of the rulers of Japan were suspicious of Christianity and did all they could to destroy it within the borders of their country. That it succeeded in surviving at all is a tribute to its essential strength. “ In 1587 the great Hideyoshi ordered all foreign priests to leave Japan within 20 days, but the edict was never fully carried out. A few years later, taking another tack, 20.000 Christians were sent to fight with the Japanese army in Korea. “On January 27, 1614, the suppression of Christianity was proclaimed formally in Japan, and in 1638 the persecution of Japanese Christians rose to a point where 37.000 of them took refuse in Hara Castle and defied the armies of the Shoguns. After the massacre was over, only 105 of the Christians were alive—and they were taken prisoner. “Still Christianity survived, despite the fact that its members were forced to practise efumi, which meant that once a year they had to trample on pictures of the Christ or the Virgin Mary. Early Missionary Efforts “The Franciscan and Jesuit fathers in Manila often tried to get into Japan to do missionary work, but nearly always were captured. “On one occasion the Japanese, in return for the missionaries sent to the country from the Philippines, dispatched a boat loaded with several hundred lepers to Manila. Practising what they preached, the religious organisations of Manila cared for the lepers at the San Lazaro Hospital, which still is a haven for persons ill with leprosy. “ The present bosses of Japan see in Christianity a weapon which they can use in prosecuting their total war. They have not tried to destroy its influence, although they have been careful to see that it is wholly in Japanese hands. “Long before the war started the Japanese had removed all foreign influences in Christian churches in Japan. Any Christian sect wishing to continue its activities in Japan was forced to replace all foreign personnel with Japanese. American and British missions- were not allowed to finance activities within Japan. These actions were not anti-Christian—they were anti-foreign. “it seems unlikely that men of the transparent sincerity of Kagawa were willing dupes of the Japanese imperialists’ Kagawa himself was interested mainly in bettering the conditions of the slums of the great Japanese cities, and he contracted trachoma by living and sleeping in the appallingly dirty working quarters of Yokohama. “But the Tokio militarists felt certain that a Japanese Christian or two abroad would help to lull the suspicions of the foreign world. They also will >e aces when the Japanese once more want to adopt the propaganda line that, after all. the Japanese may not be as bad as they are painted—haven’t they allowed Christians to practice their faith in Japan?

“There are, of course, no indications that the Japs are considering discussing peace terms. But it is a fact that Japan has succeeded in overrunning territories beyond the fondest dreams of its Oriental Caesars. It also is a fact that recent fighting has taken a heavy toll in her first-line planes and pilots, as well as such absolutely essential warships as cruisers and destroyers.”