THE SPIRIT OF JAPAN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9710, 4 February 1910, Page 4

THE SPIRIT OF JAPAN.

There is no more remarkable magazine in the world than "The Spirit of Japan," a publication recently launched in Japan under the highest auspices. His Majesty the Emperor contributes an ode, and among those interested in the venture are Admiral of the Fleet Count Ito, the Minister for War, and the famous General Nogi, conqueror of Port Arthur. The magazine is fathered by the Military Education Society, which seeks to inculcate and strengthen the military spirit, and a society formed a few years ago to develop "bushido,". that potent worship of honour that did so much to win Japan her victories in the great war. Most magazines exist to make money. "The Spirit of Japan" has been started "to lead humanity to true happiness," by teaching men that it is their duty "to improve

their condition uf life by forming good habits and acquiring refined customs, and to carry out the Divine will with unswerving faith." The Emperor's ode bids men

"Correct each other's faults and live as friends; Such is the spirit that true friendship lends,"

and his Majesty, in an Imperial rescript, enjoins his subjects to practise benevolence, modesty, mor-

ality, to cultivate the arts, and to offer themselves courageously to the State in emergency. "The Way here set forth is indeed the teaching bequeathed by Our Imperial Ancestors, to be observed alike by their Descendants and the subjects, infallible for all ages and true in all places. It is Our wish to lay it to heart in all reverence, in common with you, Our subjects, that we may all thus attain to the same virtue." One detects in the magazine an attempt to counteract the effect of the modern commercial spirit on the old Japanese ideas of loyalty and honour.