BOYCOTT OF JAPAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 243, 13 October 1937, Page 6

BOYCOTT OF JAPAN

yilE strength of the movement to boycott the goods of Japan is more ominous for that country than any governmental action along the same line would be. The boycott movement which is sweeping through the United Kingdom, America and Australia, is one of individual decision. Because it is based on moral grounds it will be very difficult to eradicate. Further, it comes at a very inconvenient time for Japan, quite apart from the financial aspect of the matter. Japan’s products generally make their appeal because they are low priced, but they are usually compensatingly low in quality. During the period of the depression those whose incomes had been seriously curtailed found it convenient to purchase the lower-quality articles which Japan was able to place on the markets of the world. With improved conditions, public demand has moved upwards in so far as quality is concerned, and Japanese goods have consequently lost much of their appeal. To have a prejudice built up against them at this time, therefore, is doubly dangerous, for it adds one handicap on the top of an already existing natural handicap.

Another unsatisfactory feature of the boycott is that it has been adopted by the Indian populations, not only in India itself, but wherever the Indian populations have migrated. The supply of Japanese goods which were acceptable to Indians was considerable by reason of the low level of incomes usually enjoyed by Indians. Their strength to adhere to a boycott will, of course, continue long after the present situation in China has been liquidated, and it will take many years of painstaking effort for Japan to efface the resistance of the individual purchaser which has now become so deeply entrenched over such a wide field. The boycott will continue to cause pain and distress in Japan long after the national policy has been reversed.