SPIES IN JAPAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 66, 19 March 1942, Page 4

SPIES IN JAPAN

FOREIGNERS INTERROGATED FREQUENTLY EXPERIENCES OF AMERICAN JOURNALIST This is the final article in Janies 8.. Young’s “inside Japan’’ series. .Young was in Japan for 13 years. He was gaoled by the Jap Gestapo last year and charged with spreading “false news and rumours.” In this article he tolls how foreigners in Japan were coni sistently spied on, and how the business life of the country was affected by war conditions. foreigners had resigned themselves to spying by either ignoring it or attempting to make the spies’ work easier so they would be less froublesome. A friend of mine had four employees he knew were spies. Accepting the espionage, my friend made it a point, to let the spies know where he was going, whom he saw, and what he did. One of my favourite spies was Mr. Fuji. He was five-feet-two. Mount Fuji is about 15,000 ft. But Mr. Fuji's serenity and power were as great. We dubbed him Mr. Mountain when speaking in the house or office or when we knew he was behind the scenes, a favourite lurking spot. Japanese houses are ideally designed for spying. Maybe that'was the original idea of lhe screen that you find in every home. On one occasion 1 benefited from the spies. My car licence number was given as that of a car involved in an accident. Weeks after the accident I was summoned. I could not remember where I had been that day. With a volume of typical Japanese “evidence” against me. 1 appealed to lhe spies. They checked back in their notes, told me where I had been, and substantiated my alibi to police. Before the present totalitarian. antiAmerican campaign, foreigners were frequently stopped on the street by bowing Japanese, who asked: “Y r ou American or British?” Told you were American, they said: “Very nice. Americans very nice. British bad people. Americans very tine. Good-bye." Then Americans came into the “hated” class. Advertising accounts had dropped over 6o per cent. All foreign advertising of imported products disappeared along with the products themselves. Department stores were forbidden to advertise special bargain lines. The order was a blow to them. Japanese department stores once rivalled America's in completeness of stock. Shopping in a department store was an ail-day affair before the war. Mothers brought their children and turned them over to store employees. Children were entertained by visits to zoos maintained on the roof, or by riding in cable cars or midget trains. Motners visited the store auditorium, heard lectures, or received other entainment. The larger stores had pipe organs. Tea and biscuits were served, live to all, on each floor. There were fashion shows and cooking schools. 1 organised such events several times. 1 could never find a large enough auditorium. All these entertainments were banned in a few seemingly short months. The spread of Western fashions was halted by Government decree. Gay colours and flowered kimonos were replaced by drab greys and blacks. Women were reluctant to revert to the old national styles, but accepted them as a patriotic duty. Sales ol electrical household appliances wore strictly curtained, although the demand was tremendous and un- ' limited. Canned goods and other prepared foods lost in sales volume; there was no soda ash for making bottles, and tin could be used only for war materials. Foreign food innovations were eliminated. The Japanese had to return to the traditional diet of rice, fish, vegetables, and limited amounts oi meat. Milk, cheese, butter, and eggs were no more, for there was no pasturage for extensive cattle herds. What meat there was was excessive in price. One thing was certain: “Declared" or “undeclared,” the China adventure was a flop.