The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1945. JAPAN’S INTERNAL CONDITION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 198, 22 August 1945, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1945. JAPAN’S INTERNAL CONDITION

CONDITIONS inside Japan have been deteriorating for about a. year.; consequently, now the surrender has been made it is by no means easy for the Government to continue to be master of the internal situation. The present condition of the Japanese Government in its relations with General MacArthur must be put down not to guile but lo sheer inability to function. ■ The deterioration in the political situation is the direct outcome of the failure of the military operations and the immobility of what is left of the Fleet. The Japanese people had been sheltered from world opinion and even front world news during the war, but there have been major facts which could not be hidden. The air raids on the homeland were the most potent propagandadisturbers that the Japanese have yet'encountered. In the four main centres of the war the Japanese had no successes to report save those, in South China, where a corridor was opened between north and south. The transport facilities, however. were inadequate to remove the supplies from the south lo the north and this was particularly true of raw materials. AH that the successes in South China amounted to was the dispossessing of the Chinese and American units serving with them of the air baser which had been built so patiently under. American direction, 'and the disorganisation of the Chinese armies concerned in the operation. The Japanese leader of this campaign was General Koiso. and in order to exploit this success and give the public that moral uplift that was sorely needed, the General was recalled to Japan and given the rank of field-marshal and the post of InspectorGeneral of Military Training—one of the three biggest Army posts. The worsening of the'war situation resulted in the defeat of the Tojo Government in April of this year, and its place was taken by the Suzuki Government, whereupon Koiso was given one of the two commands for the defence of the homeland. This gave notice lo the people that the situation was growing desperate, but it did not disguise the fact that contained in the four overseas theatres of war were armies that could not. get back home where they wer< sorely needed. It was the loss of Saipan which brought about the fall of the Tojo Government, but when Iwo Jinia fell Genera! Koiso admitted the loss in a special broadcast to the Japanesi people on March 21.' Before the month was out the invasion of Okinawa had to be announced. This brought air raids closer lo the capital and soon these reached a climax in a big fire-bomb attack on Tokio winch represented all "the concentrated technique learned in the destruction of German cities. Japanese publicity called these operations “slaughter bombing” and referred to the “incorrigibly immoral nature’of the Americans.” But even these broadcasts did not confine attention 1o the attackers. Complaints were voiced at the inadequacy of the shelters and of evacuation and relief measures. The Government was presented with petitions urging more drastice action and the Emperor made aii ihspee lion, of the burnt-out areas of Tokio, exposing himself, as the official news agency said, to the cold March wind and manifesting lo his subjects the “boundless Imperial benevolence,” which doubtless warmed the people whose homes, food and clothing had been completely destroyed. When on March 23 Koiso told the Diet that Japan intended to take the offensive to recapture Iwo Jima. Saipan and Guadalcanal. he revealed the extremity of his bewilderment, for it was patent to alt that no such action could be contemplated. The political reactions to this chain of disasters were more complex than ever. What the public thought can best be imagined. The junior officers whose minds had been formed almost exclusively by the doctrines of Japan's invincibility looked round for a cause for High Heaven going wrong. The manufacturers and the civil service were the selected victims and the officers claimed that if these were, brought under military rule matters would mend. Big Business in Japan, however is not without its defences. It is not unusual for military and navy chiefs on retirement to become directors of the armaments firms—a practice not confined to Japan —and so there was a liaison already existing between Big Business and the War Lords. Big Business, by reason of world-wide connections before the war. was realistic in its outlook in regard to the-conduct of the campaigns, white the. War Lords knew the tru< fads concerning conditions in the four main overseas theatr.es 01 war. Thus Big Business magnates, army chiefs and the civil ser vice were united in opposition to the junior army officers, who wen demanding an. even more intensive effort and a domestic policy of military socialism. General Koiso had become head of the Government and as his special territorial hobby had been the capture and.holding of tie Netherlands East Indies he was temperamentally inclined to side with the junior officers, who were now 1o be identified as the extremists in the prosecution of the war on all fronts. The last-eon solidating opposition, however, was urging a policy of cutting losses overseas and concentrating upon the defence cf the home land. But even the moderates were not then contemplating surrender as the situation in March and April, while growing lies perate, was still not sufficiently alarming to permit of extrenu measures being contemplated. Nevertheless political tension mad' necessary some of those window-dressing activities which are. oul; impressive when viewed from the front. The same men remained in power. The Government, however, still suffered from its ever present weakness: it could exercise no control over the High Com mand. nor could co-operation be achieved between the two bodies Eventually the. Emperor authorised General Koiso, as Premier, to participate in the deliberations of the High Command on the saim footing as the War and Navy chiefs and Ministers. ■ Despite these unfruitful efforts to overcome internal weak nesses the destruction of Japanese cities went on apace. The Gov ernment lost. face, the Army lost face and the Navy lost face, am the Air Force got lost altogether. Very many people are nov houseless, foodless, and without direction. Small wonder that broadcasts are being sent out to the Japanese people to “remain calm!” It will cause.no surprise if riotings and-other disorders break out amongst a people that has every reason for having lost its faith in all that it has hitherto held with unqualified confidence.