TO RE-EDUCATE THE JAPANESE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 225, 22 September 1945, Page 5

TO RE-EDUCATE THE JAPANESE

MASSIVE ARMY PLAN Tokio. Sept., 20 General MacArthur has instituted a broad information programme which ’s de. tined to convince every Japanese of the empire’s defeat ard war gu It. to reveal atrocities, eliminate m.’litarism and encourage democratic principles. An Associated Press correspondent says th? programme, which will use the Press, fikns. radio and schools, w II be conducted by a new “information dissemination sect on” under General MacArthur’s military secretary, Brigadier-General Eonncr Feller. Initially the section will operate through the Japanese Board of Information, which militarists used for spreading domestic and international propaganda. Japanese newspapers and radios must present certain items, including factual descriptions of atrocities. Recd. 7.35 p.m. New York, Sept. IS ‘ The Army’s education plan for the Japanese represents history’s most massive plan to influence tne minds of any nation, says the New ’ York Times’ Tokio correspondent. Its avoved aim is to reorient the intellectual processes of seventy-eight million people, whose ways of thinkin ; are essentially unchanged from mediaeval times. It has five distinct o -ccuves. Firstly, to eradicate militarism and uitiT.-nationalism; secondly, to make clear the fact of Japan’s defeat and acquaint the Japanese with the responsibii :w tor war atrocities committed by lheir aim is and the war guilt of their Icadeis; thirdly, to foster a sound economy and encourage djmocraJc organisation; fourthly, to .-ncoura; ■ fre? government responsible to ti. peo, le; fifthly, to promote political and civil liberties, the right of assembly and public discussion, education and free elections, and respect for human rights. MacArthur’s headquarters feel that before th Japanese can take effective steps to ‘cast out the demon’ they mu: t first be given a sense of shame at national wrongdoing, then a scapegoat—the military.”