JAPAN ERECTS A SHRINE

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21040, 16 February 1940, Page 4

JAPAN ERECTS A SHRINE

Japan is celebrating the 2600th anniversary of the founding of the empire by nation-wide demonstrations to the accompaniment of a probably greater agglomeration of troubles at home and abroad than the empire has ever before experienced in all its long history. To the countries of the Pacific, one of the most significant acts in the celebrations is the dedication of a first class Shinto shrine on the island of Kalura in the Palau Archipelago. This is an indication of the importance that Japan attaches to its southward expansion policy. Such shrines are net established except where Japan regards her rule as absolute and permanent. At home the Japanese Army authorities are being assailed by the Opposition parties for their conduct of the war against China. The burden of continuing the war is weighing heavily upon the people, who under severe war-time conditions are becoming restless and questioning. r J ho Government is faced with the necessity of replying to 200 unsettled complaints from the United States, under many of which it will be necessary to pay compensation. The casual manner in which the Foreign Minister is dealing with these complaints, which concern among other things the killing of “two or three” American citizens, indicates that the responsibility is being incurred equally casually and without proper regard for other people’s rights. On the frontiers of Manchukuo also Japan is facing an unsettled problem which may again assume major proportions. Another cause for grave concern is the expiry of the trade treaty with the United States and the possibility of the Western war destroying or seriously curtailing Japan’s overseas trade, upon which* the nation has been built up in modern times. Loss of that trade would quickly reduce Japan to the status of a third class Power. With all these troubles thick upon her, Japan must face her 26015 t year with grave misgivings. Far more has happened in the empire in the past few years than in any similar period in the past. Japan has reached out into strange lands, based her economy upon dependence upon other nations for trade, and has dared to entertain a dream of far greater dominion. The nation is at the crossroads and the immediate future must see fateful decisions made.