New-York tribune., 1907-01-13
JAPANESE OPINIONS.

The glimpse of japanese opinions concerning
America and other nations which Toxic corre-
spondent gives elsewhere In to-days Tribune Is
Illuminating and largely reassurlng We had not
supposed as some in this country and Europe
have done. that Japan was seething with anger
and turbulence against the whole American ma
tion. or that she plotting the conquest of tho
world. special correspondent OF THE Lon
don Times" at San Francisco reported the other
day that 1t was "the incradicable opinion of the
average Californian that there must be war
between the United States and Japan within
FIVE years, and perhaps within few months,
and that mean time Japan had entered upon
n campaign designed to keep her people In a
"state of mind hostile toward the United States"
That some Californians think ana utter such
stuff we must reluctantly believe. though we
trust the correspondent quoted overstates the
case when he attributes it to the average Cali
fornan" Certainly we cannot for a moment
believe any such things concerning Japan, and
II Is agreeable to have our disbelief in them
strengthened by such correspondence as that
which we publish to-day, and to know from
authoritative sources that the Japanese acquit
the American government and the nation at
large of blame for the mfrlendly ebullitons of
some small local factions, That the Japanese
understand the situation In America so we'll Is
itself a fine tribute to their intelligence and
so much reserve is an indication of their self
control and temperate disposition.
The fact is, suspect, that the Japanese
understand the rest of the world better than the
world understands Them for the reason that
since the opening of that country It has been
a very serious part of Japanese public and prl-
vate business to study the rest of the world
and to learn much as possible about It. Jap
anese students have been numerous in almost
every civilized land, acquiring not only the gen
eraI arts and sciences, but also and particularly
the especial knowledge which was to be gained
of the individual countries thus visited That
knowledge has in turn been impaired to and has
been eagerly sought by the entire Japanese peo-
pie While the world at large has interested
itself in Japan largely because of Its pictur-
themselves In ali the world In the most prac-
teal systematic and busnesslike way While
we have looked Mt jinrickshas and cherry bios
SONS. they have studied constitutions and Indus
tries.
1t may be said unhesitahngly that the jan
anese view of tho world, az set forth by our cor
respondent is instinct with sound Judgment
and with just appreciation of Japan's place
among the nations. There is none Of the self
sufficient bumptiousness and go-it-alone spirit
which some have attributed to that country
There is on the contrary, a realization of the
interdependence Of nations and of the necessity
of friendly cooperation among them Nor, In
these days of wild talk about the world being
overwhelmed by "hordes of Japanese" is it to
he overlooked that the japanese are and are
likely to remain. for perfectly obvious reasons,
chiefly stayat-home people. The entire num-
Der of Japanese who have gone abroad, in all
the lands of the world is little more than half
as many as single European country sandS to