Evening star., 1933-01-29
BY UPTON CLOSE.


A VERY deaf old man, scarcely five
~ feet tall, straight as an arrow,
~ "A years old, +: has mad made his viii
call of defiance to the ruthless
and ponderous forces of militarism In
his native Japan. He has sailed from
London to accept the dare of the
Patriotic Blood Brotherhood to come
home and die for his convictions. There
is no appeal from this death sentence.
for 1t is unofficial, and the rufflans who
have pronounced it cannot back down
without themselves appearing as mere
buffers before the people whom they
now rule
Thus there has been thrown into the
Sordid Pacific Asian conflict the color
of picturesque and courageous hui
man being-"human interest at its
ultimate. And after all nothing could
more illuminate the larger issues behind
the clash which Is threatening the
whole worlds peace and which has
made the Pacific Basin the worlds CEN
tral arena. For behind the challenge
issued by the 74-year-old Japanese
statesman, Yukio OZaki, to the fanatical
patriots Of his own country lies the
whole story of Japan in China and
Japan in Geneva
Yukio OZaki is the Stormiest figure OF
a nation whose internal political life Is
perhaps the StormieSt in the world. In
his career one finds the vision Of the
statesman and the idealism of
prophet mingled with the tricks of the
professional parliamentary obstruction
isl which seem in the Orient to surpass
in childishness even those known in
Washington. In his physical appear
ance, in his eccentric tastes and un-
expected actions and in his hold on the
trymen, Yukio OZaki is the most pic
turesque figure among a people who
take delight in picturesque figures and
who defy eccentricity.
Was Mayor of Toxic.
Perhaps the most picturesque period
Of Ozaki'S life was when, due TO the call
for a modern system of administration
in Japan's great capital city. Ozaki was
mayor of Tokio-in 1918 and 1914. He
was known as the bachelor statesman"
-outspoken in his views that political
and domestic life do not mix. Fas-
t,diously dressy. often appearing in
huntsman's uniform. particularly fond OF
shooting in the Japanese mountains, he
was constantly caricatured as tiny
fellow with gun twice as big as HIM
self blazing away at monsters OF graft.
On the other hand, he was violently
attacked for "toadying to big business
in assisting the consolidation of public
utilities. When his term OF office was
about over, a Toxic newspaper received,
addressed to him in its care. the sig
nificant gift Of dagger and a shroud.
One thing Ozaki got out of his
mayoralty. He was constantly receiv
ing the mail of another Ozaki. and
finally his curiosity impelled him to look
this person up. He discovered her to
diplomat. Baron Ozaki, by his English
wife. Miss Ozaki. reared as an Eng
lishwoman of gentle breeding, had come
to the land of her father to do news
paper work The old mayor promptly
slipped from his bachelor principles.
And now his two young daughters. often
called "the outstanding fiappers of
Japan" ultra modern in their habits.
but, addressing their father with all
the reverence Of the old customs,
are his constant and strikingly con-
trastive companions today. They have
won him over to woman suffrage,
although his wife remains a conserva-
tive and an opponent of political rights
for women.
Ozaki was born in the fateful year,
1859, when as a reaction to Commo-
dore Perry'S we'll armed visits to Yoko-
hama Harbor japanese clansmen had
risen and overthrown the 250-year-
usurping House of Tokugawa. What
was to come after that was not plain
at the time It is very clear now. The
clansmen demanded stricter Seclusion
than Tokugawa was able to enforce
and they got, instead. countr" thrown
wide open to the industrialism and the
competitive spirit OF the West The
clansmen wanted to substitute them
selves for the Tokugawa. and in the
confusion that followed they got gov
ernment by group Of young Oaks
despised foreigniZed youngsters who had
taken too much milk from the breast
of white civilization. And then came
something old and yet new In Japan.
Growing out Of the spirit Of the clans
men, but destroying them and now
making a desperate attempt to destroy
the Ozakis also. came the Napoleon and
Bismarck militariSm OF today.
1914 Political Drama.
Dimunitive Ozaki, with the mustaches
like exaggerated parentheses, was in
1914 the martyr OF the Oriental po-
litical drama which made Japanese mil
itarism supreme over parliamentary
government. Today his quiet, unresent-
full statement that he is going back to
challenge the militarists to kill him is
more embarrassing to them than the
disapproval of the League OF Nations
or the organized political opposition and
widespread idealiSm at home.
The Blood Brotherhood and reserv-
ists' associations have told OZakt that
no one could say the things that ne
has been saying in America and Eng
land during the last two years and
liye-proyided they could get thelr
hands on him. Yet, SO great is his hold
on the Japanese people that all through
last Summer japanese newspapers, COIL
trolled by these same organlZatlons' re-
produced Ozakis articles and speeches;
which angered the present ruling crowd
in .Ianan like a douche of water angers
a hornets nest. For Ozaki is the cool
conscience of the war-mad japanese
nation, pricking it.
ONLY two great men in the very large
fold of Japanese liberal thought have
remained unclouded expressions OF TINS
conscience. One is the still young
Christian. Socialist, novelist and lee
turer. Toyohiko Kagawa. He refused 10
leave Japan, and so great Is his myStlcai
hold upon the imagination OF tne Japa-
nese peasantry, whose support tne JaPa-
nese military must retain, tnat tney
have not dared to kill him. NO one
knows where he is now.
The other unyielding opponent OF the
military is Yukio Ozaki. DR.. lnaZo
Nitobe, Japan's Petronius, whose iamiiy
lives in neighborly intimacy with tne
Ozakis through the Summer montns at
the famous retreat in the japanese
mountains, where the two are WorSnlpeo
but democratic figures, and wnere tney
entertained Col. Lindbergh and his wife,
began slipping when he accepted an
appointment to the House of Peers some
years ago. Ozaki point blank refused
q similar honor.
When the Japanese Army went into
Manchuria in the Fall Of 1881, upsettlng