Evening star., 1937-05-23
TRADITION BACKS .JAPAN'S|
CABINET in KEEPING RULE
Custom and Constitution Allows Chime
to Dominate-Law Closes Its Eyes
to Will of People.

is the fundamental principle of jap
anese government.
AS an example of logistics, this is
interesting but not very helpful. New
ertheless, there is the germ Of an
explanation of the Japanese system
in it. The Emperor does not rule as
the head of the Nipponese family and
the traditional form Of family life
in the island empire is suggestive.
Families there are governed by q
titular. ceremonial assisted"
by family council
This principle Of an ostensible ex-
ecutive for purposes of show and a
real executive, who remains in the
shadows, run right through japanese
political history. The Mikado has re-
mained fixed point of allegiance,
with varying degrees of real power,
but his chief executive functions have
usually been in the hands of some
other man or body of men. When
Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry
arrived to open forcibly japanese
doors to Western civilization, for ex-
ample, the Mikado was a shadow; the
ruler was the shogun. the war lord
But even the shogun did not rule alone.
He was assisted" by councils OF the
nobility and bureaucracy which really
determined national policy.
Power in Japan on Perry's arrival
was even further subdivided by the
local authority of the great clans,
ruling feudally over broad stretches
of territory. 1t was some OF these
clans, led by the powerful Satsuma
and Choshu, that in 1867 overthrew
the shogun and restored the titular
power of the Mikado. And it was
these clans which had most to say
in the reorganization of the empire.
Power Behind the Throne.
The administration of the constitu-
ton followed lines familiar to the
Japanese. The executive was ap-
parently the Emperor; every one in
Japan knew that this meant an
hierarchy of officials, and councils
held the real authority, and 1t was
obvious that the men of the Satsuma
and Choshu clans made up the
hierarchy for the most part. There
was the cabinet, the privy council, the
imperial household government and
the supreme command-each function
ing in it's own sphere and seeking to
enlarge that sphere as much as pos
sible by influence and intrigue. And
the whole process was done in the
decorous shadow of reverence all paid
to the son of heaven.
During the sos body began to
function as advisers to the Emperor
which was even more characteristic
cally Japanese than those mentioned.
This was the genro, the elder states
men, whose power was well-nigh alb
solute until fairly recently. Weakened
by death and old age, the genro began
to give way to the army and navy
commands as the real power behind
the throne
Meanwhile, a tradition of ministerial
responsibility had grown up in the
Diet. The cabinet generally went
to the country" after a defeat. But
this tradition was extra constitutional
II Premier Hayashi has the support of
whatever clique may be ruling in
the Emperor's name at present, he may
stay in office Indefinitely without
preaching the constitution.
The far-reaching changes that have
taken place in Japan since l88e-uni-
versal suffrage. the conquest Of For
mosa, OF Corea. of Manchuria-have
been accomplished without a change
in the basic law. The japanese point
to this fact when they are accused
OF having too rigid constitution. and
say that while its alteration may be
more difficult than that of any other
modern constitution, the document is
really the most flexible of all. 1t states
only the broadest Of general principles
ut is shorter than the United States
organic law), and much work may be
done within its expansive framework.