Evening star., 1945-10-15
Letters to The Star
Good japanese Leaders Held
Worthy of Trust
To the editor Of The star:


and should know the Japanese best are
of the opinion that there are many
honorable and liberal japanese in the
island empire who for the past IL years
have been driven underground by the
ruthless and unrepresentative military
party. An example of such Japanese is
the new Premier Baron Shidehara. That
this conclusion is tenable seems obvious
from the number of political prisoners
who have been held in confinement be-
cause of their liberal views and their
opposition not only to this war but also
to the Manchurian adventure and the
Chinese war which they call incident"
The time surely has come to bring out
what good there now is and always has
been among the Japanese, instead of
stressing all the terrible and brutal
things that have taken place in the past
10 years. The reconversion of Japan to
modern and civilized state depends on
seeking out what virtues the Japanese
have now and have had in the past,
rather than the continuous reiteration
of all those things we deprecate and
likewise.
In 1912 this writer published small
brochure on Gen. Nogi the captor of
Port Arthur and the Commander of the
Sd Japanese Army that turned the Rus
sian right at the battle of Mukden in
1905 and made that great victory pos
sible. The publishers of this little book
received in 1923 the following letter from
M. Megura of the Nautical College in
Tokyo, which seems worth quoting in
part as 1t represented the point of view
OF vast number Of Japanese then and
perhaps does at present: More than
10 years have passed since Gen. Nogi
worship him as a god and dedicate a
temple to him in their old way OF ador-
ing the dead. But am sorry to say that
they have been too busy involving them
selves in shallow materialism to come
and see the character of their hero.
With Baron Shidehara, believe Japan
is in need of such an Interpretation,
especially in this age of insincerity. . -
The great disaster of the earthquake
and conf1agration thatrecently fell upon
the japanese in the complete ruin of
Tokyo, Yokohama and many other towns
and villages on her Pacific Coast
frightened the people for time almost
out Of their wits. But they lost no
time in standing out of the ashes and
setting about the work of building up a
new life. Help came from the United
States. The Japanese can never forget
or thank their friends overseas warmly
enough for their sympathy. At the
same time, they seem to have realized
that it was their great mistake to have
nearly been pushing their way into
materialism and are keenly feeling that,
to change the punishment, as it is called,
which they have lately suffered into
blessing, they should first of all return
to their old spiritual life combined with
that of Christendom. So think this is
the best opportunity that we ever had
to warn them of the fact that Japan
has once produced such an idealist as
Gen. Nogi."
Lists Men Who Responded.
That this view was not that of single
individual those many years ago was
made evident when it was translated
and published.in japanese with signed
statement by the men who then ruled
Japan. The Life Of Nogi" is regarded
and recommended for inspiring the ma
tion with lofty sentiments of aspiration
| by: Gen. Ichinohe; Viscount Goto, ex-
minister of foreign affairs; viscount
Maxine. Admiral Viscount Ogasawara,
Count Hayashi, professor at Tokyo I'M
perial University; r. Midzuno, ex-
minister of foreign affairs; viscount
| Sibusawam; Gen. Oshima, ex-minister
of the army; Admiral Yashiro, ex-min-
lister of the navy; K. Naito president of
Japan oil company; DR.. T. Dan, director
OF the Mitsui Co.: H. Nagata, mayor of
Tokyo, and many others.
| That the Japanese responded to this
simple appeal to their idealism of the
past was made evident by the fact that
this little book was placed in the public
schools, and as the writer was informed
by the Japanese Military Attache in
Washington when both were on maneu-
|
to reach their best was required reading
by all officers In the Japanese Army.
Later, by order of the Government it
was published serialiy in every daily
paper in Japan.
That which changes least in war or
peace is human character, and with Mr..
Mathews I am entirely in accord that
there still are thousands of men such
as those quoted above alive and eager
for Japan to move along civilized lines.
1t is to such that we must appeal and
the rapidity with which the japanese
will adapt themselves to more repre-
sentative form Of government will
surprise the world.
1t may be that the Japanese them
selves will force the retirement Of
Hirohito, but that is their problem. 1t
must be evident now that without the
emperor who issued the edict of sur
render, we might well have faced
guerilla warfare for six months or maybe
year with tens, If not hundreds, Of
thousands of casulties among American
boys. The American people owe great
debt to the wisdom of the administra-
ton and the State Department in the
handling of this very subtle problem and
not least of all to Joseph Grew, who
from 1912 onward urged this policy on
our Government.
That Gen. Macarthur has handled
matters with consumate tact backed by
decision no one now can doubt and this
augurs well for the future of our rela-
tions with Japan and in the Far East